Track and Field Primed for Big 12 Indoor Championships in LubbockTrack and Field Primed for Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lubbock

Track and Field Primed for Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lubbock

by Alex Clough

LUBBOCK, Texas - No longer the newcomer, the UCF track and field team will enter a familiar setting this weekend as it embarks on the 2025 Big 12 Indoor Championships at the Sports Performance Center on the campus of Texas Tech.

With an exciting slate of preliminaries to begin action on Friday, the Knights will look to tally some hardware on Saturday as finals in premier events will precede the 4x400m relay at 6:40 p.m. ET.

In 2024, head coach Dana Boone and her squad produced multiple podium finishes, however, they would have to wait for the program’s first title until the outdoor season. Just over a year later, the Knights will offer numerous athletes striving to claim the school’s inaugural first-place finish on the short track.

LAST TIME OUT

The first and only split weekend of the indoor season authored plenty of excitement for this weekend, as the 4x400m relay squad broke the program record once again, pairing their performance with a record-breaking outing from Asherah Collins in the triple jump at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

In Nashville, the distance squad continued their charge into the all-time lists, with a trio of runners showing out at the Music City Challenge.

As for the program’s inaugural Big 12 Indoor Championships a season ago, UCF garnered top-eight finishes in five events. The highlight came in the 60m hurdles, as Rayniah Jones, who would later claim the 100m hurdles title in outdoor, placed second, just one position ahead of current Knight Adaobi Tabugbo.

Asherah Collins tallied podium marks in both the long and triple jump, while the meet concluded with a promising outing from the 4x400m squad to finish seventh. A 13th-overall placement served as a reminder of how competitive the conference is, a sentiment that has been evident in the strides made during an impressive regular season through the opening months of 2025.

STARTING BLOCKS

  • The 4x400m relay squad has been brilliant in 2025, currently holding the Big 12 lead and the nation’s eighth-fastest time with their program-record 3:29.93 performance at the Tyson Invitational. Incredible splits from the likes of Kiah Williams, Jazmen Newberry, Twaneise Johsnon and Deja Shaw-Huckaby have made the quartet must-see TV.
  • A pair of farewells are on the cards this weekend, with Collins and Williams set for their final conference championships. The tandem have been leading by example during the indoor season and both sit among the top-10 in three individual events combined. 
  • In her Big 12 debut last year, Tabugbo showed why she is capable of leading the team’s hurdles squad in the post-Rayniah Jones era. The senior dropped her record to 8.06 earlier this month and firmly holds the second-best time in the Big 12. While often coming in pairs, she is joined by fellow Nigerian Ese Awusa who has had a breakout season with the Knights and sits in seventh in the conference (8.23).

EVENTS TO WATCH

60m Hurdles (Prelims: Friday at 4:40 p.m. ET, Finals: Saturday at 3 p.m. ET) - The aforementioned Tabugbo and Awusa will be joined by sophomore Y’Vette Harris in the opening round of the hurdles on Friday. A 14-point performance in 2024 made up for more than half of the squad’s final tally, though a deeper squad this time around alleviates some of the pressure on the group; however, they’ll be all the more confident to secure top spots once again.

400m (Prelims: Friday at 5:50 p.m. ET, Finals: Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET) - Each member of the Knights’ 4x400m squad will strive to book their place in a pair of finals on Saturday, with Williams sitting in second, followed by Johnson at seventh in the Big 12 performance list. UCF will look to walk away with multiple points in the two-lapper.

4x400m Relay (Saturday at 6:40 p.m. ET) - Entering the championships as favorites in the event, the squad has continued to drop their times with each new outing. Already having two times that mark the program best, along with one that sent them to second earlier in the season, Williams and company have the chance to close out Big 12 with a bang.

Triple Jump (Saturday at 3 p.m. ET) - A sixth-place finish in the event during indoors last season, followed by an improved fourth-place mark in outdoors, provides Collins with a benchmark to surpass in the event. The senior became the ninth Knight in program history to achieve the school record in the same event during both the indoor (13.30m) and outdoor (13.48m) seasons.