Two Red Raiders punch their tickets to nationals Wednesday
The men’s Texas Tech track and field team wrapped up day one of the NCAA West First Rounds Wednesday evening at John McDonnell Field.
Meet Coverage
Zaid Latif was the first Tech athlete to secure his spot at the national meet in a few weeks at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Latif flew to a PB mark of 8.06m (26-5 ½) (+0.7w) in the long jump. He increases his No. 4 mark for Morocco and moves to No. 5 all-time for Tech. Latif will be the first men’s long jumper to represent Texas Tech at the national meet since 2019, in which three Red Raiders competed.
Victor Kipkoech surprised many in Fayetteville Wednesday night as he nabbed the final auto-qualifying spot in the 10k. Kipkoech crossed the line at 28:58.68, beating the next runner by nearly two seconds for a spot to Eugene. Kipkoech came into the meet ranked 34th in the west and 56th in the NCAA. Tech will now have a 10k runner at the national meet for a third-straight year.
In the earlier track events, nine Red Raiders moved on to the quarterfinals taking place Friday. John Sherman and Malachi Snow highlighted the events with record times. Sherman posted a time of 9.99 (+2.5w) in the 100m sprint for the second-fastest time of the day. Meanwhile, Snow went 13.21 (+1.3w) in the 110m hurdles, the fastest time of the day and No. 2 all-time for Tech – just 0.01 off the top time.
Notables
- Stephen Mutai placed 4th overall in the 800m with a time of 1:47.16
- Desean Boyce paced the men’s 400m crew coming in 8th with a time of 45.56
- Due to weather, the men’s pole vault was moved to tomorrow at 2:40 p.m.
Up Next
The Tech women will start their day tomorrow beginning with the javelin at 2 p.m.
Release provided by Chris Duarte Texas Tech Athletics