Horned Frog Sports Roundup: Jan. 25, 2023

Women’s Tennis: The Frogs had two matches over the weekend, both in Fort Worth. They faced off against UTSA on Friday and Northwestern State on Saturday and were dominant on both days. TCU secured the win over UTSA by a score of 7-0 to open the regular season after a preseason tournament earlier in the year. UTSA was only playing with 5 players and therefore surrendered one doubles match to the Frogs by default. The Frogs needed just 1 doubles win after that to secure the point and Helena Narmont and Yu-Chin Tsai won against UTSA’s second pairing by a score of 6-3. The Frogs were also winning the top doubles matchup 5-2 when Tsai and Narmont clinched the point. The Frogs also got a singles win by default due to UTSA not being able to field a 6th singles competitor. Mercedes Arestigui, Jade Otway, Tsai, and Narmont all won their singles matches in 2 sets while Destinee Martins did a nice job battling back after dropping the first set to win the match in 3 sets.

The match on Saturday was another sweep from TCU as they defeated Northwestern State by a score of 6-0. Narmont and Tsai had an excellent performance in doubles yet again, winning the match 6-1. Destinee Martins and Margaret Polk secured the doubles point for the Frogs against the 3rd pairing from Northwestern State by a score of 6-2. The top pairing of Aristegui and Otway was once again firmly in the lead when the point was clinched for the Frogs with a score of 5-3. The singles matchups were more of the same as no Frog lost a set in their matches against Northwestern State as Aristegui, Otway, and Narmont all recorded 6-0 sets in their singles matches. The Frogs will look to continue their hot start back in Fort Worth with two matches against SEC opponents on back-to-back days against Alabama on Saturday, February 4th, and against Ole Miss on Sunday, February 5th.

Men’s Tennis: The Frogs hit the road for the first time this season as they traveled to Tulsa to take on the Golden Hurricane last Sunday. TCU continued its strong start to the season with a 6-1 victory. The Frogs’ dominance in doubles continued with a 6-1 victory from Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba in the number 2 position and a 6-3 win from Pedro Vives and Sebastian Gorzny in the number 3 position. The number 1 pairing of Sander Jong and Lui Maxted for TCU was ahead 5-4 as well when the doubles point was clinched. The Frogs have still yet to lose a doubles match this season. Jong, Fearnley, Fomba, Maxted, and Gorzny all won their singles match for the Frogs in two sets while Pedro Vives battled but ultimately lost his match in a very close two sets. The Frogs are back in action this weekend as an ITA kickoff weekend host and 1 seed and will face the 4 seed Gonzaga on Saturday and either Texas Tech or Utah on Sunday.

Track and Field: TCU track and field sent representatives to two different meets this past weekend with Frogs running in the distance-only meet at Vanderbilt in Nashville on Friday and Saturday along with a meet in Lubbock on Friday at the Red Raider Open. Two Frogs came away with wins in the events on the first day in Nashville with Ryan Martin finishing first in the 1,000 meter thanks to a personal best time of 2:23.69. Sophomore Graydon Morris was the top runner in the 5,000 meter with an overall time of 14:19.64. Stone Burke finished in the top 10 of the 5,000 meter coming in 9th and and Corey Hatchel finished top 10 in the 1,000 meter as well. The Frogs had two top 5 finishers in the women’s 5k in Nashville as Mariana Martinez and Peyton Mcquillan both had very good races coming in second and fourth respectively.

Mcquillan followed that run up with another strong day on Saturday by running a personal best mile time of 5:06.70. Gracie Morris had a great race on Saturday too as she won the 3,000 meter with a time of 9:31.49. Morris was a star for TCU Cross Country in the fall, qualifying for the NCAA National Championship meet in the 1500 meter, and has continued to be a big-time contributor for Track and Field. Josh Benford had a very solid showing on Day 2 of the Nashville meet as well as he placed 27th in the 800 meter. Noah Winters was the top runner for the Frogs in the mile placing 38th overall.

The Red Raider Invitational was a very successful one for the Frogs. Gavin Champ headlined the performance with a second place finish in triple jump. Ben Kirbo had a solid performance in pole vault coming in 8th overall. Jaren Holmes and Patrick Sylla both competed in the long jump for TCU and both had top 10 finishes, coming in 3rd and 6th respectively. Ke’Yona Gabriel had a strong showing in the triple jump for the Frogs with a leap of 12.20m, good for 8th overall. Kyler Van Grouw was the lone competitor for TCU in the men’s shot put and came in 8th with a throw of 14.71 meters. TCU has this weekend off before traveling to New Mexico State and Iowa State for meets on Friday and Saturday, February 3rd and 4th.

Rifle: The Frogs continued their undefeated season with a win at number 6 ranked Nebraska with an aggregate team score of 4744 over the Cornhuskers’ 4710. The Frogs had the two top shooters in terms of aggregate score in Julie Johannessen and Stephanie Grundsoe who placed 1st and 2nd with scores of 1192 and 1190 respectively. TCU shined in the air rifle event especially as they had the top 4 shooters overall in Johannessen, Grundsoe, Abby Gordon, and Katie Zaun. Johannessen and Grundsoe were the two overall leaders in smallbore as both had scores of 593. Zaun also finished in the top 5 in smallbore with a score of 587, good for 4th place in the event. Next the Frogs travel to El Paso to face off against UTEP this coming Saturday, January 28th.

Women’s Golf: The Frogs had a tough tournament at the Match in the Desert in Arizona, finishing 6th out of 6 teams. The Frogs shot 7 over par on the only day of the tournament at the Superstition Mountain Golf Course in Gold Canyon. Caitlyn Mcnab was the best golfer for the Frogs shooting 2 under on the day which was good for a top 15 finish and 11th overall in the tournament. The Frogs had 3 other golfers finish in the top 30 as both Lois Lau and Sofia Barroso shot 2 over, good to tie for 26th overall, and Sabrina Nguyen shot 3 over, competing as an individual, to come in 30th. The Frogs’ next tournament is in Nassau, Bahamas, February 13th-15th for the Nexus Women’s Collegiate.