For Texas Tech track and field teams, post-meet trophy presentations have become a staple of recent Big 12 championships.
Tech teams swept the conference championships during both the indoor and outdoor seasons last year, and the Tech men have won the past three indoor titles.
This year, there’s no guarantee Tech coach Wes Kittley will get the celebratory sports-drink dousing. A repeat for the Tech women and a four-peat for the men aren’t far-fetched, but neither is favored. The No. 3 Brigham Young women and the No. 4 Kansas State men are the highest-ranked teams going into the Big 12 championships on Friday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Tech Sports Performance Center.
The Tech women are ranked No. 8, the men No. 12, both second in the field.
“I feel real confident that we can win both,” Kittley said. “Now, we’ve got to have good meets, and our kids are going to have to step up. I say this is championship season, and we’ve got to have a really good meet.
“I think we have a little bit more room on the men’s side to not be perfect, but I think on the women’s side, we’re going to have to have the best meet we’ve had all year, but I fully expect us to do that.”
Texas Tech track and field athletes, events to watch
Based on season-best times and marks, the Tech men have top seeds in the 60 meters (Malachi Snow), the 400 meters (Shaemar Uter), the 800 meters (Stephen Mutai), the 60-meter hurdles (Antoine Andrews), the triple jump (Jonathan Seremes) and the 1,600-meter relay (Uter, Kamron Neal, DeSean Boyce and Brian Tinega).
The Tech women have top seeds in the 60 and 200 meters (Success Umukoro), the 60-meter hurdles (Tonie-Ann Forbes), the high jump (Temitope Adeshina) and the triple jump (Ruta Lasmane).
The top eight finishers in each final event score on a points basis of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
The Tech men have five of the Big 12’s top seven-ranked athletes in the 60 meters, the top two in the 60-meter hurdles and everyone ranked fourth through seventh in the 200.
The Tech women could score big in the triple jump with five of the top eight based on season rankings, in the high jump with three of the top seven and in the 60-meter hurdles with two of the top four.
Key performers Naomi Krebs, Fanny Arendt out for Texas Tech
Hurdler Naomi Krebs and middle-distance runner Fanny Arendt are sidelined for the rest of indoor season, Krebs with a strained Achilles tendon and Arendt with a calf-muscle tear. Both were Big 12 champions last year, Krebs in the 60-meter hurdles and Arendt in the 800.
“It hurts. There’s no doubt about it,” Kittley said. “We felt really, really good with both of them in the meet, but we’ve moved things around. We’re going to run some kids in a few different races, and we really think our women can win this thing.”
On the men’s side, Trey Wilson was medically released this week, having rehabbed from a stress fracture in his elbow that’s kept him out all season. Wilson, last year’s Big 12 runner-up in the indoor shot put, won’t compete until outdoor season.
Texas Tech athletes on bubble for NCAA championships
Conference championship meets double as final chances to qualify for the NCAA championships, March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At the end of the weekend, the top 16 in individual events and top 12 in relays make the NCAA meet. The rankings and invitations are based solely on an athlete’s season-best mark or time.
Tech athletes just outside the cut line and therefore needing a season best this weekend include Shawn Brown in the 60 meters, Sean Gribble in the pole vault, 2025 NCAA runner-up Tamiah Washington in the triple jump and both Tech teams’ 1,600-meter relay.
Just inside the cut line and vulnerable to being bumped out are three-time first-team all-American Shaemar Uter in the 400 meters, Kashlee Dickinson in the pole vault and Olga Szlachta in the triple jump.
“All those events, they’re going to be priority for us to get those (athletes) qualified,” Kittley said. “And everyone’s having championship weekend, the SEC, Big Ten. So we have people that are 12th and 10th. I don’t feel like those are sure things.”
Big 12 indoor track and field championships schedule
Friday: Combined-events start times, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Field-events start times, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Running-events start times, 2 p.m. to 7:10 p.m.
Saturday: Combined-events start times, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Field-events start times, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Running-event start times, 1:15 p.m. to 5:55 p.m.
Teams with top-30 national rankings
In this week’s ratings by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
Men: No. 4 Kansas State, No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 26 Brigham Young, No. 29 Kansas
Women: No. 3 Brigham Young, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 10 Kansas State, No. 15 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Iowa State, No. 26 Baylor, No. 30 Arizona
How to follow Big 12 indoor track and field championships
Online streaming: ESPN+
Live results: pttiming.com
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech track and field teams chase more Big 12 titles at home
Reporting by Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
