TCU’s indoor track and field programs traveled to College Station to compete in the Texas A&M hosted meet last Saturday. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in second place behind several impressive individual performances.
Graduate transfer Kasey Staley broke the TCU indoor pole vaulting record the week before with a vault of 4.10 meters. In College Station, Staley finished in second in the event with a vault of 4.07 meters.
“It was an exciting record to break and was one of the only records that really meant something to me,” Staley said.
Despite breaking height records, Staley is focused on the indoor track and field postseason.
“One of my biggest goals for this indoor season is to qualify for nationals. My second biggest goal is to place at Big 12s, which is ironically as big of a goal as qualifying for nationals,” said Staley.
The women’s middle-distance runners also showed out for the Frogs. The three TCU representatives, Jasmine Muhammad-Graham, Lailah White and Rylan Engels finished first, second and third, respectively, in the 800s. Just under three seconds separated Muhammad-Graham and Engels.
“It felt great to be back after cross season,” Muhammad-Graham said. “I feel like the strength I’ve gained from cross country is translating onto the track.”
On the men’s side, senior Lakelin Conrad competed in the 3000 meter race, where he finished fifth with a personal best time of 8:30. After cross country season, moving to the track meant focusing on a new race goal for the veteran.
“The race went by pretty quick, it was a great feeling to PR (personal record) in my first 3k of the season,” Conrad said.
Two men’s sprinters, Robert Gregory and Jais Smith, both advanced to the finals in the 60 meter event. Gregory went on to win in a time of 6.76 seconds. Smith finished close behind, finishing fourth with a 6.84.
In the men’s 200 meter sprint, Tinotenda Matiyenga won in a time of 21.12 seconds. David Seete also won his event, the 400 meter sprint, in a time of 47.97.
Rainey Anderson finished third in the preliminaries with a time of 8.29 seconds, which earned him a spot in the finals. There, Anderson dropped a time of 8.07 to earn a second place finish.
Devin Robinson scored a podium spot in shot put. He claimed second place with a throw of 16.42 meters (53’10”). He was behind first place by a little over two meters.
With both the men and women placing second at this meet, the future looks promising for the Horned Frogs indoor and outdoor seasons. TCU will return to action this weekend (Jan. 28-29) in Lubbock at the Texas Tech Open and Multis.
