T&F: Texas Tech men protect their house to win first Big 12 indoor title since 2019; women get 4th

As records were broken and individual champions were crowned, the Texas Tech men’s track and field team rode an impressive 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles to win the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field title for the first time since 2019 at the Sports Performance Center in Lubbock.

Tech women’s track and field got fourth place. Tech got to host the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships for the third time in five years (2019, 2021).

The men knew they clinched the title before the 4×400 relays, so they didn’t even run them before they celebrated their victory.

Men’s 60-meter hurdles dominance

The men’s 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles led the way for the Tech men. In the hurdles, junior Caleb Dean tied his personal best 7.62 Friday to qualify for the finals before breaking the Tech record by 0.07 seconds with a 7.52.

Wes Kittley’s self-proclaimed Swiss Army knife also took third place in the 60m. Kittley said Dean, a transfer from Maryland, has figured it out as he’s getting to run around a good culture at Tech and he continues to get better.

Freshman Antoine Andrews, who previously set the Tech 60m hurdles record Feb. 10, tied his 7.59 best to take second place, and Tech took the top four spots in the finals as well as sixth place to dominate the event.

Senior Denim Rogers took third even as he participated in the heptathlon where he also got third place.

“He’s my warrior,” Kittley said. “I’m just telling you, I always say Caleb Dean’s my Swiss Army knife, but Denim’s just a warrior. He’s here for two days giving it everything he’s got, got to run two hurdles in between the multis [heptathlon], and then…runs the hurdles and a few minutes later, he’s got to run the 1000. Just so proud of him, they don’t make him any tougher than him, and he’s made for it.”

Somehow, even bigger men’s 60-meter dash dominance

Somehow, they dominated the men’s 60m even more by taking the top four spots in that event as well as two additional finalists.

Sophomore Terrence Jones made waves as a freshman Jan. 15, 2022, when he set the Tech record and tied the all-time NCAA record in the men’s 60m at 6.45.

But then, Jones had injuries that kept him out of the Big 12 indoors last year, and he got hurt before this indoor season and did not compete until Friday.

He showed up with a bang, finishing just under his best at 6.46 Friday to qualify for the finals where he ran a 6.48 to take the Big 12 indoor title. Friday’s 6.46 is the best time in the country.

Kittley said Jones hasn’t really trained much and really hasn’t done any speed work, so for him to have that kind of time right out of the gate shows how much talent he has and how focused he is.

“This is championship period: the Big 12 championship and then the national championship,” Kittley said. “These guys, they know how to compete, and that’s what I’m truly so proud of. He’s incredible. He’s my Usain Bolt.”

Don’dre Swint (6.57), Dean (6.58) and Courtney Lindsey (6.59) finished the top four, while Adam Clayton (6.65) and Nylo Clarke (6.74) finished seventh and eighth.

Bradford, Welch, Roswell, Fosther-Katta, Lindsey also take Big 12 titles

Super-senior Zach Bradford has stolen the show as a senior at Texas Tech many times, breaking the Tech record in the pole vault three times this season after transferring from Kansas.

Bradford didn’t have to break the 19-foot barrier as he has before, however, to take his second-straight Big 12 indoor title clearing 18 feet, 5 ½ inches Friday to start the winning for Texas Tech.

Senior Chris Welch was tied for the lead with Kansas’s Jaden Patterson in the men’s triple jump at 16.15 meters going into their sixth and final attempt.

Welch jumped 16.19 meters, Patterson could only muster 15.53 meters, and Welch took the title.

Another senior, Demisha Roswell, broke the Tech record in the women’s 200-meters Feb. 11, 2022, then broke it in consecutive weeks in 2023 (Jan. 14 and Jan. 20). Her best of those was her 7.98 Jan. 20.

She’s been filling the top-10 Tech times in the event the last two years, but she couldn’t get a Big 12 title to stick with it until Saturday.

Within minutes of Welch’s victory, her 8.04 was enough to take the Big 12 indoor women’s 60m title.

Junior Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta won the women’s triple jump in her first meet as a Red Raider with a 13.76-meter mark, just ahead of teammate Onaara Obamuwagun.

Lindsey beat his previous personal best 20.48 mark on Friday then shattered it Saturday to take the title in the men’s 200m with a 20.13, the second-best Tech indoor 200m time ever. It’s 0.05 seconds behind the record 20.08 Divine Oduduru ran at the 2019 Big 12 Indoor Championships.

Highlights of other broken records

Sylvia Schulz broke the Tech women’s 600-yard record that she set at the 2020 Big 12 Indoors with a 1:19.99 Friday to qualify for the finals where she got third place.

Rosemary Chukwuma broke the Tech women’s 200-meter record with a 22.68 on her way to third place.

Halena Rahmaan broke the Tech women’s 1000-meter record that she set eight days ago with a 2:46.80 time. Before Rahmaan broke it last week, the record (Devin Bailey, 2:48.46) stood for almost 12 years.

Texas Longhorn Julien Alfred, who already had the top five times in NCAA women’s 60-meter history, became the first woman to break the seven-second barrier Saturday with a 6.97 mark to take the Big 12 title.

Nationals up next

Kittley said the way they performed gives them a lot of confidence going into the national championships in two weeks, and he feels like the team is going into nationals better than they have almost any other year, even comparing it to their last Big 12 indoor title in 2019.

“I just feel like we’re a little more experienced,” Kittley said. “When you see the Courtneys and the Calebs and those type of people running those personal bests in this meet, we won that meet in ’19, but these guys weren’t running these kinds of times.”

The NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will be March 10 and 11 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Final standings

Men

1. Texas Tech, 159
2. Oklahoma State, 111
3. Texas, 105
4. Kanas, 96
5. Iowa State, 76
6. Oklahoma, 75
7. Baylor, 60
8. Kansas State, 29
9. TCU, 27

Women

1. Oklahoma State, 146
2. Texas, 136.5
3. Oklahoma, 99.5
4. Texas Tech, 93.5
5. Iowa State, 59
6. Baylor, 57
7. Kansas, 54.5
8. Kansas State, 38
9. West Virginia, 37
10. TCU, 20

The full results can be viewed here.