Texas Tech has been the class of Big 12 men's track and field this year, no matter the setting.
The Red Raiders won the Big 12 indoor championship in February at home and completed a sweep Sunday with the conference outdoor title in Norman, Oklahoma, breaking the meet record with 179 points. Sprinter Courtney Lindsey and hurdler Caleb Dean both were two-event individual champions, and Lindsey, who also ran on a school- and meet record-setting 400-meter relay, was the men's individual high-point performer.
"Just incredible day today," Tech coach Wes Kittley said. "I don't think we've ever scored in every event on the last day, and we scored in every event today. I'm just so proud of them, how everybody pulled together. When you score in every event, it's a team effort."
Tech pulled away from second-place Texas, which finished with 125 1/2 points, and Kansas, which scored 117.
Adam Clayton, Lindsey, Don'Dre Swint and Terrence Jones started the Sunday schedule with the record-breaking sprint-relay time of 38.24 seconds. That started a torrent of points.
Lindsey won the 100 meters in a wind-assisted 10.08 seconds and won the 200 meters in a wind-legal 20.12. Dean won the 110-meter hurdles in a wind-assisted 13.44 and won the 400-meter hurdles in 48.39, breaking personal, meet and facility records.
Also winning individual Big 12 titles for the Red Raiders were Devin Roberson in the discus (194 feet, 4 inches), Keyshawn King in the triple jump (52-4) and Zach Bradford in the pole vault (19-3).
Roberson repeated as Big 12 champion, though he won the discus last year with TCU. The Big 12 title was a first for King, who was a first-team all-American last year for Stanford. King's victory was part of 1-2 finish for the Red Raiders with runner-up Chris Welch (52-0 3/4).
Bradford has won the pole vault in the past five Big 12 meets, outdoor in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and indoor in 2022 and 2023.
Tech's 179 points broke the meet record of 175 set by Texas A&M in 2011, also in Norman.
The Tech men also won the Big 12 outdoor championship in 2005 at Kansas State, in 2014 at home, in 2018 at Baylor and in 2019 at Oklahoma. The Red Raiders won Big 12 indoor titles in 2018 at Iowa State and in 2019 and 2023 at home.
As was the case at the Big 12 indoor, Tech floored the competition with a volume of points early on the final day from its sprinters and hurdlers. The Red Raiders scored 28 points in the 100 meters with a 1-2-4-6-7 finish from Lindsey (10.08), Jones (10.08), Clayton (10.24), Swint (10.26) and Nylo Clarke (10.35). They scored 24 in the 110 hurdles with a 1-2-3 from Dean, Antoine Andrews (13.46) and Taylor Rooney (13.53).
Another 22 points came in the 200 with Lindsey (20.12), Jones (20.32) and Clayton (20.74) going 1-2-5.
Texas won the women's championship with 197 points, followed by Oklahoma with 127, Iowa State with 107 1/2 and Tech with 93 1/2.
The Red Raiders' Demisha Roswell repeated as Big 12 champion in the 100-meter hurdles, running a wind-legal 13.02. Tech's Sylvia Schulz won the 400-meter hurdles in a personal record 56.32, and Malin Smith won the discus with a mark of 185-1.
The Tech women piled up 19 points in the triple jump with a 2-3-4 showing from Ruta Lasmane (44-8 3/4), Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta (44-1 1/4) and Onaara Obamuwagun (43-3 3/4).
"We were hoping for third," Kittley said. "Overall, I thought our women fought real hard."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech men win Big 12 title with record point total
