Texas Tech Track and Field Regional Meet Recap

It was another banner weekend for the Red Raiders at NCAA West Preliminaries

Texas Tech ventured down to College Station for the 2021 NCAA Track and Field West Preliminary meet and did not disappoint. Once the weekend had ended, Texas Tech had 3 relays qualified for the the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which will be held on June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon at their newly renovated $200 million facility. The Red Raiders also had 11 individual qualifiers who will compete for an outdoor national championship.

Relay Teams

The women’s 4×100 relay team torched the track with it’s 4th-faster time in program history to launch itself to the national meet. This foursome includes Virginia Kerley, Kiah Dubarry-Gau, D’Jenne Egharevab and Peyton Ricks.

The 4×400 team would be the next to get in on the national qualifying. Jadsia Warden, Sara Limp, Amanda Crawford, and Lexye Price, who just like the 4×100 team, ran a top-10 program worthy time. This time is 7th-best all time coming at a time of 3:31.79.

The men’s team continued the top-10 program worthy finishes in the 4×100. Courtney Lindsey, Jacolby Shelton, Ashton O’Conner and Terrance Jones Jr. running the anchor turned in a time of 39.07. Pretty good for a foursome who hasn’t run together in a meet this season.

Individual qualifiers

The first two Red Raiders who punched their national tickets were Safin Wills and Jalen Seals, both of which qualified in the triple jump. Wills’ qualified with a jump of 52′-9.25″ (16.08m), while Seals used his 52′-4.75″ (15.97m) jump to get through to the finals.

The field team for the Red Raiders continued to rack up those frequent flier miles with qualification in the long jump by Ruth Usoro and Monge’ Nichols. Usoro wasn’t done though. The Indoor triple jump champion secured her bid to compete for the outdoor title with a leap of 44′-8.75″(13.63m).

Chinne Okoronkwo is going to be back to the national meet for the 2nd time in her career in the pole vault. The 3-time Big 12 Champion was 1 of 8 women to clear 14 feet in the competition, herself clearing 14′-0″ (4.27m).

The nation’s fifth-ranked discus thrower, Seasons Usual, became another Red Raider who qualified for her 2nd career NCAA Outdoor Championships. Usual landed a top throw of 190′-7″ (58.10m) on her very 1st attempt.

Arguably two of the best overall athletes on the roster, Kaylee Hinton and Callie jones set high point totals in the heptathlon good enough for both to earn tickets to the national meet.

The men’s team had 2 individuals qualify in the 100M; Courtney Lindsey and Jacolby Shelton. Lindsey timed a career-best 10.15, while Shelton qualified with a 10.21. It was also a career best for him as well. Due to the rain that delayed the team relays a day, Lindsey’s performance came a mere 2 hours after he helped the 4×100 relay team qualify.

Lindsey still wasn’t finished on the day. The former NJCAA indoor 200m champion posted a season best of 20.24 to qualify for nationals. In that same heat, Jones Jr. posted a career best of 20.36. What was even more impressive about Jones Jr. time was had never ran below 21.17 without wind. He also hadn’t competed in a single NCAA meet this season. The Red Raiders will have plenty of opportunities to bring home some hardware from Oregon in just under 2 weeks.