TCU Advances Five More Events to Euqene
5/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Outdoor Track
Complete Results 
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Photo Gallery | 4x100 Relay Video | McGhee's 100 Hurdles Video | Newton's Triple Jump Video
AUSTIN, Texas -- TCU track and field closed out the NCAA West Prelims with five more qualifiers on Saturday in Austin, bringing the total to seven events that the Horned Frogs will be represented in at the NCAA championships.
"We have a good group going to Eugene," TCU director of track and field Darryl Anderson said. "All in all, we had a pretty good day as far as qualifying goes. That's the bottom line here is just to get out."
After an hour-long weather delay, the day began with the running of the men's 4x100 relay. The Horned Frogs sported a new look in the second of three heats with the team of sophomore Cameron Echols-Luper, juniors Sam Watts and Ronnie Baker and sophomore Kolby Listenbee. The quartet tallied a time of 39.15 seconds to finish second, automatically qualifying them for the NCAA Championships.
"With the 4x100, we had some issues," Anderson said. "A team got in our way and then UTA was in our heat and they got knocked down. But we still ran 39.1 and finished with the third fastest time here in the meet. So, we move on and we'll have a good lane when we get to Eugene."
The time was third overall at the meet and tied the season's best for the Horned Frogs, also set in Austin at the Texas Relays, and was their ninth-different running order in the event this season.
In the prelims of the women's 100-meter hurdles on Friday, junior Brianna McGhee recorded a time of 13.10 seconds, which would've been the school record if it weren't for a +3.7 m/s tailwind. On Saturday, the record would fall.
Running slightly against the wind (-0.1 m/s), McGhee clocked in at 13.24 seconds to win heat one, clinching an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The mark broke Larissa Matthew's time set in 2010 of 13.26 seconds and was sixth overall among qualifiers.
"She won her heat and broke the school record, so we were obviously pleased with that," Anderson said. "She just continues to get better at the right time of the year. We're really excited about her possibilities when we get to Oregon."
During the duration of the 4x100 relay and the 100-meter hurdles, freshman Scotty Newton put together his best performance of the season in the men's triple jump.
After fouling his first attempt, Newton hit a strong mark of 15.51m (50-10.75) on his second jump, giving him a new personal-best in the event, but he wasn't done there. His final leap went for a distance of 15.72m (51-7), to put him at No. 2 after the first two flights of action. He would finish sixth overall to punch his ticket to Eugene.
"We got a good surprise with the freshman Scotty Newton getting through in the triple jump and getting a personal best with a 51-7 today," Anderson said.
An hour and a half after running the second leg of the 4x100 relay, junior Sam Watts returned to the track for the quarterfinals of the 200-meter dash. Running out of lane three, Watts got off to a slow start but put together a strong final 100 meters to pick up a third-place finish in the heat at 20.85 to automatically advance to the NCAA Championships. His mark was 11th among qualifiers.
The final event of the night was the men's 4x400 relay, where the Horned Frogs opened in lane two of the first heat. The team consisted of seniors Lavon Collins and Joshua Washington, Watts and Baker and got off to a slow start, but battled their way back to a time of 3:06.22. Their time put them at fifth in their heat, but was 12th overall to qualify them to Eugene.
"We ended the day with a sub-par mile relay team that was just able to get through," Anderson said. "I wasn't really happy about it but we got the 12th spot and made it to Eugene.
"We had no physical setbacks. So, everybody is good to go. We'll take a couple days to get back on our feet and hopefully get a couple of good days of practice prior to leaving for Eugene on Sunday."
The NCAA Championships start June 10 and last until the 13th at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
