Breaking down Texas Tech track & field best hopes at NCAA championships

Texas Tech track and field teams wrap up the school year with the NCAA outdoor championships that start Wednesday in Eugene, Oregon. The four-day meet unfolds at Hayward Field, the men's competition on Wednesday and Friday, the women's on Thursday and Saturday.

ESPN2 is scheduled to air coverage at 6:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday, and ESPN will show coverage at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Additional online streaming is scheduled each day on ESPN+.

The Tech men go into the meet No. 6 and the women No. 8 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association weekly index.

The men won the outdoor-season national championship in 2019 and the indoor-season national title this year, making that the standard. Realistically, the Red Raiders have no chance to win it all this time. That was virtually assured by Terrence Jones's failing to qualify for the NCAA postseason in the 100 and the 200 meters. The three-time NCAA champion was dogged by a hamstring injury all spring.

The Red Raiders still can make noise. Four Tech women and four Tech men competing this week have scored in individual events at previous NCAA championships.

NCAA West regional: Texas Tech track and field gets school records from Caleb Dean, 1,600 relay

NCAA West regional: Rosemary Chukwuma, Juliet Cherubet lead banner day for Texas Tech track and field

Texas Tech women's best hopes at NCAA championships

■ Ruta Lasmane, triple jump: The Latvian senior has achieved first-team all-America status six times in the triple jump. She had three third-place finishes at NCAA meets, a fourth and a fifth before she won her first individual NCAA title at the 2024 indoor championships.

■ Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta, triple jump: The graduate student from France placed fifth at the 2023 indoor championships and seventh at the 2023 outdoor.

■ Rosemary Chukwuma, 100 meters: A senior from Nigeria, Chukwuma is tied for the fourth fastest women's 100 in the world this year, a school record 10.88 seconds that she ran at the NCAA West regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The three-time Big 12 champion has been fourth and sixth at the past two NCAA outdoor meets.

■ Temitope Adeshina, high jump: The 25-year-old freshman from Nigeria burst onto the scene stateside in January by clearing 6 feet, 5 inches, a top-10 women's collegiate jump all-time. She's not cleared that height since, but took fourth at the NCAA indoor.

■ Juliet Cherubet, 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters: The Kenyan freshman has been one of the stories of the postseason for the Red Raiders. She was women's co-high scorer at the Big 12 championships, finishing first in the 1,500 and second in the 5,000. Then she won the 1,500 at the NCAA West preliminaries.

Texas Tech men's best hopes at NCAA championships

■ Caleb Dean, 400-meter hurdles: The Maryland transfer placed fourth at last year's NCAA championships — with an undiagnosed foot fracture, no less — and won the 60-meter hurdles at this year's NCAA indoor. The 48.05 he ran at the NCAA West regional is sixth in the world this year, third among collegians.

■ Oskar Edlund, 400-meter hurdles: The junior from Sweden has set personal records in each of the past two meets, running 48.82 for third place at the Big 12 championships and 48.70 for fourth at the NCAA West regional.

■ Omamuyovwi Erhire, high jump: This is the fifth NCAA championships for Erhire. The transfer from Middle Tennessee State has achieved first-team all-America status twice, finishing seventh for the Blue Raiders at the 2022 indoor and fifth for the Red Raiders at the 2024 indoor.

■ Ernest Cheruiyot, 10,000 meters: The Big 12 champion in the indoor 5,000, Cheruiyot is ranked second in Division I in the 10,000 with the time he ran in mid-April in Azusa, California: 27 minutes, 52.13 seconds.

■ 400- and 1,600-meter relays: Josh Bour, Shawn Brown, Jack Marshall and Antoine Andrews ran Tech's season best, 38.84, six weeks ago at home. Expect to see Terrence Jones run the anchor leg. In the 1,600 relay, Carl Hicks, Charlie Bartholomew, Bour and Shaemar Uter ran a school-record 3:01.58 at the NCAA West regional.

Flying Pig Marathon's umbrella organization names new president, CEO

The Flying Pig Marathon announced a new leader.

Pig Works, the organization behind the Flying Pig Marathon and other Cincinnati races, announced in a news release Wednesday that Doug Olberding will be its new president and CEO.

Former CEO Iris Simpson Bush, who has held the executive director position since 2002, will move into the role of Director of Community Engagement at Pig Works.

Olberding has been a board member of the Flying Pig Marathon for more than 20 years and has completed seven marathons.

He recently retired from Xavier University where he chaired the Department of Sports Studies for 14 years and co-currently served as associate professor in sports science and management for 25 years, according to his LinkedIn.

He is an expert in the field of sports economics and created the formula for the Flying Pig Marathon economic impact report, the release said.

“I have great passion for our mission, and I am committed to continuing the incredible work of Iris and this all-star staff, bringing opportunities for health, fitness, and fun to participants of all abilities," Olberding said in the release.