Team Getting Ready For The Red Raider Open
By: Texas Tech Press Release
Updated: February 1, 2013
The
Texas
Tech track and field program is set to compete in three separate meets
across the country this weekend including the Red Raider Open inside the
Athletic Training Center on Saturday.
The
Red Raiders and Lady Raiders will
host the Red Raider Open meet beginning at 10 a.m., while also sending a
group of top athletes to both the Armory Collegiate Invitational in New
York, and the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame. Over 1,200 athletes have
registered for Tech's Red Raider Open -
the third and final home meet of the 2013 indoor season.
"We are just trying to put our kids in
the best possible position," Texas Tech head coach Wes Kittley said.
"We have had three meets together as a team, and now we need to do what's best for those top individuals."
Meanwhile,
a contingent of Red Raiders
and Lady Raiders will compete at the elite Armory Collegiate
Invitational scheduled to begin Friday afternoon in New York, and
continue all day Saturday.
Texas
Tech also traveled a group of distance
runners to Notre Dame to compete in the prestigious Meyo Invitational.
Texas Tech senior distance runner and school record holder Kennedy
Kithuka is among the athletes scheduled to compete and will run in the 3,000-meter race
set for Saturday.
The
Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are coming
off a highly successful showing at the Texas A&M Challenge last
weekend where two school records were broken and senior hurdler Katie
Grimes matched the school record in the women's 60-meter hurdles.
Texas
Tech enters the weekend with five
separate athletes appearing in the top-20 of the national indoor
qualifying list for their specific events. Meanwhile, both men's and
women's 4x400 relay and the men's distance medley relay rank in the
top-20 as well.
The men's distance medley relay anchored
by Kithuka, the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Champion, broke the school record last weekend and currently ranks No. 2 nationally.
Kithuka
also became the first Texas Tech
athlete in school history to record a sub-four-minute mile after he
finished first overall in the event at the Texas A&M Challenge with a
school record time of 3:59.53.
