Caleb Dean, Ruta Lasmane open strong in Texas Tech's Corky Classic track meet
Ruta Lasmane missed the 2023 indoor track and field season with a back injury. Caleb Dean ended a banner 2023 outdoor season on an ominous note, competing through adrenaline-dulled pain at the NCAA outdoor championships before finding out he was running on a broken foot.
Both opened up their 2024 campaigns Saturday looking like their old selves.
Dean ran this season's collegiate-leading time in the 60-meter hurdles and started Texas Tech's first-place 1,600-meter relay in the Corky Classic at the Sports Performance Center. Converting this season from an eight-step to a seven-step approach, Dean ran the hurdles in 7.55 seconds and finished second to Michael Dickson from More Sports MG.
To end the day, Dean, Charlie Bartholomew, Shawn Brown and Shaemar Uter ran 3 minutes, 4.71 seconds in the relay.
Last year, the Red Raiders' first-year transfer from Maryland won three Big 12 titles in hurdles events, got second at the NCAA indoor in the 60-meter hurdles and fourth at the NCAA outdoor in the 400 hurdles. He hurt his right foot warming up for the final in the latter. After Dean returned home, his pain excruciating the next day, doctors determined he had a fracture — and not just any fracture.
"They told me it was such a unique fracture, it rarely happens," Dean said. "That kind of got me nervous. Everybody was saying, 'We've never seen an injury like this before.' I went to a doctor in Dallas, and he was like, 'I've been doing this for 35 years and I've only had, like, three of these cases.'
"It was definitely nerve-wracking., and I was definitely nervous about it. I'm just glad I was able to shut out the emotions and work on my rehab and my training."
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Dean's injury didn't require surgery. He spent mid-June through September in an orthopedic boot and resumed hurdling in November. On Saturday, he resumed looking like one of the best.
"It was a season-best, .03 off my PR (personal record), so I really felt good about it," he said.
Lasmane took second in the women's triple jump with a mark of 44 feet, 11 3/4 inches, best by a collegian this season. That was second behind former Tech star Ruth Usoro, a two-time NCAA champion who still trains locally with the Red Raiders.
Lasmane is a five-time first-team all-American in the triple jump, having finished third, fourth or fifth in five NCAA championship meets. The streak was interrupted last winter when she missed the indoor season with a stress fracture in her lower back.
The Latvia native returned in late April after a 10-month break from competition and finished strong in the outdoor season, second in the triple jump at the Big 12 outdoor championships and third at the NCAA outdoor.
"I'm really proud of myself because I finished the season strong with a (personal record) at the national championships," she said, "and I'm really blessed this year that I've been healthy and I can get all the trainings in. Hopefully, it will bring some fruit and we will see the progress that I've made."
LSU's Michaela Rose breaks collegiate record, world best
LSU junior Michaela Rose set the facility record in the women's 600-yard run last January. A year to the day later, she broke the 42-year-old collegiate record and all-time world best in the event by running 1:16.76. Jelisa Walton from Tennessee set both marks in 1982 by running 1:17.38.
"I am so grateful to God," Rose said. "Honestly, I have known that I could achieve it. I just didn’t put the race together last year; I was so close. I was very nervous before, because I knew what was there for me to get, and I was in constant prayer with God to be reassured that I had everything I needed. It was absolutely amazing."
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Rose stamped herself as one of the NCAA's top 800-meter runners last, finishing third at the NCAA indoor championships and first at the NCAA outdoor.
The 600-yard run is among events for which World Athletics doesn't ratify world records. Top times in such events commonly are referred to as world bests.
"I love the facility here," she said. "I have great memories of being here freshman year and racing for the first time on a bank. So yeah, it feels homey."
Terrence Jones scratches from sprint final
Texas Tech's Terrence Jones, who shares the NCAA record in the 60 meters, ran 6.56 in Saturday's first round of the event, but didn't run in the final. Tech coach Wes Kittley said Jones felt some back tightness, though it's not believed to be anything serious.
Because of Jones's injury history and his being the defending champion in the NCAA indoor 60, Kittley said he'll run a light schedule leading up to the Big 12 championships that Tech hosts on Feb. 23-24.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Caleb Dean, Ruta Lasmane open strong in Texas Tech track's Corky Classic
