Horned Frogs Ready for NCAA Championships
6/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Outdoor Track
Meet Notes 
| Live Results | Meet Schedule | Start Lists
FORT WORTH, Texas – At the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships, Ronnie Baker added the 20th national title to TCU's trophy case. From June 10-13, the Horned Frogs will compete in seven events looking to add more hardware as they compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Meet Schedule
The four day meet is split between male (June 10 & 12) competition days and female (June 11 & 13) competition days. Below are the events and days the Horned Frogs will compete in the semifinals (ALL TIMES PDT):
Wednesday – June 10
4 p.m. – 4x100 Relay (Final at 4:35 p.m. Friday)
5:15 p.m. – Long Jump
5:16 p.m. – 100 Meters (Final at 5:25 p.m. Friday)
6:24 p.m. – 200 Meters (Final at 6:10 p.m. Friday)
7:28 p.m. – 4x400 Relay (Final at 6:50 p.m. Friday)
Thursday – June 11
5:02 p.m. – 100 Hurdles (Final at 2:45 p.m. Saturday)
Friday – June 12
4:30 p.m. – Triple Jump
Full Schedule - http://bit.ly/NCAASchedule.
Follow The Frogs
All four days of the Championships will be broadcast on the ESPN networks and online at WatchESPN.com. Here's the broadcast schedule - http://bit.ly/TFBroadcastSchedule.
To keep track of the meet live, follow the Horned Frogs on Twitter at @TCUTrackField.
You can also keep up with the Frogs on Facebook - http://on.fb.me/1KKHrFr.
Select races and field events are also posted to YouTube at this link - http://bit.ly/1JesAFb.
Live results are available at this link - http://bit.ly/TFLiveResults.
A full recap from each of the day of the NCAA Championships will be posted to GoFrogs.com following the end of competition.
How They Got Here
The top 48 competitors in individual events and the top 24 relays qualified for their respective NCAA Regional rounds. From there, the student-athletes with the top 12 field marks overall advanced to NCAA Championships. In running events, the top three in each of the six heats, plus the next six times moved on from the preliminary round. To advance from the quarters to Eugene, the top three in each of the three heats, plus the next three qualified. In the relays, the top three in each of the three heats, plus the next three punched their ticket to Eugene. Four of the five running events for TCU automatically advanced to the NCAA Championships thanks to a top three finish in their respective heats.
Quotables from TCU Director of Track & Field Darryl Anderson
On the NCAA Championships
"In 24 hours, we'll be on the track competing. We're ready. Everybody feels good and now it's just time to strap it up and go. Execute and compete tomorrow and we'll be fine. Do the things that we've been doing with the group that's here all year and this group will be fine. I'm excited, they're excited and we're all looking forward to it."
How They Stack Up
Men's 100-Meter Dash
Kolby Listenbee – the sophomore from Arlington comes in with the seventh-best quarterfinal time at 10.09(w) seconds. His wind-aided time at the NCAA West Prelims (10.09) made it the fourth-straight meet that he's broken into a new second barrier. It started with the Tom Jones Memorial (10.37), then the Horned Frog Invitational (10.27) and at the Big 12 Championships, he set a wind-legal PR at 10.16 in the prelims, finishing fifth in the finals. By finishing second in his heat at the regional, he gets paired up with Clayton Vaughn from UT-Arlington, who finished just above him at 10.08 in the same heat. Also in his heat are: Kendall Williams from Florida State (10.11), Shavez Hart from Texas A&M (10.15), Carl Horsley from CSU Northridge (10.18), Aaron Ernest from LSU (10.21), Jalen Miller from Ole Miss (10.35) and Maurice Eaddy from N.C. A&T (10.38).
Men's 200-Meter Dash
Sam Watts – a junior from London, England, Watts set a seasonal-best last at the Big 12 Championships. In the prelims, he notched a time of 20.68 and recorded a fifth-place finish in the finals of the event. During the indoor season, he grabbed an eighth-place time at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, garnering First Team All-America accolades. At the prelims, he posted a pair of third-place finishes in the prelims (20.77) and the quarters (20.85) to automatically advance to Eugene. His heat features: Andre De Grasse from USC (20.17), Aaron Ernest from LSU (20.22), Brendon Rodney from LIU Brooklyn (20.27), Timothy Faust from Ohio State (20.40), Christian Coleman from Tennessee (20.61), Bryce Robinson from Tulsa (20.69) and Ricco Hall from Nebraska (20.75).
Women's 100-Meter Hurdles
Brianna McGhee – from Omaha, Nebraska, the junior set the school record in the quarterfinal of the NCAA West Prelims behind a wind-legal mark of 13.24 seconds. The time won her heat, automatically punching her ticket to Eugene. The day before in the prelims, she posted a wind-aided time of 13.10 seconds, which was an all-conditions personal-best. Also in her heat includes Kendra Harrison from Kentucky (12.62), Erica Bougard from Mississippi State (12.99), Daeshon Gordon from LSU (13.10), Samantha Elliot from Clemson (13.13), Le'Tristan Pledger from Texas Tech (13.39), Mobalaji Adeokun from Texas (13.42) and Alex Gochenour from Arkansas (13.40).
Men's 4x100 Relay
The Horned Frogs rank third among qualifying times in the men's 4x100 relay. At the NCAA West Prelims, the team of Cameron Echols-Luper, Sam Watts, Ronnie Baker and Kolby Listenbee put together a time of 39.15 seconds to automatically advance to Eugene. It was the second time this season the Horned Frogs have hit that time, with the first at the Texas Relays. At the Big 12 Championships, the quartet of Bailey, Sam Watts, Baker and Listenbee won the conference crown behind a time of 39.28 seconds. It was the ninth time in the last 10 years that the Horned Frogs have won the event at their respective conference championship meet. Competing in their heat will be: Arkansas (38.66), USC (39.49), Oregon (39.55), South Carolina (39.60), Auburn (39.66), North Carolina A&T (39.90) and Akron (39.95).
Men's 4x400 Relay
At the NCAA West Prelims, the team of Lavon Collins, Joshua Washington, Sam Watts and Ronnie Baker fell behind early and battled back to a time of 3:06.22 to grab the last qualifying spot of the region. Their top time of the season came at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational, as the group of Collins, Washington, Kevin McClanahan and Baker set the time of 3:05.40. Last weekend at the Big 12 Championships, the same team finished second in a tight race that saw Baker post the fastest split of any competitor of 44.98. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Horned Frogs put together a fifth-place finish that had Kolby Listenbee (third) and Baker (anchor) post the fastest splits for their respective legs at 46.66 and 45.49, respectively. The Horned Frogs will be in heat one with: Florida (3:03.69), BYU (3:03.82), Arkansas (3:04.06), Mississippi State (3:04.45), Oregon (3:05.14), Notre Dame (3:05.70) and Texas State (3:06.08).
Men's Long Jump
Cameron Echols-Luper – a sophomore from Auburn, Alabama, set a new all-conditions personal-best at the West regional. With his final jump of the day, he hit a wind-aided mark of 7.96m (26-1.5) to put him at third in the region and fourth among all qualifiers. During the NCAA Indoor Championships, the 2015 Big 12 Indoor Champion finished fifth overall to earn First Team All-America honors. He placed fourth last weekend at the Big 12 Championships in the event. He'll jump in flight one with the nine-best marks advancing to the finals.
Men's Triple Jump
Scotty Newton – a freshman from Bakersfield, California, Newton has come on strong with his performances at the last two meets. At the Big 12 Championships, he recorded a fourth-place finish in Ames behind a mark of 15.37m (50-5.25). At the regional, his final jump was the best of his career at 15.72m (51-7) to give him the sixth-best mark among West qualifiers. He sits at No. 7 in the TCU outdoor record books and will also jump in flight one.
A History of Champions
TCU track and field has claimed 20 national titles, the first in 1983 in the outdoor 4x400 relay with a time of 3:02.09, the school record time. The most championships in one event the Horned Frogs have won is five in the 4x100 relay. Under Coach Anderson, TCU has won seven national championships, six within the last four years. 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). At the 2015 Indoor Championships, Ronnie Baker won the 60-meter dash crown behind a school record mark of 6.52 seconds. His time broke Kim Collins' record of 6.53 set in 2001, the same year he won the national championship in the event.
Who's Next?
TCU's rich history in the sprints division has produced seven athletes to have posted a wind-legal time under 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash, the most of any university. At the Big 12 Championships, junior Ronnie Baker went sub-10 for the first time in his career behind a wind-aided time of 9.99, becoming No. 8 to accomplish the feat under any-conditions. The day before, he posted a wind-legal PR of 10.05 seconds. With his performances at the meet, it marked the fourth-straight race that he had improved his time. Sophomore Kolby Listenbee has also broken into a new time barrier in each of his last four meets. At the West regionals, Listenbee notched a wind-aided time of 10.09. He'll have at least one more chance to drop again on Wednesday in the semifinals.
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. They did it again at the West regional with a different group of four to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships. 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. At the conference meet, the Horned Frogs claimed the Big 12 title in the event, making it nine of the last 10 years they have won their conference crown, behind a time of 39.28 seconds. The team consisted of senior Ramone Bailey, juniors Sam Watts and Ronnie Baker and sophomore Kolby Listenbee. The No. 1 time in TCU history is also the collegiate record, set in 1998, at a time of 38.04 seconds.
Rising Fast
Junior Brianna McGhee quickly climbed her way up the TCU record books this season in the 100-meter hurdles and at the West Prelims she reached the top. The Omaha, Nebraska, put up a time of 13.24 seconds to win her heat of the quarterfinals and become the school record holder in the event. More importantly, it gave her another opportunity to compete this season, at the NCAA Championships on Thursday. In the prelims of the regional, she tallied a wind-aided time of 13.10 seconds, giving her a new all-conditions PR.
