Tech Tracksters Head to NCAA Championships
May 27, 2002 | Track and Field
May 27, 2002
BATON ROUGE, La. - Texas Tech track and field coach Wes Kittley's master plan is starting to take shape as it prepares to conclude the 2002 season at the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La., May 29-June 1.
The women's team will send six sprinters to the LSU campus to compete in three events. Sophomore Tiffany Green is peaking just in time to score big at the championships. Green will be competing in the 100- and 200-meter dashes as well as serve as the alternate on the 4x100 relay. Last year's Big 12 Newcomer of the Year successfully defended her conference title in the 200 edging out Texas' Aleah Williams by just .01 seconds. The Hamlin, Texas, native holds the nations 8th best time in the 100 and 19th best time in the 200.
Green will be joined in the 100 by senior Monique Wright-Cruse who enters the meet as the nation's 16th fastest runner in the event, while another senior will close out her Tech career by running a leg on the 4x100 relay. Melonie Barrow will be joined on the relay by sophomores Rachelle Evans and D'Andria Brigham and freshman Licretia Sibley. The relay finished the 2002 season as Trackwire's 12th ranked team.
Like Green, freshman Albert Booker will be busy this weekend as he is set to compete in the 400 and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The Trent, Texas, native enters the meet with the 14th fastest time in the 400, while his season-best time of 45.84 in the 400 at the Texas Tech Open set a new school record for the distance.
While Booker might have three chances to score points at nationals, redshirt freshman Jason Young has the best chance to score, and score big. Young turned in the lone automatic qualifying mark for Tech with a fling of 200 feet-1 inch in the discus throw. His mark at the Michael Johnson/SWB Relays set a new school record for the discus.
Freshman Jonathan Johnson placed 6th in the 800 at the 2002 indoor championships and will look to repeat as an All-American in the same event in the Bayou State. A native of Abilene, Texas, Johnson holds the nations 10th best time in the event and is coming off a first place finish at the Big 12 Championships. Johnson will also run as a leg on the 4x400 relay.
Finally both the men's 4x100 and 4x400 relays will try to better the men's best-ever point total at the NCAA Championships, 11 points set in 1997. A pair of football players in Carlos Francis and Ivory McCann will run on the 4x100 relay with Booker and former Olympian Julieon Raeburn. The quartet took first two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships marking the first time that a Tech relay team had won a conference relay since 1965. The 4x400 relay will be comprised of Booker, McCann, Raeburn and Johnson and according to Trackwire is the 9th best team heading into the championships.
With Kittley's second recruiting class finishing its first season the Texas Tech track teams are starting to gain national recognition and will look to improve on the nine All-American performances turned in at the indoor championships when competition gets underway on Wednesday.
Real-time and daily results will be posted on LSU's website, www.lsusports.com. Daily results will also be posted at the home site of Texas Tech athletics, www.texastech.com.