Oklahoma State and Texas Tech had multiple Big 12 Indoor Track and Field season award honorees while Texas joined with one selection.
Red Raiders Caleb Dean and Antoine Andrews received Men’s Performer of the Year and Men’s Outstanding Freshman, respectively. UT’s Julien Alfred was named Women’s Performer of the Year for the second time in her career and Billah Jepkirui won the Cowgirls’ first Outstanding Freshman of the Year.
TTU’s Wes Kittley picked up his third Men’s Coach of the Year while OSU’s Dave Smith earned his first Big 12 Women’s Coach of the Year honor since 2016.
Kittley led the Red Raiders men’s team to a first-place finish at the 2023 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship, the first for the program since 2019. The team amassed its second-highest score of 159 points at the Championship while crowning five conference champions on the men’s side. The Texas Tech program had seven combined conference champions.
Smith guided the Cowgirls to their first track and field team title and to a program record of 146 points. Four Cowgirls claimed conference titles while Oklahoma State had nine combined champions.
Dean set the Conference’s meet record in the 60-meter hurdles at the Indoor Track and Field Championship, clocking 7.52 seconds. He also recorded a third-place finish in the 60-meter dash that was dominated by a quartet from Texas Tech. The junior collected 16 points at the Big 12 Championship.
Before being edged by teammate Caleb Dean in the 60-meter hurdles in the finals at the Championship, Andrews was the Conference’s leader in the event. The freshman broke what was then a 13-year-old Texas Tech program record when he ran a 7.59 earlier in the season. He owns the fourth-fastest 60-meter hurdles time in the nation and is the only true freshman inside the top-16.
Already claiming the best times in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter run this season, Alfred continued to break records in the events en route to claiming two conference titles. She ran the 60-meters in 6.97 seconds and became the first collegian to run the event in less than seven seconds. The senior has set the record in the event three times this season and currently has the top-seven fastest times in the 60-meter dash. Alfred also holds the fastest times in the world in the 200-meters (22.26 seconds) which she set at the Championship.
Jepkirui collected her first two Big 12 titles in the mile and was the anchor leg of the winning Cowgirls distance medley relay team. At the Championship, she scored 16 points and helped the OSU women’s team to its first Big 12 team title.
2023 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Awards
Men’s Performer of the Year: Caleb Dean, Texas Tech
Women’s Performer of the Year: Julien Alfred, Texas
Men’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year: Antoine Andrews, Texas Tech
Women’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year: Billah Jepkirui, Oklahoma State
Men’s Coach of the Year: Wes Kittley, Texas Tech
Women’s Coach of the Year: Dave Smith, Oklahoma State