Texas Tech men making another run at Big 12 track and field championship
Antoine Andrews, Don'Dre Swint and Caleb Dean positioned themselves along the rail of the Sports Performance Center track Friday, paying close attention to the last qualifying heat of the men's 60 meters.
When the final results went up on the scoreboard, the Texas Tech sprinters engaged in hearty celebration. The Red Raiders claimed six of the eight spots in Saturday's final. Moments before, they'd advanced four of the eight in the 60-meter hurdles.
Piling up points in those two events is a must for the Texas Tech men to defend their team title in the Big 12 indoor track and field championships.
"We kind of wanted to do a repeat of last year, a lot of people getting to the finals in the 60 and 60 hurdles," Dean said. "We wanted to start off that way again. We're just really excited that we got a lot of people in the finals. That means a lot of points."
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The Red Raiders scored 32 points in both the 60 hurdles and the 60 a year ago, the fuel to their third Big 12 team title in six years.
"I'm very pleased with it," said Calvin Robinson, the Tech associate head coach for sprints and hurdles. "We had a goal to try to fill up lanes (in the final) like coach (Wes) Kittley always says. They obviously accomplished that, so I think they did good.
"The times are ridiculous, what they're running, but it's fun watching it and that's what it takes in this meet."
In the 60-meter hurdles, Andrews (7.63 seconds), Dean (7.64), DeVontae Ford (7.76) and Mike Dingle (7.83) qualified for Saturday's final. In the 60, the wave of Red Raiders advancing consisted of Dean (6.52), Terrence Jones (6.53), Shawn Brown (6.56), Andrews (6.57), Swint (6.58) and Jalen Drayden (6.59).
That many Red Raiders making the final wasn't surprising, given their individual rankings nationally and within the conference. Still, needing so many parts to perform, it can be a relief when no one false starts, wipes out on a hurdle or pulls up lame.
"We're not worried about tweaking anything," Robinson said. "The thing was, we've had a lot of guys run fast up to this point, and it's really just making sure they can come back and double down on that in a championship meet, and they did that. To a man, they did that."
The two-day meet resumes Saturday: combined events at 11 a.m., field events at 1 p.m. and running events at 2 p.m.
Texas Tech freshman Ernest Cheruiyot wins Big 12 title
The Tech men ended Friday with 36 points, buoyed by a first-place finish from freshman Ernest Cheruiyot in the 5,000 meters and a second from senior Jacob Mechler in the weight throw. Cheruiyot ran a facility record 13 minutes, 42.08 seconds.
Mechler took the lead in the last round, his throw of 74 feet, 5 inches a personal record by nearly 3 feet. Then Texas sophomore Jeremiah Nubbe stepped up and topped him with a mark of 74-9 1/4 on the last throw of the competition.
As they went back and forth, a cacophony erupted from the south end of Sports Performance Center.
"Everyone was going crazy cheering everybody on," Mechler said. "This just felt like the biggest meet I've ever been to, even though I've been to five conference meets at this point."
Caleb Dean, Antoine Andrews make Big 12 final in hurdles and sprints
Andrews and Dean are hurdlers first whose sprint speed gives the Red Raiders a bonus. Andrews ran hurdles only last year, then put himself in position to possibly qualify for the NCAA championships in the 60 when he ran 6.58 two weeks ago.
The Bahamian sophomore went into the weekend seventh in Division I in the 60 hurdles and 14th in the 60.
"I'm excited, man," he said. "I'm looking forward to doing a double at nationals and hopefully coming back with two trophies."
Dean, competing in the 60 for the second time this season, clocked a personal record 6.52. Before a final, advancing is the goal. Personal records are secondary.
The level competition called for all-out effort, though.
"The thing we talked about," Robinson said, "is the new conference and not really knowing who was bringing what to the table, and so I think we really tried to impress on the guys, you can't take for granted the intensity you've got to bring out in the first round, and they brought it. And I thought the women brought it."
The fifth-ranked Tech women had the fastest qualifier in the 600-yard run and three of top four in the 60 meters. Ball State transfer Kayla Jones, a two-time conference champion in the 800 meters, ran the 600 yards in 1 minute, 19.85 seconds.
In the 60, Rosemary Chukwuma (7.18), Alyssa Colbert (7.20) and Success Umukoro (7.23) advanced to the final with the potential to score more than 20 points.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech men thinking repeat in Big 12 track and field championships
