Last weekend at the Texas Tech Classic, the track and field teams brought home nine top-six finishes and two new indoor school records.

The Horned Frogs also added two athletes to the national rankings and nine to the Big 12 rankings in spite of the high level of competition.

Of the 21 teams in attendance, 11 were nationally ranked including the top five teams. TCU, unlike most nationally ranked teams, does not practice throughout the holiday break due to inconsistent weather and lack of an indoor training facility.

“We’ve been bogged down with the weather when it comes to our training, but at the end of the day, we’ve been through this before,” head coach Darryl Anderson said. “We’ll take the next couple of weeks and if the weather cooperates, we’ll be fine.”

Despite the limitations, a handful of team members elevated their game in the face of tough competition.

Derrick Mokaleng and Chengetayi Mapaya started off the meet by recording national marks.

Mokaleng ran a 46.23 in the men’s 400m, taking third place in the event, and earning the seventh fastest time in the NCAA this season.

Also placing third in his event and sixth nationally was Mapaya, who competed in the triple jump, producing a 16.31m. This jump was a mere three inches short of his third-place score at last year’s NCAA indoor championships.

Tinotenda Matiyenga and Tarrick Brock also had strong performances in the men’s 60m, both advancing to the semi-finals. Neither advanced to the finals, but Matiyenga ran a personal-best time of 6.74, earning him a spot at number seven in the Big 12 rankings.

In women’s 60m action, all three Frog entries advanced to the semi-final round. Jenea Spinks ran a 7.48, sitting at No. 5 in the conference. Destiny Longmire is behind her in the Big 12 rankings at No. 6 for her 7.51 finish. Hope Glenn rounded out the group with a 7.57.

TCU’s pole vaulters continued to produce noteworthy results. Adam McAdoo took home the win and broke his indoor school record with a 4.88m jump.

In women’s pole vault, Kendahl Shue improved her indoor school record with a mark of 3.87m, taking home second place in the event.

Day two of the Texas Tech Classic saw strong performances from the women’s track and field team.

Destiny Longmire, an All-American long jumper, transferred to TCU this season from San Jose State. Demonstrating her national status, Longmire jumped 6.11 to finish fourth in the event and second in the Big 12.

The women’s 4x400m relay now sits at fourth in the conference after their season-best 3:38.68 finish. The group of Lily Beckford, Kiana Banks, Kayla Heard and Kennedy Crawford finished fourth in the relay.

Brooklin Klopf also placed at the Classic for her efforts in the women’s shot put. She finished sixth with a throw of 14.22m.

Sean Byrne had his indoor season debut this past weekend. The first-year distance runner placed fifth in the men’s mile, recording a time of 4:19.26.

Despite strong individual performances, TCU remains unranked in the national polls. Coach Anderson said he expects performance to increase as the weather gets warmer outside, and the team can practice more consistently.

“We have the people,” Anderson said. “On the men’s side, we have almost all of the same pieces we had last year. When you look at our 4×4, we ran 3:04 last year and that same group ran 3:07 last week. We just need better weather to properly train, get back to that level, and elapse that.”

Similarly, Anderson is optimistic about the potential of his women’s team, which includes a lot of new, young talent.

“On the women’s side, we have more talent, but we’re young and need to be able to train,” he said. “Our team will be fine when we can get consecutive weeks of proper training. Beyond that, overall, I thought everyone competed as well as they could.”

The Horned Frogs compete again next weekend as Texas A&M hosts the two-day Charlie Thomas Invitational.