Horned Frogs To Host Horned Frog Invitational
3/18/2010 12:00:00 AM
March 18, 2010
FRIDAY'S COLLEGE SCHEDULE | SATURDAY'S HS SCHEDULE
LIVE RESULTS | HS HEAT SHEATS | COLLEGE HEAT SHEETS | MEET SITE
"Hopefully, the weather holds up for us, but we are excited to open the outdoor season this weekend at home. We have over a 1,000 high school student-athletes set to compete this weekend, so it will be our biggest high school meet we've had since I've been here," said head coach Darryl Anderson. "From our standpoint, it should be a really good meet for us. We want to get a taste of being outdoors and get our feet wet this weekend. The kids are excited to get out and compete in front of their home fans."
The meet, which will include both a college and high school section, will begin with the women's hammer throw on Friday at 1 p.m. All college events are slated to take place on Friday, while the high school portion of the meet will open on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the girl's long jump.
Over 1,000 athletes will be in competition this weekend at the Lowdon Track and Field Complex in Fort Worth, including student-athletes from North Texas, Texas-Arlington, TCU and Illinois (Women's Only).
Combined high schools competing this weekend include: Boswell, Cedar Hill, Cleburne, Colleyville Heritage, Crowley, Dallas Carter, Dallas Hillcrest, DeSoto, Duncanville, Eastern Hills, Elgin, Frisco, Frisco Heritage, Grapevine, Irving Nimitz, Irving Universal Academy, Keller Central, Lewisville, Longview Spring Hill, Mansfield Summit, Mansfield Timberview, North Crowley, North Mesquite, McKinney, Midlothian, Paschal, Plano East, Plano West, The Colony, Tyler Lee, Trinity Christian (Cedar Hill), Waco, Wyatt, Wylie and several others.
Meet Information
Admittance into the meet on Saturday is $5 for adults and $3 for youth (high school or younger). Friday's college section of the meet is free to the public. Fans attending the meet should park in lot 2, which is located next to Amon G. Carter Stadium and across from the TCU Physical Plant. A free shuttle will be available to transport fans to and from lot 2.
The Horned Frog Invitational can also be followed live by logging onto www.gofrogs.com. There you will find a link to the live results tab, which is located on the schedule page. Following action in Fort Worth on Friday, a full recap and final results will be posted on the TCU athletics website. Results for Saturday's high school competition will also be available on GoFrogs.com.
Horned Frogs Collect Four Indoor All-America Accolades
The Horned Frogs closed out the indoor season collecting four All-America accolades. In total, TCU posted three All-America certificates on the women's side and one on the men's.
Neidra Covington, who is now a four-time All-American, leaped 43 feet, 8 ½ inches to post her highest finish of her career at nationals. The senior also recorded the highest finish ever in the women's triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Whitney Gipson earned sixth-place accolades with a personal-best leap of 21 feet in the women's long jump. By placing sixth overall, Gipson recorded the highest finish in program history in the women's long jump at nationals. She also earned her second All-America accolade of her career.
Kristal Juarez captured her first All-America accolade of her career in the 400 meters, clocking a personal-best and new school record time of 52.94 seconds to finish seventh overall. By crossing the finish line in seventh-place, the junior recorded the highest finish in program history in the women's 400 meters at nationals.
Finally, Festus Kigen cruised to a sixth-place finish in the men's 5,000 meters, crossing the finish line with a personal-best and new school record time of 13:50.21. By placing sixth overall, Kigen became the first Horned Frog in TCU history to earn All-American accolades in the men's 5,000 meters. He also posted the highest-finish in program history in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
A New Way Of Thinking This Outdoor Season
The 2010 outdoor campaign will mark the first season that NCAA Division I schools will utilize a "preliminary round" format for determining qualifiers for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship meet, which will be hosted by the University of Oregon on June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore.
As opposed to the past six years, where four regional meets were held for the purpose of determining who advances to the NCAA Championship meet, the 2010 season will feature East and West Preliminary Rounds, held in Greensboro, N.C., and Austin, Texas, respectively.
The holders of the top 48 marks in each event will advance to either the East or West Preliminary Round site, based on their school's geographical location. Both preliminary round meets will be held May 27-29, with North Carolina A&T hosting the East site and the University of Texas hosting the West version.
All states west of the Mississippi River, plus Illinois and Wisconsin and with the exception of Louisiana, will compete in the West Preliminary Round. All other states will compete in the East meet.
Legends Coming Back To Support Current Frogs
On Saturday, the TCU Lettermen's Association will host the first annual Lettermen's Track and Field Legend's Day. Any former student-athletes, coaches, managers, trainers and administrators will be honored during the meet. Start time for the festivities will begin at approximately 10 a.m. at the Lowdon Track and Field Complex and include a special refreshment area, on-field recognition and a group photo.
Approximately, 44 former Horned Frog greats will be coming back to Fort Worth for the first annual event.
Looking Back At The Indoor Season
Heading into the outdoor season, TCU put an end to its indoor season, holding the top spot in the Mountain West Conference in 10 different events. In addition, the Frogs had the top-two times posted in the men's 60 and 200 meters. TCU has also posted the top-time on both sides in the 4x400, 60 meters, 400 meters and 60-meter hurdles.
In the world rankings, the men's 4x400 quartet of Dell Guy, Clemore Henry, Mychal Dungey and Matthew Love cracked the rankings in the 4x400, ranking in the top 10 amongst teams in the world standings according to the IAAF.
Home Meet Information
TCU will once again host two meets this spring at the Lowdon Track & Field Complex. TCU will kickoff its outdoor season this weekend with the fourth annual Horned Frog Invitational on March 19-20. The Horned Frogs will then host the 11th annual TCU Invitational on April 16-17.
Recap of Last Year's Horned Frog Invitational
TCU opened its outdoor season in 2009 by posting 10 NCAA regional qualifying marks in front of 3,214 spectators at the third annual Horned Frog Invitational.
Overall, the Horned Frogs compiled 12 first-place finishes to go along with 10 NCAA regional qualifying marks.
Up Next
TCU will travel to the UTA Invitational to close the month of March next Saturday.
Players Mentioned
