Big 12 Championship Meet Returns to Lubbock

Friday, February 26

Lubbock, Texas

10:00 A.M.

Texas Tech Athletics

Big 12 Indoor Championships

Big 12 Championship Meet Returns to Lubbock

February 25, 2021 | Track and Field

Live Results Meet Schedule Watch on ESPN+ (Fri.)Watch on ESPN+ (Sat.)

Texas Tech’s Sports Performance Center to host second conference title meet.

By: Jeremy O'Brien

LUBBOCK, Texas – For the second time in three years, the Sports Performance Center will play host to the Big 12 Indoor Championship.

The last time the meet came to Lubbock, the conference saw the most dominant win and some of the best performances in its history as Texas Tech's men scored a record 179 points en route to the title. Overall, four conference records – the men's 200m and triple jump in addition to the women's 800m and 1000m – were set at the SPC. After the 2020 season was interrupted, the Big 12 has seen some stellar times and marks to begin the 2021 campaign. Even more exciting performances are expected to take place this weekend.

"I'm always excited about the Big 12 Championship," said head coach Wes Kittley. "It's even better when we get to host. I'm ready to go and I hope the kids are ready to step up. We're going to have to have a really good meet on the men's side to win, and for the women to be top-three they're going to have to have a really good meet also."

Kittley discussed the uniqueness of a track season with a cross country campaign embedded within it. While every other team in the Big 12 is fielding a full track squad, Iowa State and Oklahoma State – two distance-heavy programs, the former of whom won the indoor title last year – have opted to chase an NCAA Championship in cross country and will therefore be without many potential scorers at the track meet. Therefore, Kittley tabs Texas, Kansas State and Oklahoma as those who will contend with the Red Raiders for the team title.

"With those schools going lighter, we're going to need strong performances from our middle distance group in the 600y, 800m, 1000m and mile," Kittley said. "Right now, we have a lot of sprinters and other field events ranked fifth, sixth and seventh. The key to winning the meet on the men's side will be how those guys do."

The Tech men's quest to take back its indoor title – which it won back-to-back in 2018 and 2019 – will start with two-time Big 1 Champion Takieddine Hedeilli. Last season, in his first as a Red Raider graduate transfer, Hedeilli took the crown in both the 1000m and mile. Robbed of an NCAA Championships debut by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hedeilli began his 2021 season on a tear. The Algerian started the year with the fastest 800m in the world at the time – 1:45.98 – to break the school record and the national record of his home country. A few weeks later, he would run the third-fastest mile in the world at 3:56.79. Most recently, Hedeilli anchored the DMR with a four-minute mile to qualify it for nationals and break the school record. His versatility will allow Kittley plenty of flexibility in deciding how to plug him into the lineup.

Short of a men's title last year, Gabe Oladipo is poised to go after one in the weight throw this season. Oladipo has broken his own school record three times this season. He has topped out 73'-7.25" (22.43m). He sits ranked fifth in the NCAA – the only Big 12 thrower in the top-35 nationally.

Looking to contend for his first title as well will be Jack Scarborough, who last week hit the best high jump of his career. Sitting 13^th nationally, he cleared 7'-1.5" (2.17m) for a lifetime PR to move to 11^th. He is the second-ranked jumper in the conference. His counterpart on the women's side, Sidney Sapp, will also enter ranked second in the event. Her season-best of 5'-10" (1.78m) came at the Red Raider Invitational in January.

Also sitting second in the Big 12 are Maliek Kendall in the 60m hurdles (runner-up at conference last year) and Jalen Seals in the triple jump.

As always, Tech's relay squads will contend for gold of their own. This season, the Red Raiders will enter a strong DMR which just last week set the school record and hopped up to seventh in the nation after a blistering 9:32.06 (adjusted from 9:36.72 for altitude) in its first running of the year. The time was done with freshman Owen Likins on the opening 1200m, Chancellor Stephenson on the 400m, Sven Cepus on the 800m and Hedeilli on the anchoring mile. While those legs may change as Kittley ponders who will make runs at gold in some individual events, exciting substitute options exist such as mid-distance freshman Marco Vilca, who broke the Peruvian indoor 800m record earlier this season.

Tech's women's squad will return the Big 12 Champion in four events, including a two-time winner and the Big 12's High Point Scorer from 2020. Of course, the returning 20-point contributor is Ruth Usoro, who swept the long and triple jump in her first conference meet as a Division I jumper. Usoro, who would go on to be an All-American in both events, is ranked fifth in the world in the triple jump thanks to a then-world-leading mark of 46'-10.25" (14.28m) on her very first attempt of the year.

She will be highlighted in both events by Monae' Nichols, who has exploded onto the national and world scene in her first year as a Red Raider. She hit a then-world-leading long jump mark of 22'-1.75" (6.75m) in her second meet of the season, a distance that has kept her ranked fourth in the world since.

Seasons Usual will return to defend her title in the weight throw. The first-time champion won the event last season with a top throw of 66'-6.5" (20.28m). Since then, she has opened her season with marks of both one and two feet farther. Her season-best this year – which counted as a PR – came at a distance of 68'-2.5" (20.79m).

With Usual shooting for another top-of-the-podium showing, Kayli Johnson will be searching for the same thing in the shot put. Johnson, a transfer from Michigan State, improved her mark drastically in each of her first three meets at Tech, eventually arriving at a career-best 55'-3" (16.84m) at the Texas Tech Invitational. After a career best in the weight throw last weekend, Johnson will enter ranked fourth in that event as well.

The women's squad's returning champ on the track is Gabrielle McDonald. McDonald put together a strong first year in Lubbock in 2020, and capped it off with an 8.04 in the final of the Big 12 Championship for the win.

The Big 12 Indoor Championships will take place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27. The meet is not open to any fans or outside media. It will be streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 1:50 p.m. Saturday. Live results will be available here.