Texas Tech University Athletics
Five Red Raiders Claim Mountain Region Awards
March 05, 2018 | Track and Field
These five region awards are the most ever claimed by Texas Tech during the indoor season.
LUBBOCK, Texas – A total of five Red Raiders hailed U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association regional awards this afternoon.
The five awards serve as the most region awards ever claimed by Texas Tech during the indoor season. This also ties the most in program history, matching the five during the 2015 outdoor season.
Head coach Wes Kittley was named the Mountain Region Men's Coach of the Year, marking the second year in a row that he has earned this honor. Kittley's win is attributed to several notable accomplishments notched during the 2018 indoor slate. For the fourth-consecutive week, the most in Texas Tech history, the men's program holds their first-place national ranking. Just prior to this week-four ranking, Kittley led the men's team to a program-first indoor Big 12 Track & Field Championship title. This crown was achieved with a 143-point performance, four event champions and 33 All-Big 12 athletes. These 143 points mark the highest total ever achieved by almost 50 points. Tech also had two high-point scorer award recipients at the meet in sprinters Divine Oduduru and Andrew Hudson, who tallied a combined 36-points in their 1-2 finishes in the 60m and 200m races.
During this indoor season, spent mostly in the new Sports Performance Center, Kittley has coached 10 athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships in 11 different events. Of the 10 student-athletes, three have claimed all-time NCAA marks in the 200m, 600y and high jump competitions.
This serves as the third time Kittley has brought this region award home during the indoor season.
Earning the Men's Assistant Coach of the Year award for the second time in his three years at Tech is sprints & hurdles coach Calvin Robinson. Two of Robinson's athletes, Oduduru and Hudson, claimed a stake on world-leading 200-meter times of 20.18 and 20.42 side by side at the Texas Tech Open meet. The 20.18 mark held by Oduduru is the third-fastest time in NCAA history, sitting first in the world heading into the national meet. Robinson also coached these two athletes to Big 12 Champion individual titles in the 60m and 200m races, both finishing 1-2. These performances allowed them each a share of the meet high-point scorer award. At the conference meet, Robinson's athletes tallied 62 out of the 143 total points. Robinson will be coaching a total of five NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship entries this weekend in College Station, including the 60m, 200m and 4x400m relay.
Earning his sixth ever region award is the men's & women's jumps & combined events coach James Thomas. This season, Thomas has been named the Women's Assistant Coach of the Year, coaching Zarriea Willis in the women's high jump to the national meet. Thomas' athletes have entered eight top-10 marks in the Texas Tech record book this year, including a school record in the high jump. Willis' 1.89m/6-2.25 clearance also serves as a facility record, claiming a No. 2 nationally ranked position heading into nationals. Thomas coached Willis and multi-event athlete Kaylee Hinton to silver-medal finishes at the conference meet. Both Willis and Hinton have notched top-10 Texas Tech performances in all of their high jump and pentathlon competitions this year. At the Big 12 meet, Thomas' athletes earned 42 of the 81 total conference championship points on the women's side.
Sweeping the men's and women's Field Athlete of the Year awards were high jumpers Trey Culver and Zarriea Willis. These honors mark the first time either athlete has claimed a Mountain Region award.
Culver holds the fourth-highest jump clearance in NCAA history at 2.33m/7-7.75 from the Corky Classic meet. The senior has etched his name in the Texas Tech indoor records for all three of his performances this year, holding the 1-3 spots. Culver aided his team in wrangling the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship title with his first-ever individual title indoors in the men's high jump. The Lubbock native won with his 2.31m/7-7 bar. Culver is also one of two Texas Tech athletes that resides on The Bowerman watch list. Heading into the national meet, Culver is ranked first in the nation and ninth in the world.
Willis, currently ranked second in the nation, entered the Big 12 Championship undefeated in her four high jump competitions. The junior hailed a silver medal at the conference meet to break the streak. In all five of her competitions this year, Willis has claimed a top-10 all-time record, including a new school and facility record of 1.89m/6-2.25 after clearing four of five bars in the first attempt. Willis will travel to College Station to compete on the national stage for the second year in a row, this time traveling as the only female qualifier for Texas Tech.
A travel squad made up of 11 qualifying Red Raiders, including Willis, will head to College Station, Texas, on March 9-10 for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in hopes of bringing home a national title.
The five awards serve as the most region awards ever claimed by Texas Tech during the indoor season. This also ties the most in program history, matching the five during the 2015 outdoor season.
Head coach Wes Kittley was named the Mountain Region Men's Coach of the Year, marking the second year in a row that he has earned this honor. Kittley's win is attributed to several notable accomplishments notched during the 2018 indoor slate. For the fourth-consecutive week, the most in Texas Tech history, the men's program holds their first-place national ranking. Just prior to this week-four ranking, Kittley led the men's team to a program-first indoor Big 12 Track & Field Championship title. This crown was achieved with a 143-point performance, four event champions and 33 All-Big 12 athletes. These 143 points mark the highest total ever achieved by almost 50 points. Tech also had two high-point scorer award recipients at the meet in sprinters Divine Oduduru and Andrew Hudson, who tallied a combined 36-points in their 1-2 finishes in the 60m and 200m races.
During this indoor season, spent mostly in the new Sports Performance Center, Kittley has coached 10 athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships in 11 different events. Of the 10 student-athletes, three have claimed all-time NCAA marks in the 200m, 600y and high jump competitions.
This serves as the third time Kittley has brought this region award home during the indoor season.
Earning the Men's Assistant Coach of the Year award for the second time in his three years at Tech is sprints & hurdles coach Calvin Robinson. Two of Robinson's athletes, Oduduru and Hudson, claimed a stake on world-leading 200-meter times of 20.18 and 20.42 side by side at the Texas Tech Open meet. The 20.18 mark held by Oduduru is the third-fastest time in NCAA history, sitting first in the world heading into the national meet. Robinson also coached these two athletes to Big 12 Champion individual titles in the 60m and 200m races, both finishing 1-2. These performances allowed them each a share of the meet high-point scorer award. At the conference meet, Robinson's athletes tallied 62 out of the 143 total points. Robinson will be coaching a total of five NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship entries this weekend in College Station, including the 60m, 200m and 4x400m relay.
Earning his sixth ever region award is the men's & women's jumps & combined events coach James Thomas. This season, Thomas has been named the Women's Assistant Coach of the Year, coaching Zarriea Willis in the women's high jump to the national meet. Thomas' athletes have entered eight top-10 marks in the Texas Tech record book this year, including a school record in the high jump. Willis' 1.89m/6-2.25 clearance also serves as a facility record, claiming a No. 2 nationally ranked position heading into nationals. Thomas coached Willis and multi-event athlete Kaylee Hinton to silver-medal finishes at the conference meet. Both Willis and Hinton have notched top-10 Texas Tech performances in all of their high jump and pentathlon competitions this year. At the Big 12 meet, Thomas' athletes earned 42 of the 81 total conference championship points on the women's side.
Sweeping the men's and women's Field Athlete of the Year awards were high jumpers Trey Culver and Zarriea Willis. These honors mark the first time either athlete has claimed a Mountain Region award.
Culver holds the fourth-highest jump clearance in NCAA history at 2.33m/7-7.75 from the Corky Classic meet. The senior has etched his name in the Texas Tech indoor records for all three of his performances this year, holding the 1-3 spots. Culver aided his team in wrangling the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship title with his first-ever individual title indoors in the men's high jump. The Lubbock native won with his 2.31m/7-7 bar. Culver is also one of two Texas Tech athletes that resides on The Bowerman watch list. Heading into the national meet, Culver is ranked first in the nation and ninth in the world.
Willis, currently ranked second in the nation, entered the Big 12 Championship undefeated in her four high jump competitions. The junior hailed a silver medal at the conference meet to break the streak. In all five of her competitions this year, Willis has claimed a top-10 all-time record, including a new school and facility record of 1.89m/6-2.25 after clearing four of five bars in the first attempt. Willis will travel to College Station to compete on the national stage for the second year in a row, this time traveling as the only female qualifier for Texas Tech.
A travel squad made up of 11 qualifying Red Raiders, including Willis, will head to College Station, Texas, on March 9-10 for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in hopes of bringing home a national title.
Players Mentioned
Jumps
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Combined Events
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Sprints
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Sprints
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Jumps
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