May 10, 2006

FT. WORTH, Texas - The TCU track and field team will be heading to Provo, Utah, to compete in the 2006 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week. The four-day meet will take place at the Clarence F. Robison Track on the campus of Brigham Young University starting Wednesday, May 10, and ending Saturday, May 13.

The first two days of the meet will feature the decathlon and heptathlon, while the field and running events will begin Friday, May 12.

The Flyin' Frogs are in their first year of competition in the MWC, but they have become a recognizable competitor within the league. The Frogs competed in the conference indoor track championships in February with both the men and women squads turning in third-place finishes.

History favors meet host BYU as the Cougars have been a dominating force in outdoor track and field. The Cougar men, currently tied at eighth in this week's Trackwire.com Top 25 ranking, have claimed all six team titles, while the women have won the team crown four times including the last two.

TCU has proven to be a strong contender as the men have been listed as high as 13th during the 2006 outdoor campaign. The men are currently tied at 19th in the latest Trackwire.com rankings, and boast a solid sprint core in Lewis Banda, Che Chavez, Jackson Langat, Otis McDaniel, Bradley Reed and Justyn Warner.

The Frog women have held their own ground without a national ranking. Virgil Hodge and Jamee Jones are the team's top two sprinters, respectively, in both the 100 and 200 meters, while hurdlers Julie Curtis, Kishelle Paul and Mary Minor have gained strength with every meet.


In addition, the Flyin' Frogs sit atop of the MWC in both the men and women 4x100 and 4x400 relays as each of the quartet posted season-best marks in their respective events at the 2006 Penn Relays.

TCU's 4x1 team of Delwayne Delaney, Warner, McDaniel and Reed ran a 39.89, while Paul, Hodge, J. Jones and D. Jones combined for a 43.93 in the women's race.

In the 4x4, Chavez, Delaney, Langat and Banda posted a 3:05.45 in the men's division, while the foursome of Marquita Davis, D. Jones, Paul and Nathandra John recorded a 3:34.16.

A young, talented group of throwers have shined for TCU in the field events this season. Joe Brown (men's javelin) and Candis Kelley (women's shot put) heads into the weekend as the league's top thrower in their respective events.

Brown opened the 2006 outdoor campaign at the Dr Pepper Invitational by shattering his own personal-best and school records in the javelin with a 222-05 (67.79m) toss, while Kelley's season-best output in the shot put came at the Bobby Lane UTA Invitational with a mark of 49-07.00 (15.11m).

Also solid in the circle for the Frogs are Tommy Killen, Joey Kramer and Zelma Wade. Killen ranks second in the MWC this season in the men's discus throw (189-11, 57.90m), while Kramer is 11th in the same event after landing a personal-best mark 157-03 (47.93m) at the UTA Invite.

Wade, the lone upperclassmen in the TCU field program, is listed in both the women's shot put and discus events with season-best marks. The junior is listed fourth in the shot put (46-02.50, 14.08m) and seventh in the discus (148-01, 45.15m).

TCU will face seven others schools in the men's division (Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming), while all nine schools compete in the women's field.

Livestats will be available on the MWC web site for the first time in league outdoor track and field championship history.

Championship results can be found at http://themwc.cstv.com/champ/otrack-champ-2006.html.