Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech Track & Field Takes Four USTFCCCA Regional Awards
March 09, 2015 | Track and Field
Texas Tech won four USTFCCCA Mountain Region postseason indoor awards, on Friday.
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The No. 10 men's and No. 23 women's Texas Tech track & field teams will head to the NCAA Indoor Championships with some hardware, after winning four USTFCCCA regional postseason awards on Friday.
Each of the regions honored both genders' top track athletes and field athletes and the top men's and women's head coaches and assistant coaches. Award winners were determined by a vote of USTFCCCA member coaches.
For the Mountain Region, Tech head coach Wes Kittley was named Men's Coach of the Year, associate head coach Dion Miller was named the Women's Assistant of the Year, Cierra White earned the title of Women's Track Athlete of the Year and JaCorian Duffield was tabbed as the Men's Field Athlete of the Year.
This is the second-straight season in which the Red Raiders have won a combined four regional postseason athlete and coach awards, which is the highest total in program history. Tech took four awards home in the 2014 outdoors season as well, following the men's Big 12 team title.
This is the first time since the inception of these awards that Tech has won two different regional athlete awards in the same season. It's also the fourth time that two Tech coaches have won regional awards in the same season, with the most recent instance being 2014 outdoors, when Kittley won Men's & Women's Coach of the Year, and assistant coach James Thomas won Men's Assistant of the Year.
Mountain Region Men's Coach of the Year - Wes Kittley
Kittley, in his 16th year with the program, coached the No. 10 Red Raiders to their highest finish in program history at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, taking second place with 95.5 team points. Kittley led three different Red Raiders to breaking school records a combined five times in 2015. In addition, Kittley has had the Red Raiders in the USTFCCCA National top 20 the entire season, and Tech has been No. 1 in the Mountain region for all of 2015. They enter the NCAA meet with five individual entries and a 4 x 400 meter relay.
Mountain Region Women's Assistant of the Year - Dion Miller
Miller, in his 11th year at Texas Tech, coached two athletes who have combined to break school records five times, in 2015. Cierra White, the Big 12 200 meter champion, set Tech school records at 55 meters (6.80), 60 meters (7.22) and 200 meters (22.98). She will run the 60m and 200m at NCAA Indoors. Le'Tristan Pledger ranks seventh in the nation in the 60-meter hurdles (8.11), and was runner-up at Big 12 Indoors in the event by .01 seconds. She broke the 55-meter hurdles school & facility records twice, running a 7.55 the second time.
Mountain Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year -- Cierra White
White, a senior from Philadelphia, Pa., won the Big 12 championship in the 200 meters, and took third in the 60 meters there. Her 22.98 time in the 200 is the fourth fastest in the NCAA this year. She broke Tech school records in the 55m dash, 60m dash and 200m dash. The 22.98 she ran at the UNM Classic, which was adjusted for altitude to 23.05, was the No. 1 mark in the world at the time she achieved it. She also ran a leg on Tech's 21st-ranked 4 x 400m relay, which clocked a 3:36.42 at the Tyson Invitational.
Mountain Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year - JaCorian Duffield
Duffield, a senior from Schertz, Texas, enters the NCAA Indoor Championships ranked No. 1 in the high jump and as the Big 12 champion in the event. Duffield has broken his own school record twice this season, once on opening weekend when he jumped 7-4¼ (2.24m), and then again when he cleared a collegiate-leading 7-5¾ (2.28m) on his first attempt to win at the Texas A&M Quad. Duffield leaped 7-3¼ (2.22m) to win his first Big 12 title. He has finished first, second or third in each meet this season.
The Red Raiders will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., this week for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, March 13-14, at the Randal Tyson Center.
Players Mentioned
