Texas Tech Open

What a huge meet! Coach Langford should be very happy with what he saw!

Lots of teams who will push OU’s track and field team on both sides! Let’s get right into it!

Well, we’ll start with the running events first (ending with Multis!):

Men’s 800m (my event in HS/College):
Anass Mghari, SO- 1:50.45 (4th overall)
Race analysis: Stayed in contact with the leaders the whole time. The biggest issue was the back stretch of the bell lap. The leader and the guy right behind him both pushed, and Anass kinda just stayed at the same pace. The biggest fix here… lean forward. He would’ve been sub 1:50 had he leaned forward. Solid run. Strong run. Not easy running the race he ran. Only other complaint was his start, but seeing how his race tactic is.. It’s not a worry for me.
I wasn’t able to find a previous time for him in the indoor 800m, so congrats on the PR Anass!

Fernando Morales, JR- 1:51.40 (5th overall)
Race analysis: Was never in contention for the lead. Solid start, solid strong run. Final lap was by far his best lap. Video kept me out of watching a bunch of his race. But from the few points I could see… he stuck to the guy he was running with a little too long. Has to get by him and trust he can run without someone in-front of him.
Another PR!!!

Isaac Barrera, FR- 1:53.76 (11th overall)
Race Analysis: Very strong start. Got out fast, dictated the race speed. Got caught before the bell lap and responded nicely. VERY good finish. He will push this group before too long.
WHY NOT ANOTHER PR!!

Overall: Men’s 800m group has some work to do, but they are very strong for endurance. Need some speed and maybe a touch of confidence in themselves and this will be a super solid group for stealing some points in a major meet. 3 Personal Bests is a winning meet if you’re a coach!

Women’s 800m:
Edita Sklenska, SR- 2:10.11 (1st overall)
Race analysis: Wire-to-wire win. No contest after the first 200m (1st lap). Very relaxed and looked like she had more to give but knew what she had lined up and took it. Not much to analyze because she won by that much and took over by setting a solid pace to start.
Will be excited to see how she grows throughout the indoor season.

She didn’t PR, but it matches my analysis that she had gas in the tank. PR = 2:07.27
Edita will be SUPER exciting for OU’s middle distance group!

Sierra Williams, JR- 2:12.94 (4th overall)

Race analysis: Here’s one I’m going to be a little more critical of since I saw 3 major issues:

1. She saw her teammate take off and didn’t respond. You know your teammates more than anyone else on that track. Let her push you, don’t get caught up trying to stick to someone that isn’t your teammate. Never could get around the woman in-front of her.

2. When she did try and pass on the bell lap (too late), she tried passing on the 1st banked turn. Indoor 800m you NEVER do that. You end up running more distance as you’re going up the bank. You pass right in the middle of the bank and use that momentum to push you. She never recovered here.

3. She didn’t run through the line and got passed by someone she should’ve beat. You will see me talk about this every time I see it.

Overall, she did run very good. Clean up those mistakes and she also runs 2:10 and maybe even faster with Edita. Lots to work on, but I’d be more concerned if this was the Big 12 Indoor Championship rather than her first meet of the year. Sierra will be better, too much race experience to let this hold her back.

Just missed out on a PR, clean up her race and she’s smashing her PR by next meet!

Overall: Work to do. I don’t think we saw the best out of both and that is VERY encouraging. Just clean some race stuff up and this group is probably your winner between the men’s and women’s group.

Women’s Mile:
Yazmine Wright, SR- 4:48.59 (1st overall)
Race Analysis: Strong start, used Edita (rabbit) perfectly. Dominant run through 600m. Through 1000m, just no one around her. Dominate so far. To the bell lap, she slowed up big time, but had a big enough lead to get away with it.
Came very close to her PR. Think she does PR if she had any competition around her.

Gabi Barrera, SO- 5:00.90 (4th overall)
Race Analysis: Tried front running in her group as Yazmine just took over this race very early. She ran out of steam in the bell lap. I couldn’t see a bunch of her race as it was focused on Yazmine so much. But from what I could hear, she might have used too much gas too early. But a very strong run from what I could see, just needs to work on her bell lap and she’s sub-5.
Did not PR but will should very easily before the indoor season ends if she runs this race again.

Edita Sklenska, SR- DNF
Race Analysis: Trying a back-to-back event run. Almost unheard of for a middle distance runner to do this. As a rabbit, she killed it!

Overall: Very good showing from OU’s middle distance team. Got some race tactics to clean up, got some speed to incorporate, and this unit will be super solid for OU.
To be breaking PRs or coming very close to breaking PRs in the first meet they ran in for the season is a very good sign that they haven’t had any drop offs. This is a very good base for the middle distance team and a very promising start of the indoor season for them. Hannah Fields (Distance Coach) should be very, very excited about how this unit performed
Will they be a constant in scoring points? Maybe, really depends on the jump they take between now and the next indoor meet they participate in! Very happy with the showing they put up Saturday!

Now for the stars of the meet: THE MULI EVENT ATHLETES!
Can’t say enough how hard multi-events are and everyone should marvel at this. I wasn’t able to catch any that might have been on video, but I know how the points work out and how hard these events are for these athletes.

We’ll start off with the Women’s Multi-Event Athletes:
Ariel Pedigo, SO- 3634 (14th overall)
Analysis from points: Never could really get going. She wasn’t as close to her PR as I would like, but again. Meets like this happens. You wake up wrong, or you just can’t get going right and it throws everything off. She’ll be better, I have 0 questions about that!

Pippi Lotta Enok, SO- 4049 (5th overall)
Analysis: PRs in almost every single event, and a PR in her overall score. Great start to her season. She needs to start working on the build from this meet.

Overall: Pippi Lotta Enok and Ariel will end up being a very solid multi-unit for OU. Jerel Langley should be very pleased with the start from Pippi Lotta Enok and I would imagine it’s a “Hey, put it behind you, let’s kill the next one” talk for Ariel. But he has to be happy with the way this unit started the season!

Men’s Multi-Athletes:
Nikolaj Groenbech, FR- 5286 (11th overall)
Analysis: Being a freshman, he PR’d in all his events as a college athlete. With the competition that was on the men’s side of things, this is a very good start to his career as a multi-athlete.
He will be one to watch VERY closely moving forward!

Kristo Simulask, SR- 5802, school record (6th overall)
Analysis: What better way to start your indoor season with a 60m PR, SP PR, and breaking your own school record in the Heptathlon. Kristo is, in my opinion, primed for a HUGE year. Really only has to clean up his 60H and he’ll contend with anyone in the Heptathlon field! Amazing start!

Overall: Men’s Heptathlon is OU’s strongest unit shown in meets so far! This is going to be an amazing year for Jarel Langley’s unit!

A very good showing even if it wasn’t the full assortment of the team for Coach Langford’s OU Track and field Team. But he has a ton to be excited for and I think this is why we saw this Reel

Picture credit: @OU_Track on twitter