Dominant at the Big 12 meet and ranked No. 1 in Division I in his event, Terrence Jones was as close to a sure thing as Texas Tech had going into the NCAA indoor track and field championships.
Now the lanky Bahamian has an NCAA title to underscore his status as one of college track's top sprinters.
Jones won the 60 meters Saturday in 6.46 seconds, one one-hundredth of a second off the collegiate record that he tied last year. Like usual, Jones got his 6-foot-4 frame rolling and pulled away over the second half of the race, winning by nine one-hundredths of a second in an event that, at the highest levels, is frequently decided by a narrower margin.
"Terrence really just destroyed that field, to be honest with you, with his time," Red Raiders coach Wes Kittley said in a post-meet interview with Tech athletics.
Texas Tech had only one individual champion over the two-day meet at the Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center, but Jones' 10 points and eight apiece from runners-up Zach Bradford in the pole vault and Caleb Dean in the 60-meter hurdles fueled the Red Raiders to a fifth-place finish as a team.
"Two NCAA runner-ups and one national champion was pretty impressive," Kittley said.
The top four teams at the NCAA meet earn a team trophy, and the Red Raiders landed just off the podium for the fifth time in the past decade. Since 2013, the Tech men have finished fifth three times and sixth twice at the NCAA indoor.
Dean, a 400-meter hurdles specialist at Maryland, burst onto the short hurdles scene after transferring to Tech this school year. He ran a 7.59 for second place, and Tech freshman Antoine Andrews ran 7.73 for sixth, which counts for three points.
Arkansas swept the team championships, the men with 63 points and the women with 64. Behind Arkansas in the men's competition were Georgia with 40 points, Florida with 34, Washington with 31 and Texas Tech with 29.
"It was a good day today," Kittley said. "You've just got to be perfect. One or two little things, and we'd have been on the podium."
The Red Raiders' chances were diminished Friday night when Courtney Lindsey, the Big 12 champion and pre-meet No. 1 in the 200 meters, failed to advance out of the semifinals. Denim Rogers set personal and school records in the heptathlon with 5,948 points, but finished 10th, two spots out of scoring. Chris Welch also wound up 10th in the triple jump with a mark of 53-1 1/2.
Athletes that finish in the top eight at an NCAA championship meet are accorded first-team all-America status, and those who finish ninth through 16th are designated second-team all-Americans.
Two Tech women achieved first-team all-America status with Demisha Roswell taking fifth place in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.00 seconds and Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta placing fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 46 feet, 7 1/4 inches. It was a personal record for Fosther-Katta and the third-best mark all-time by a Tech woman indoors.
NCAA INDOOR
TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center
Saturday's results
(Texas Tech athletes only)
Field events
Triple jump: 5. Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta, 46 feet, 7 1/4 inches; 11. Onaara Obamuwagun, 44-5 1/2.
Running events
60-meter hurdles: 5. Demisha Roswell, 8.00 seconds.
MEN
Combined events
Heptathlon: 10. Denim Rogers, 5,948 points.
Field events
High jump: 13. Omamuyovwi Erhire, 7 feet, 0 1/4 inch.
Triple jump: 10. Chris Welch, 53-1 1/2.
Running events
60 meters: 1. Terrence Jones, 6.46
60-meter hurdles: 2. Caleb Dean, 7.59; 6. Antoine Andrews, 7.73.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Terrence Jones wins NCAA title, leads Tech men to 5th place
