Mapaya, Beckford Win Big 12 Titles

Saturday, February 23

Lubbock, Texas

All Day

TCU

Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship

Mapaya, Beckford Win Big 12 Titles

2/23/2019 9:14:00 PM | Men's Indoor Track, Women's Indoor Track

Complete Results

LUBBOCK, Texas – TCU track and field concluded competition at the 2019 Big 12 Indoor Championships on Saturday. On a day filled with personal and season-bests, a pair of conference titles were the highlight for TCU. Sophomore Chengetayi Mapaya won the men's triple jump while newcomer Lily Beckford won the women's 600-yard.

CONFERENCE CHAMPS
The men's triple jump featured several of the top jumpers in the nation. Entering the meet, Mapaya ranked sixth, while Texas Tech's top two jumpers ranked fifth and seventh. Mapaya rose to the occasion, taking home the title with a school-record jump of 16.83m (55-2.75). His jump also broke Scotty Newton's conference meet record from last year.

After pacing the field in the 600-yard prelims with a time of 1:19.97, Beckford carried her momentum into Saturday's finals where she ran 1:19.69, the top time in the conference this season.

4X400 RELAYS
Both of TCU's 4x400 relays improved their season marks on Saturday. The men's relay, consisting of Darrion Flowers, Tinotenda Matiyenga, Emmanuel Ogwo, and Derrick Mokaleng, ran 3:05.73 and finished second by .15 seconds. Entering the meet ranked No.14 in the TFRRS performance list, Saturday's time puts the team in prime position to qualify for the NCAA indoor meet.

In the women's race, Asiah Fields, Kiana Banks, Kennedy Crawford, and Beckford shaved nearly three seconds off their season-best time, running 3:36.74 and won their heat. Overall, the team finished fourth.

ON THE PODIUM
TCU had a pair of finalists in the men's 600-yard. Mokaleng finished second with a time of 1:07.75, breaking his own school record and ranking amongst the top times in collegiate history. Jostyn Andrews followed in sixth with a personal-best time of 1:09.51.

In the men's 200m, Matiyenga finished with a sixth-place time of 21.04.

Tarrick Brock represented TCU in the men's 60m finals, where he finished fifth with a time of 6.69. In the women's 60 finals, freshman Jenea Spinks scored points for TCU with an eighth -place finish.

Brooklin Klopf had a career day in the women's shot put, reaching the finals and placing eighth with a personal-best throw of 14.41m.

In the men's 60 hurdles, freshman Rainey Anderson scored a point with an eighth-place finish, while Kelby Caplinger scored points for TCU with a seventh-place finish in the men's 800m.

COACH'S THOUGHTS
"I felt like we had some improvements this weekend," head track and field coach Darryl Anderson said. "On the women's side, we're young. The growing pains coming into this type of environment, it's a culture shock. But, I feel good about the talent that we have in a bunch of areas. The mile relays both ran well. The women finished fourth with a seasonal-best and they're a young group. The men ran 3:05 which should punch their ticket to the national meet. Those guys were seventh last year at the NCAA meet and ran 3:04 and it's the exact same group this year. There's a reason they are not at that point yet: they have not been able to do the things training wise that we were able to do last year. But now, they're starting to turn the corner and they stepped up today to get that spot in the national meet. Our new people like Jenea Spinks, Lily Beckford, and Destiny Longmire did a great job this weekend. Then on the men's side, you have Du (Mapaya), a sophomore, jump 55 feet today, one of the best jumps in the country. Now, he has a chance to win the national meet. We have pockets on our team that are really good and very competitive. We're going to continue to grow because our talent is there. I feel good about where we are and will continue to move forward.

"We're always without a roof and now, heading into outdoors, everyone is going to be without a roof. Coming into Texas Tech, who won the men's meet, and you walk into this place and it's the Taj Mahal. It's great for recruiting and performance. Then some of the other schools have indoor facilities as well for when it's cold. If you don't have one, you work with what you have. Texas weather is bipolar and this season was brutal on our training. That's the reality of it. But now everyone is moving outside and we all have to deal with the same environment. All the meets are outside and everyone trains outside. And if I know anything about Texas weather, at some point, it's going to get hot. When it gets hot, it's going to benefit us. We're not far off from where we need to be. We will move forward and we will continue to get better."

UP NEXT
Following the conclusion of the conference meets across NCAA DI, the TFRRS performance list will determine who qualifies for the NCAA Indoor Championship. For TCU, Mapaya, Longmire, and Mokaleng all ranked in the top 16 of their respective events entering the meet and Saturday's time for the men's 4x400 relay should move the team into the top 12. The NCAA meet is scheduled for March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala.