Three Track Runners to Compete at NCAA Indoor Championships
June 21, 1999 | Indoor Track
March 12, 1998
LUBBOCK, Texas - Tech runners make bid for All-America honors The 1998 indoor season will reach its finale this weekend with the 1998 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Ind. Hosted by Butler University and USA Track and Field, the event will take place Friday and Saturday, March 13-14. The field will be comprised of 270 student-athletes from Div. I institutions across the country. Only the individuals recording automatic qualifying times and those making the final cut among provisional qualifiers will be competing.
Three Texas Tech runners will make the trip this season, including Josephus Howard, Rohan McDonald and Evette Turner. Howard will run in the 200 meter dash, McDonald will compete in the 400 meter run, and Turner will be Tech,s only woman challenging the field, in the mile run. Howard, a sophomore from Round Rock, was Tech,s only automatic qualifier making his way to the national championships. He returns to the indoor meet after an All-America performance last year in the 200 meters as well. Howard earned his spot at nationals when he clocked a time of 20.51 (20.66 adjusted) in the event at the Rocky Mountain Cup on January 31. His time was the best in the Big 12 this season, and is the American record for best time on an oversized indoor track. He is the second seed in the event behind North Carolina,s Mitlon Campbell.
A junior transfer from Central Arizona College, McDonald earned a bid to the NCAA,s in the eighth slot in the 400 meters with a time of 46.74 (adjusted). He recorded his season best time at the Big 12 Championships, earning third place at the meet. McDonald will look to make his first attempt at earning All-American honors, running in a pack of 15 individuals. Turner returns to competition this weekend after claiming the Big 12 title in the mile. The junior transfer from Barton County Community College, steps into the 10th position on a list of 17 individuals slated to compete in the event. Her provisional qualifying time of 4:46.42 (adjusted) was set at the conference meet and moves her into second on Tech,s all-time list. Turner will look to be Tech,s first All-America since 1994 when Tabitha Polk earned the honors in the indoor and outdoor shot put. She could also be Tech,s first female All-America in a running event, as a Red Raider has never achieved the status in either indoor or outdoor track and field.
Three additional Red Raiders and two relay squads had qualified provisionally for the meet, but fell just shy of making the cut off mark. The men,s 1600 meter relay missed the field by less than one hundredth of a second.
Tracking the Progress Fans can catch a broadcast of the championships on TV. The meet will be televised tape-delayed by ESPN at noon (Central) on Thursday, March 19. Looking Back to 1997
At the 1997 Indoor Championships, Texas Tech tallied a school record three All-Americas. The trio of Josephus Howard, Desmond Johnson and Leon Gordon put Tech back on the track and field map after not making a showing at either the indoor or outdoor meet since 1994. The team finished with six points to tie their best effort at an NCAA indoor meet. Two sprinters earned All-American status with top performances. Gordon stepped up in the men,s 55-meter final to record a fifth place time of 6.25 seconds. Johnson clocked a time of 47.27 for seventh place at the meet. Howard, did not reach the final heat in the 200 meters. But, he ended with the 11th best time in the event and one of the top eight times by an American to earn the honors.
In team competition, Arkansas claimed the crown decisively, totaling 59 points over second place Auburn,s 27. The Razorbacks have taken 13 of the last 14 team titles. For the women, it was Louisiana State on top for the fifth straight year, with 49 points. Texas and Wisconsin shared the second spot with 39 points each.
Red Raider Rewind
* Big 12 Championships in review: The 1998 Big 12 Indoor Championships at Iowa State Univ. in Ames, Iowa saw the Red Raiders return with an 11th place women,s performance and tied for ninth with Kansas on the men's side. Held at the Lied Recreational Facility, Nebraska claimed the men's team title and Texas earned the women's championship at the two-day meet.
Junior transfer Evette Turner was Tech,s lone Big 12 conference champion. Turner clocked a time of 4:45.72 in the mile for first place, setting a new Big 12 meet record and qualifying provisionally for the NCAA championships in March. She is Tech first women's indoor conference champion since 1985 when Maria Media claimed the SWC title in the mile, and only the second all time. Her time also moves her into second on the Tech all-time list.
In the triple jump, junior Kaneshia Polk advanced to the final round Saturday, placing 6th at the meet. Her leap of 40 feet, five inches marked a new season best and career best. Teammate Crystal Harlan also put forth a strong performance, leaping 5-7 in the high jump to tie at fifth. Harlan has already qualified provisionally for the national meet.
Also on the women's side, sophomore Dawn Charlier crossed the line in fifth place in the 1000 meters, with a time of 2:52.93, and the distance medley relay team took fourth.
The men's 4x400 relay team had a strong finish at the meet, with a third place finish in an NCAA provisional time of 3:07.53. Composed of Scott Jesko, Desmond Johnson, Shameron Turner and Rohan McDonald, the squad recorded the fastest time of the season, and less than two seconds shy of the Tech record. The unit was also just three seconds behind champion Baylor. Junior Michael Njenga, who took second Friday in the 5,000 meters, also earned a second place showing in the 3,000. Njenga qualified provisionally for the NCAA meet with a time of 8:06.16 in the event. In the men's 400 meters, Tech took two of the top five spots. Rohan McDonald placed third with a time of 46.49, a new season best and a new Texas Tech record as well as an NCAA provisional mark. Desmond Johnson also qualified provisionally with a time of 46.87 in the 400 final.
Josephus Howard Moves into Record Book: Sophomore sprinter Josephus Howard earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Indoor Championships on January 31. Howard recorded a time of 20.51 seconds (20.66 adjusted) in the 200 meters in the Rocky Mountain Cup at the US Air Force Academy, breaking the Texas Tech record, the meet record and the track record. At the meet, he beat Kevin Little, the 1997 world indoor champion in the 200 who also holds the indoor record in the event and previously held the meet record. His time placed him on top of the Big 12 Conference lists in the 200 and improved on his personal best by .51 seconds. Howard also holds a spot on several outdoor records lists in the 200 and 100, including the third fastest in the world among juniors in the 200 with a time of 20.53.
For his performance, Howard was named "Men's Athlete of the Week" honors from Trackwire for the competitive weekend of January 30 - February 1. The publication can be reached online at www.trackwire.com.
Evette Turner Adds Spark: After coming onto the cross county scene at Texas Tech midway through the season, junior Evette Turner made an immediate impact on the squad. A transfer from Barton County Community College, the Jamaica native paced the team in three of the five meets she competed in this season, including a first place finish at the Red Raider Classic. Her performance resulted in being named Big 12 Women's Runner of the Week for October 14. Turner was named to the 1997 Women's All-Big 12 Cross Country team after taking seventh place at the year's conference championships. She completed the 5K course in 17:59, just 30 seconds behind first place. In addition, she crossed the line in fourteenth at the NCAA Mountain Regionals, leading the Red Raider pack, but just shy of advancing to nationals. When indoor track season arrived, Turner did not fall behind. She crossed the line in first place at the Red Raider Indoor Invitational in the mile, added to the success of the distance medley relay unit, and claimed the Big 12 title in the mile run. She posted her season best mark and NCAA provisional time at the conference meet.
Tech Coaching Staff Gets New Look: For the first time, the men's and women's track and field teams are travelling and competing as one unit. The unification has developed under the guidance of joint head coach Greg Sholars, who begins his third season as head of the men's program and first year in charge of the women.
The Red Raiders opened the 1997-98 academic year with three losses. Women's head coach Liz Parke was named the athletic department,s director of events, and cross country coaches Kirk Elias and Layne Anderson departed for Arkansas-Little Rock and Auburn respectively. Sholars quickly became head of Tech's entire cross country and track and field program.
Several new additions have joined the coaching staff. Among them are Trece Hayslett, a sprinter and hurdler at Memphis State who came to Tech from Tulane. She has assumed a role, working with sprinters and hurdlers, as well as taking on administrative duties.
Darrel Robinson has also come to the program, helping with field events and strength and conditioning. After spending several seasons at San Jacinto College, he adds to the development of a well-rounded team. Two more individuals have set aside time to act as volunteer coaches. Dr. Paul Johnson, a dentist in Lubbock and long time track athlete, is assisting the on the men,s side with sprinters and middle distance runners. Juliette Campbell, a standout at Auburn and two-time Olympian, has joined the staff to help with the women,s sprints and middle distance runners. Both add experience and fresh looks to the team.
"It's been a little different for us this year because we combined our men's and women's programs," said Sholars. "It's been a very exciting indoor season for us thus far, merging those two programs together. If you've had a chance to watch our men's and women's track and field teams, they're coming from two different extremes. The men's team is more powered by the sprints and our women's team is more powered by the distance runners. We're still a team that's more excited about individual accomplishments more so than the overall team as a whole. We're very much in the developmental stages on our women's team and we're taking steps forward as far as the men's team is concerned."
Tech in the Rankings: The Red Raider men spent the first week of February, holding on to a No. 24 ranking by Trackwire. The team's spot on the US Track Coaches Association (USTCA) has jumped from 25th to 45th, hitting a few in-between. The women have also ranged in the mid 20's to mid 30's in the USTCA poll.