Texas Tech track and field reported on May 16 that Titus Kimaru won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Tucson, Arizona. After eight of the twenty-one events were scored Friday, the Texas Tech men are in second place with 42 points, trailing Kansas State by four points. The women’s team is currently seventh with 19 points.
Kimaru’s victory marks only the third time a Red Raider has claimed the steeplechase title and is the first since Bernard Keter in 2017. He set a facility record with his winning time of 8:32.85. Zaid Latif secured second place in the long jump with a personal best of 8.03 meters, making him No. 7 all-time for Texas Tech and placing him fourth all-time among Moroccan athletes.
In other notable performances, Collinique Farrington finished second in the women’s 400-meter sprint with a time of 51.99 seconds, moving to No. 3 all-time for Texas Tech and becoming just the second woman from the team to run under fifty-two seconds.
The men’s pole vault saw Jackson Bragg finish third after clearing a height of 5.43 meters, while Sean Gribble took fourth at 5.33 meters and Sam Hurley placed sixth at 5.23 meters.
Three Red Raiders advanced to Saturday’s final in both the women’s one hundred meter hurdles—led by Tonie-Ann Forbes who ran a time of twelve point ninety-seven—and men’s one hundred ten meter hurdles—led by Malachi Snow whose season-best thirteen point thirty-three ranks fifth all-time for Texas Tech. In shot put competition, Trey Wilson finished seventh for the men; Amori Pierson and Faith Mitchell placed fourth and seventh respectively for the women; Lily Mather also scored seventh in her steeplechase event with a season-best ten minutes nineteen point ninety-six seconds.
The championships conclude Saturday afternoon beginning with men’s high jump.
