TCU Set for Wes Kittley Invite
4/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Outdoor Track
Meet Notes 
| Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU track and field teams head west to Abilene for the ACU Wes Kittley Invitational on Saturday, April 11, at Elmer Gray Stadium.
Meet Schedule
The Horned Frogs will start competition at 12:30 p.m. with the men's and women's hammer throw. Running events kick off with the 4x100 relay at 5:05 p.m. Here is a link to the full meet schedule - http://bit.ly/ACUWKSchedule.
Follow The Frogs
To keep track of the meet live, follow the Horned Frogs on Twitter at @TCUTrackField.
A link to live results will be posted on Facebook and Twitter prior to the first events on Saturday.
A full recap from the invitational will be posted to GoFrogs.com following the end of competition.
The Field
TCU will compete alongside four other universities at the ACU Wes Kittley Invitational on Saturday. Big 12 foe Texas Tech will be in attendance, who rank 10th in the men's poll and 14th on the women's side. The Horned Frogs will also compete against South Plains and Western Texas College at the meet.
Quotables from Director of Track & Field Darryl Anderson
On the Wes Kittley Invitational
"We're looking forward to this weekend at the Wes Kittley Invitational. We haven't been over there before. It'll be good for our kids to be in a brand new facility and it's the first meet in their new facility. It'll be us, Abilene Christian, Texas Tech and then a couple of the power junior colleges in the state in Western Texas and South Plains.
"For us, it'll be the last tune up before we prepare for the backside of the outdoor season, which is the Michael Johnson meet next week, then the Tom Jones Invitational down in Gainesville, Florida after that. Then, we host our home meet before we go into postseason with conference, regionals and nationals. So, a lot of kids are going to get opportunities this weekend and then we're going to start bringing everything back and really preparing ourselves for the late part of the season. We have certain things that we are pecking away at and training is one of them. This weekend, everybody will compete this weekend but we won't run our relays at full strength this weekend."
Last Time Out
Senior Ramone Bailey put together a solid performance last Saturday at the Baylor Invitational. The Kingston, Jamaica, native charged down the track to a first-place time in the men's 100 meters, clocking in at a PR mark of 10.48 seconds. He also finished second in the long jump, landing at a distance of 7.47m (24-6.25), which ranks eighth on the NCAA West Qualifying list, and anchored the 4x100 relay team to a second-place mark at 40.81. Senior Lavon Collins also picked up a victory in the men's 400 hurdles with a time of 53.64 seconds. In his first 200-meter dash of the outdoor season, junior Sam Watts clocked in at 20.83, ranking ninth on the West Qualifying list, en route to a second-place finish. Sophomores Scotty Newton and Tiffany Terry posted third-place marks in their respective events. Newton leaped to a distance of 14.94m (49-0.25) in the men's triple jump, while Terry paced to a time of 55.46 seconds in the women's 400 meters. In the women's hammer throw, sophomore Paola Miranda placed sixth, with her top toss coming in at 58.21m (191-0).
Join The Club
TCU's rich history in the sprints division has produced seven athletes to have posted a time under 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash, the most of any university. The Horned Frogs look to bolster their lead on the rest of the pack this season, and almost added No. 8 with Baker's performance at the Texas Relays on March 28. Baker, the 2015 NCAA 60-meter Champion, recoded a wind-aided mark of 10.02 in the invitational section of the event, which was an all-conditions personal-best and was the fourth-best time in program history. Two other Horned Frogs who are on the doorstep of accomplishing the feat are sophomores Kolby Listenbee (10.12) and Raymond Bozmans (10.42).
Knock Knock Knockin' on 38's Door
In only their second meet of the season, the men's 4x100 relay team posted a time of 39.15 seconds in Austin at the Texas Relays. It's the fastest time since the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, when the Horned Frogs put up the same mark in the prelims to finish sixth and qualify for the finals. The mark moves them closer to TCU's all-time top 10 in the event, which starts at 38.80 set in 1991. The No. 1 time in TCU history is also the collegiate record, set in 1998, at a time of 38.04 seconds.
Etched In History
Miranda is the latest Horned Frog to rewrite the TCU record books, crushing the previous best in the women's hammer throw by over 18 feet. Her toss of 59.39m (194-10) topped Kelsey Samuels' mark set in 2013 53.85m (176-8) and earned her first at the TCU Invitational on March 19.
Ronnie Baker set the standard on the biggest state of the indoor season, at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the men's 60 meters with a time of 6.52 seconds. His NCAA championship time broke Kim Collins' record set on March 10, 2000, also in Fayetteville.
The first school record to fall in 2015 came in the women's distance medley relay at the Tyson Invitational. The team of Bailey Sullivan, Tiffany Terry, Anna Cozart and Arin Rice (three freshman and a sophomore), paced to a time of 11:42.32, almost eight seconds faster than the previous record set in 2001.
Seeing Gold
At the NCAA Indoor Championships, junior Ronnie Baker brought home the 60 meters crown behind a time of 6.52 seconds. It was the fourth consecutive year the program has registered an individual national championship and is the seventh under director of TCU track and field Darryl Anderson. It was the 20th national title in program history and is the second in the 60 meters, the other coming from Kim Collins in 2001. TCU is one of seven schools in Division I to have an individual win a national title in each of the last four years (2012, 13, 14 & 15).
Indoor Recap
The 2015 indoor season saw a national title, a Big 12 championship, seven All-America honors, two school records and a time that was the world-leading mark for a period of time. The Horned Frogs qualified four men's events for the NCAA Indoor Championships, sending six competitors to represent TCU. All six scored in the event and racked up First Team All-America accolades. The honorees include Baker (60 meters and 4x400 Relay), junior Sam Watts (200 Meters), sophomores Raymond Bozmans (4x400 Relay), Cameron Echols-Luper (long jump) and Kolby Listenbee (4x400 Relay) and freshman Kevin McClanahan (4x400 Relay).
Big 12 Honors
The men's team has earned Big 12 Athletes of the Week honors twice this season.
The 4x400 relay team garnered the conference award after posting a time of 3:06.05 in their win at the Arkansas Open. The team of McClanahan, Bozmans, Watts and Baker moved into the No. 3 slot in the program's record books with the time. Watts (third leg) and Baker (anchor) posted the two fastest splits at 46.18 and 45.29, respectively.
On Feb. 4, junior Sam Watts received the Big 12 Male Co-Athletes of the Week award after his performance at the New Mexico Team Invitational in Albuquerque. At the meet, he recorded a time of 20.69 for a first-place finish in the 200 meters for the world's fastest mark in 2015 at that point in the season. He also put up a time of 6.84 in the 60 meters, which was a personal-record. It's the first time he's earned the accolade in his young career.
