Tech track and field teams headed to Big 12 outdoor
Of the nine Big 12 outdoor track and field championships staged since 2013, Texas has won the men's team title six times and Texas Tech has won it the other three times.
This year's meet could well be another showdown between the two programs. The Tech men are ranked No. 2 and the Texas men No. 12 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The three-day Big 12 championships get under way Friday at the John Jacobs Track & Field Complex in Norman, Oklahoma. Texas is trying to take home the men's team trophy for the third year in a row after Tech won two in a row in 2018 and 2019.
"I feel like the confidence is building with this group," Tech coach Wes Kittley said. "That's the thing I'm looking for."
Two Tech men won Big 12 titles last year, though not for the Red Raiders. Zach Bradford won the pole vault in 2021 and 2022 with Kansas, then transferred to Tech and won his event at the conference indoor meet in February.
Devin Roberson transferred to Tech after he won the Big 12 discus title last year for TCU.
Though claiming the Big 12 outdoor title for a fifth time is a goal for the Red Raiders, they're also gearing up for the NCAA West Preliminary scheduled for May 24-27 in Sacramento, California, and the NCAA championships June 7-10 at Mike A. Myers Stadium. Coincidentally, when the Red Raiders won the NCAA championship in 2019, their postseason path also went through Norman, Sacramento and Austin for the same three meets.
The Tech men have nine top-10 times or marks in NCAA Division I this season, and the Tech women have five top-10 times or marks.
Going into the Big 12 meet, the Texas women are ranked No. 1, Tech No. 13 and Oklahoma No. 16. Texas is trying to win the women's team title for the fourth time in a row and the 14th overall. The Red Raiders, never the Big 12 champion on the women's side, finished second last year and third and tied for third in the two meets before that.
"I think our women's team is the best it's been right now, of the season," Kittley said, "so that's exciting. They moved from 20th to 13th in the country, and I think they're real excited about that, knowing that they could be a top-10 team."
The Tech women are led by sprinter Rosemary Chukwuma, who ranks third in Division I in the 100 meters, and by Demisha Roswell, who ranks eighth in the 100-meter hurdles. Roswell set the Big 12 meet record last year with a time of 12.44.
The Tech women got a boost when Ruta Lasmane opened her 2023 season two weeks ago with the fourth best mark in Division I in the triple jump, 45 feet, 5 1/4 inches. The four-time first-team all-American had been sidelined throughout the indoor and outdoor season with a stress reaction in her back.
"Just incredible," Kittley said of Lasmane's season opener. "We hadn't done anything almost all year long and she goes out there and moves into the top five in the country on her first short-run jump and got that regional (qualifying) mark, I call it, out of the way. Now we can just relax and go try to win Big 12.
"Really proud of her. She's had a tough year, just staying healthy. But you can see what kind of tremendous talent she has."
The Red Raiders are hoping for a similar ramp-up from Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta who, during indoor season, won the Big 12 title in the triple jump and finished fifth at the NCAA indoor. Fosther-Katta underwent an arthroscopic knee surgery in late fall and coaches have limited her competition schedule since.
"We're just being really careful," Kittley said. "There's no need to take a chance in meets that don't count. Now this one does, so we're going to jump her, and she has to have a mark [to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary]. Then of course, the next round will be most important to make her go to the NCAA [championships]."
ESPN+ will have online streaming of the Big 12 meet all three days. Live results can be found at live.deltatiming.com/meets.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech track and field teams headed to Big 12 outdoor
