The Road to Eugene: 4x100 Relay
6/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Outdoor Track
With one day to go before the NCAA Championships, GoFrogs.com takes a look at the 4x100 relay's road to Eugene leading up their first race on Wednesday.
The Horned Frogs have competed in the 4x100 relay nine times this season and none of them have looked the same.
In the prelims of the Texas Relays, the team of Raymond Bozmans, Sam Watts, Ronnie Baker and Harvey McSwain put together a time of 39.54 to advance to the final round. The final heat replaced Ramone Bailey with McSwain and tallied a third-place finish at 39.15 seconds.
After hovering around the 40-second range for two meets with only one member of the Texas Relays team, the Horned Frogs added two new members to the relay, putting together a team of Bozmans, Cameron Echols-Luper, Baker and Kolby Listenbee. The quartet rattled off their first win of the season behind a time of 39.53 seconds.
Two weeks later at the final home meet of the season, Bailey rejoined the relay in the second leg with Echols-Luper leading off and Baker and Listenbee running the final two legs. This group put on a strong showing to win in front of the home crowd, clocking in at 39.18 seconds.
At the Big 12 Championships, TCU would make it three meets in a row where they grabbed the win in the event, this time with a mark of 39.28 seconds. The army of Frogs that claimed the conference crown consisted of Bailey, Watts, Baker and Listenbee. This win was a special one though, making it nine of the last 10 years that TCU has won the event at their conference championships and was the 20th overall in school history.
With all of the momentum heading into the NCAA West Prelims, Echols-Luper returned to leadoff the relay, with Watts, Baker and Listenbee following. The quartet strung together a second-place time at 39.15 seconds, tying their seasonal-best, and automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Coming into Eugene, the Horned Frogs have the third-best time among the qualifying field of 24.
Hitting a time of 39.15 twice this season and another at 39.18, all with different orders, the Horned Frogs have the weapons to insert into the 4x100 to make it a successful trip to Eugene.
TCU has arguably the best top 10 list when it comes to the all-time marks in the 4x100 relay. Checking in at No. 10 is a time of 38.80 set in 1991, while the top time is also the NCAA record of 38.04 set in 1998.
The 4x100 relay has also accounted for five of TCU's 20 national titles, the most from any event. Those teams featured names like Roscoe Tatum, Raymond Stewart, Jon Drummond, Horatio Porter and Donovan Powell, just to name a few.
But the Horned Frogs have experience in Eugene in this event. The four members of the regional team: Listenbee, Echols-Luper, Baker and Watts all ran last year in that order, finishing 10th overall at 39.52 seconds.
With the top time among qualifying teams checking in at 38.66 (Arkansas), TCU will probably need to crack into the top 10 in school history in order to claim title No. 6. The Horned Frogs get a chance to do that as they compete in the first event of the NCAA Championships on Wednesday, June 10, slated for 4 p.m. PDT.
