Track and field heads to Texas A&M tomorrow

The track & field team will compete with a sense of purpose Saturday at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, head track & field coach Darryl Anderson said.

“One thing we would like to see is better performance all the way across the board, more confidence and a sense of purpose in their competing,” Anderson said.

He said TCU would compete in all the events including sprinting, long distance, field events and hurdles.

Anderson said fans should look out for senior Whitney Gipson and junior Charles Silmon, who have both competed extremely well.

Silmon won his first place honors at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., in the men’s 60-meter race with a time of 6.71 seconds. This was the second honor for Silmon and the third for TCU overall, according to GoFrogs.com.

Also at the Razorback Invitational, Gipson earned third place in the women’s long jump with her top score at 6.21 meters.

Both athletes were named as the Indoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week for the Mountain West Conference Jan. 17, and Silmon received the title again for the week of Jan. 30.

Additionally, Anderson said he would like to see some growth in some of the younger athletes in order to get ready for the conference championships.

TCU will compete against the University of Alabama, Baylor University, the University of Houston, the University of Missouri, the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Southern California, Rice Universty and Texas A&M.

Texas A&M is the defending national champion and is ranked No. 8 for men’s events and No. 9 for women’s events, Anderson said. Baylor is ranked No. 15 for women’s events.

TCU is ranked No. 88 overall for men’s events and No. 39 for women’s events.

This is the last tour before the Mountain West Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.