Horned Frog Invitational opens outdoor track season with a bang

More than 12 high school and college teams took part in day-long event at TCU. Frogs earned 12 regional qualifying marks; UNT wins two gold medals in the high jump; UT Arlington seniors qualify for NCAA regionals.

Competing in the inaugural Horned Frog Invitational were TCU, UTA, North Texas, Illinois (women only) and St. Gregory's (men only). The meet also included seven area high schools, including Keller, O.D. Wyatt, Dallas Madison, Dallas Carter, Southwest (boys only), Dunbar (girls only), Skyline (girls only) and North Crowley (girls only). Full results here.

TCU

With a gusty wind and temperatures in the high 70s, TCU opened its 2007 outdoor season with a bang on Saturday by recording 12 regional qualifying marks in the inaugural Horned Frog Invitational.

In what is the first of a school-record two home meets this spring, the Flyin' Frogs compiled 16 first-place finishes to go along with their 12 NCAA regional qualifying marks. Joining TCU at the meet were UTA, North Texas, Illinois (women) and St. Gregory's (men). The meet also included a separate division for area high schools.

"Overall, top to bottom, I thought we did a super job," head coach Darryl Anderson said. "We are competing harder and better. We've got to continue to do this all the way through the conference championships in May. I was quite pleased with how we competed."

TCU earned 11 of its 12 regional qualifying marks on the track, including three by the Frogs' relay teams. TCU's 4x400 men's (Jones, Delaney, Cooper, Guy) and women's (D. Jones, J. Jones, Blaylock, John) relay teams each earned victories and the women's team earned a regional qualifying mark. Both 4x100 relay teams picked up regional qualifying marks, but the men's team (Delaney, Warner, Guy, Cooper) placed second while the women (Paul, Hodge, J. Jones, Blaylock) finished first.

Earning NCAA regional marks on the women's side were Virgil Hodge (100 meters), Deborah Jones (400 meters), Jamee Jones (100 meters), Candis Kelley (shot put) and Kishelle Paul (100-meter hurdles).

On the men's side, Jay Cooper, Delwayne Delaney (100 meters), Dell Guy (400 meters) and Justyn Warner (100 meters) each earned regional qualifying marks.

Individually, Jamee Jones, Jay Cooper and Delwayne Delaney paced TCU with three regional qualifying marks apiece. All three earned their marks in the 100 meters and as members of the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

Four members of the men's team won individual events. Winning events were Dell Guy (400 meters), Joe Brown (javelin), Trey Jordan (shot put) and Festus Kigen (1500 meters). The women's team had nine student-athletes win events. The first-place finishers were Virgil Hodge (100 meters), Kishelle Paul (400-meter hurdles), Halie Bullin (3000 meters), Neidra Covington (long jump), Deborah Jones (400 meters), Candis Kelley (shot put), Leslie Starnes (pole vault), Calandra Stewart (1500 meters) and Zelma Wade (discus).

In addition to the first-place finishes TCU also set numerous personal bests. McKale Davis finished second in the 1500 meters with a career-best mark of 4:50.43. Jamee Jones placed second in the 100 meters with a personal-best clocking of 11.40. Delaney posted a personal-best time of 10.29 in the 100 meters. J.T. Reinert clocked a career-best time of 9:03.95 and just missed a first-place finish by less than five-tenths.

UNT

The Mean Green track and field team opened up the 2007 outdoor season by capturing a pair of gold medals in the high jump at the Horned Frog Invitational.

Seniors Mark Lee and Ryan Hill each took home the high jump crowns and took cracks at the NCAA regional qualifying marks. Lee, the reigning Sun Belt Conference outdoor champion, cleared 2.05 meters on his second jump to take first place over Andrew Duncan III of Texas-Arlington. Hill, the reigning Sun Belt women’s outdoor champion, went head-to-head with unattached jumper Tamika Toppin, and finished in tied for the top spot after each cleared 1.70 meters.

The throwers also had an impressive weekend as well, with Alana Tyler picking up where she left off in the indoor season. The sophomore opened her outdoor campaign by breaking the school record in the hammer throw, an event that was actually held on the North Texas campus on Friday. Tyler’s toss was good enough to pull in a second-place finish and top the old record of 45.47.

Heather Wood took a second-place medal in the shot put, throwing 14.13 meters in the process. She was second only to Candis Kelly of TCU who pulled out a regional-qualifying throw of 14.42 meters.

Lisa Nolting started the outdoor season well by capturing a third-place medal of her own in the long jump with a leap of 5.75 meters. The versatile senior also finished fourth in the 100-meter dash behind three regional-qualifying times.

In the men’s 1500-meter run the Mean Green placed five of its six runners within seven seconds of each other with senior Josh Rogers leading the team. Rogers’ time of 4:00.23 was good enough for third behind runners from TCU and Texas-Arlington.

Other notable performances include Shelly Hollingsworth who tied the school record in the pole vault. She cleared 3.35 meters on her second attempt to finish in fourth place.

UT Arlington

UT Arlington seniors Jared Connaughton and Coby Morrison qualified for the NCAA Regional Meet by winning the 100 and 100-meter races at the Horned Frog Invitational.

Connaughton turned in the top time in the Southland Conference this season with a time of 10.43 seconds in the 100 meters.

Morrison placed third in the 200 meters with the top collegiate time of 21.05 seconds. The time was the top time in the SLC this spring and qualified for the NCAA Regional Meet, May 26-27, in Des Moines, Iowa. He also equaled a personal best with a time of 10.59 for eighth-place in the 100 meters.

The Mavs' 4x100-meter relay clocked one of the top 10 times in program history with a 40.04 to qualify for the NCAA Regional.

Andrew Duncan III had a big day, winning the long jump with a personal-best leap of .689 meters (22-07.25). He also set personal bests in the triple jump (14.34 meters/47-00.75). Duncan equalled a personal best in the high jump with a height of 2.00 meters (6 -06.75).

Idilio Campos ran a time of 1:53.86 to win the 800 meters. The time is the second fastest in the SLC this season. Five runners scored in the top eight with Zach Davis (2nd/1:57.13), Ozie Hood (4th/1:57.19), Jeff Raines (5th/2:00.55) and Dustin Poe (7th/2:02.11).

Senior Koby Styles broke four minutes in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:56.83 for third place. Sophomore Ivan Pinal ran two seconds off his personal best with a 9:03.47 to win the 3,000 meters.

David Mannering won the hammer throw with a toss of 41.18 meters (135-01).

Senior McDowell won the 400-meter hurdles with a 54.93. Curtis Hoyle placed second with a 57.20.

Source: TCU, UNT, UT Arlinton