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Tech to offer athletes $5,980 annually in academic awards
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- Tech to offer athletes $5,980 annually in academic awards
Texas Tech will give its scholarship athletes a chance to receive up to $5,980 a year in academic-achievement awards, the maximum established in recent court rulings that went against the NCAA.
Tech announced Wednesday a plan under which its scholarship athletes can receive up to $2,990 a semester — $1,990 for being eligible, on track to graduate on time and in good standing with his or her team and $1,000 based on grade-point average and other off-field requirements.
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Tech said the benefits will be privately funded from amounts raised by the Red Raider Club. The program will begin with the 2022 fall semester.
A number of power-five conference schools, among them Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Clemson, have announced similar plans.
Plaintiffs in Alston v. the NCAA successfully argued that NCAA restrictions on education-related benefits under the premise of amateurism violate antitrust laws. The Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision last June, upheld the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
When the Division I Council addressed the matter, the NCAA wrote, "Schools and conferences also may provide an academic or graduation award or incentive that has a value up to the maximum value of awards an individual student-athlete could receive in an academic year in participation, championship or special achievement awards (combined).
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"The limit on academic incentive payments mirrors an order entered by the U.S. District Court's order setting the annual maximum at $5,980. The injunction permits these benefits but does not require schools to offer them. The injunction also allows a conference to set its own limit if it chooses to do so."
The Big 12 announced in October it would give its member schools the discretion to provide the full $5,980 in education-related benefits and academic awards. It gave the schools the discretion to determine how to go about it.
Women's tennis
Texas Tech takes on UC Santa Barbara at 5 p.m. Friday and SMU at 1 p.m. Sunday, both non-conference matches in Dallas.
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Tech (6-3) beat Arizona, then lost to No. 18 Wake Forest and Furman last weekend at the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama.
UC Santa Barbara (6-5) is coming off a 4-3 upset of No. 12 Southern California on Saturday. SMU (6-5), in home matches Sunday and Monday, lost to Arkansas and Wisconsin and beat UT-Arlington.
Track and field
Texas Tech has 10 men and eight women who qualified for and have been accepted into the NCAA indoor track and field championships next week in Birmingham, Alabama.
Sprinter Jacolby Shelton and horizontal jumper Ruth Usoro each qualified in two events, Shelton in the 60 meters and the 200 meters and Usoro in the long jump and the triple jump.
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The NCAA announced the official list on Wednesday. The NCAA championships are March 11-12 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
The other Tech women's qualifiers are Sidney Sapp in the high jump, Chloe Wall in the pole vault, Monae' Nichols in the long jump, Ruta Lasmane and Onaara Obamuwagun in the triple jump, Rosemary Chukwuma in the 60 meters and Demisha Roswell in the 60-meter hurdles.
Tech's Terrence Jones has been No. 1 in the men's 60 meters nearly all season after he tied the NCAA record in that event in January, but he suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in February.
The other Tech men's qualifiers are Caleb Wilborn in the high jump, Jalen Seals in the triple jump, Gabriel Oladipo in the weight throw, Gary Haasbroek in the heptathlon, Courtney Lindsey in the 200 meters, Moad Zahafi and Marco Vilca in the 800 and Vashaun Vascianna in the 60-meter hurdles.
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Vascianna on Wednesday was named the Big 12 men's outstanding freshman. The Jamaican hurdler won the 60-meter hurdles at last week's Big 12 indoor championships and is ranked sixth this season in Division I.
The Tech men are No. 5 and the Tech women No. 8 in this week's performance-based ratings by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Several other former area athletes also qualified for the NCAA championships. UT-Arlington's Bryson DeBerry from Plainview, a first-team all-American last year, made it again in the high jump.
DeBerry, Alabama's Khaleb McRae in the 400 meters, Stephen F. Austin's Asani Hylton in the heptathlon and South Florida's Romaine Beckford and DeBerry all competed previously for South Plains College.
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Texas A&M's Deborah Acquah, who qualified in the long jump and the triple jump, competed previously at Western Texas College.
Tech leaders
The following Texas Tech athletes have qualified and been accepted for the NCAA indoor track and field championships March 11-12 in Birmingham, Alabama. They are shown with their ranking in NCAA Division I and best mark or time this season. Note: An "a" denotes times or marks converted to account for performances at higher altitude.
Women
Field Events
High jump: 6. Sidney Sapp, 6 feet, 2 inches.
Pole vault: 13. Chloe Wall, 14-4.
Long jump: 2. Monae' Nichols, 21-10 1/4; 5. Ruth Usoro, 21-7 1/2.
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Triple jump: 5. Ruta Lasmane, 45-5 1/4; 6. Ruth Usoro, 44-9 3/4; 14. Onaara Obamuwagun, 44-0.
Running Events
60 meters: 7. Rosemary Chukwuma, 7.17 seconds.
60 hurdles: 12. Demisha Roswell, a-8.02.
Men
Field Events
High jump: 10. Caleb Wilborn, 7 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
Triple jump: 8. Jalen Seals, 53-6 1/4.
Weight throw: 16. Gabriel Oladipo, 71-10 3/4.
Combined Events
Heptathlon: 8. Gary Haasbroek, 5,833 points.
Running Events
60 meters: 1. Terrence Jones, a-6.47 seconds; 11. Jacolby Shelton, a-6.60.
200: 6. Courtney Lindsey, a-20.63; 16. Jacolby Shelton, a-20.76.
800: 2. Moad Zahafi, a-1 minute, 45.99 seconds; 14. Marco Vilca, a-1:47.66.
60 hurdles: 6. Vashaun Vascianna, a-7.66.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech to offer athletes $5,980 annually in academic awards
