TCU Wraps Solid Day One of NCAA Indoors
3/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track
Day One Results 
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Photo Gallery | Finals Long Jump Video | 60 Meters Video | 200 Meters Video
FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas - On the first day of the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Horned Frogs wrapped up a fifth-place finish in the long jump and qualified for the finals in the 60- and 200-meter dash finals.
Sophomore Cameron Echols-Luper kicked off the night by setting a personal-record on his first jump at 7.79m (25-6.75). He improved on his second attempt with a mark of 7.80m (25-7.25), which placed him in the finals.
With his third jump of the finals, he notched a distance of 7.91m (25-11.25) to earn fifth overall. The mark ranks second all-time in the TCU indoor record books and earned him First Team All-America honors.
"It was a pretty good day for us today," director of track and field Darryl Anderson said. "Cameron Echols-Luper getting fifth in the long jump and getting a personal-best, you always feel good about something like that. This is his first opportunity at the NCAA Championships and to be able to come in here, score and be an All-American is outstanding."
In the 60-meter semifinal, junior Ronnie Baker recorded a time of 6.57 seconds en route to a third-place finish. It's the fourth time this season he's run the event in under 6.60 seconds. Coming into today's race, 13 of the 16 competitors in the semifinal had also run the event at 6.60 or better.
"We qualified Ronnie Baker in the 60 at 6.57," Anderson said. "He's been solid all year and it'll be exciting to see how he does tomorrow."
Baker will compete in the 60 meters finals at 7:10 p.m. on Saturday.
Junior Sam Watts paced to a time of 20.77 in the 200 meters semifinals. His time put him at second in his heat and eighth overall.
"Sam made it in the 200 with a very solid 20.77," Anderson added. "Again, we're looking forward to him running tomorrow and we're looking forward to running the mile relay tomorrow as well."
Watts will compete in the finals of the 200 meters at 7:50 p.m. on Saturday.
Baker and Watts will cap off the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships by running in the 4x400 relay in the last event of Saturday night, with the start time set for 8:45. The Horned Frogs rank fifth in NCAA competition this season with a time of 3:06.05.
"At the end of the day, we came in here and batted 1.000 and we're going to come back tomorrow and see how we can do."
Players Mentioned
