It was a weekend full of competition across the board for the Horned Frogs at home and on the road. Here’s all you need to know from what took place in the final days of January.
TRACK AND FIELD
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field won a combined nine events at the New Mexico Team Invitational on Saturday, with each team finishing third overall in their respective division.
The men’s team found its groove immediately out of the gate, as junior Kevin McClanahan and freshman Jostyn Andrews took home the top two spots in the 600 meter, with times of 1:18.52 and 1:20.46. The women’s team also fared well in the 600, as senior Tiffany Terry finished first with a time of 1:32.02.
Other notable performances from the invitational include junior Scotty Newton’s sweep of the jumping events, sophomore Kayla Heard’s first-place, personal-best time of 53:77 in the 400 meter and sophomore Brenley Goertzen’s second place time of 4:51.84 in the mile run, the third fastest in school history.
MEN’S TENNIS
The No. 12 Horned Frogs started the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on a high note, sweeping University of the Pacific 4-0 in the opening round Saturday in Fort Worth. Both the No. 1 pairing of sophomore Reese Stalder and senior Jerry Lopez and the No. 2 pairing of sophomore Alex Rybakov and junior Guillermo Nunez recorded 6-2 wins in the doubles matches.
Stalder, Nunez and Rybakov went on to win the singles matches by respective scores of 6-3/6-0, 6-2/6-2 and 6-4/6-4 to complete the sweep, extending the Frogs’ home winning streak to 31 matches.
The streak came to an end on Sunday, as TCU couldn’t get past Utah State in a tightly contested affair, dropping the match 4-3. The Frogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead with wins in the doubles to open up the match, but the Aggies stormed back with four wins in the singles for the victory. The Horned Frogs are now 2-2 on the season with the loss.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
The Horned Frogs began their weekend with a sweep, blanking Wichita State 4-0 at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Sophomore Marie Norris was dominant; she recorded 6-2 and 6-0 victories for the second point in the win. Senior Olaya Garrido-Rivas followed up with 6-2 and 6-4 wins to push the Frogs even closer to victory. The win kept the program undefeated against Wichita State all-time, now 7-0 when facing the Shockers.
TCU would suffer somewhat of a role reversal on Sunday however, getting swept by the hosting No. 5 Oklahoma State Cowgirls. Garrido-Rivas and junior Donika Bashota recorded an upset win over the No. 16 duo of Vladica Babic and Carla Tur Mari in the opening doubles, but the Frogs went on to drop the point on the final court. The loss moved TCU to 3-1 in the season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL – Iowa State 72, TCU 69
The Horned Frogs had two chances at a three-pointer to send the game into overtime in Ames on Saturday, but couldn’t get either shot to find the basket. The Frogs dropped to 10-11 overall and 2-8 in Big 12 play with the loss.
The trip started off on a rocky note before the game even began, as tip-off was five hours late due to travel delays for TCU. The delay didn’t faze the Frogs at first–they shot out to a 22-8 lead in the first quarter. The Cyclones would cut the lead to just three at halftime, and it remained a back and forth affair until Iowa State took a 70-69 lead late.
Junior Toree Thompson led the Frogs with 17 points, just one of four Horned Frogs to score double-digit points in the loss. Senior Jada Butts recorded 14 points, followed by redshirt sophomore Amy Okonkwo at 12 and sophomore Jordan Moore at 10.
The loss may be even more sour considering TCU beat ISU 30-18 in the paint and held the Cyclones to a 27.9 shooting percentage, the lowest of any opponent in conference play this season. The contest marked just the second time this season that the Horned Frogs lost despite outshooting their opponent.
MEN’S BASKETBALL – Auburn 88, TCU 80
The team dropped their season-high fourth straight contest, falling to Auburn 88-80 at the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. The Frogs kept it close for the majority of the contest until the Tigers pulled away with a 26-2 run in the second half. Garrett Podell has the full story on the loss.
