WACO, TEXAS, May 9–11 — The men’s Big 12 Championships produced no collegiate leaders, but it did provide statement performances. Individually, Baylor’s Nigerian duo of Nathaniel Ezekiel (400H) and Chinecherem Nnamdi (JT) declared they are in the NCAA title hunt after each finished 3rd in his events at the ’23 nationals.
In the team race, Texas told defending champ Texas Tech that it was leaving for the SEC and taking the Big 12 crown with it.
Ezekiel blitzed the long hurdles field in a PR 48.00, knocking more than a quarter-second off the 48.29 he ran in April. He is now No. 7 on the all-time collegiate list and second on the yearly list, behind only Alabama’s Chris Robinson (47.95).
Ezekiel was untroubled by the competition and led wire-to-wire, despite strong showings by defending Big 12 champion Caleb Dean (48.43) and his Texas Tech teammate Oskar Edlund (48.82). Ezekiel and Dean both ran under the Olympic standard 48.70.
“I feel good,” said Ezekiel. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Doing this on my home track, I feel good and I’m happy about this. It’s a good improvement, because it was something I’ve been looking for and I knew I was in shape to do it. I feel so blessed.”
Nnamdi hyperextended his knee a week prior and was supposed to throw one-and-done. But after a 252-10 (77.07) in the first round (which would have won), he returned to the runway in the fourth and sixth, landing at 262-06 (80.02) in the latter.
It was his fourth lifetime foray beyond 80 meters, and his second this year (he hit a Nigerian record 271-8/82.80 in winning the African Games in March).
“He hasn’t been able to do anything all week, just resting and trying to get ready,” Baylor assistant coach Jeff Chakouian said. “He actually went from a short approach; he didn’t do his full run-up.”
Houston’s Shaun Maswanganyi also showed NCAA readiness with a sprint double (10.11 and 20.10) and anchoring the Cougar’s 38.44 relay, good for equal-No. 2 on this year’s collegiate list.
“This is a huge confidence boost not only for me but also for our relay as well,” the South African said. “My relay, we’ve been trying to piece it together and figure it out and today we ran a fast time.”
Texas wrested the outdoor crown back from Texas Tech by a score of 134–115. Texas coach Edrick Floréal, still smarting from a disappointing indoor campaign, praised his men’s outdoor turnaround.
“This was a complete team effort,” Floréal said. “Teams have pockets of stuff in events; we have people in every event. It’s all the way around.”
Indeed, the Longhorns did it with depth. Texas won only the 800 (Yusuf Bizimana, 1:46.07) and the LJ (resting decathlete Leo Neugebauer, 25-6/7.77), but scored in every event except the steeple and 5K.
BIG 12 MEN’S RESULTS
(weather forced some finals to be by heat)—
Teams: 1. Texas 134; 2. Texas Tech 115; 3. Iowa State 90; 4. BYU 83; 5. Houston 77½; 6. Kansas 65½; 7. Baylor 63; 8. Oklahoma State 56; 9. Oklahoma 52; 10. Kansas State 35; 11. tie, Cincinnati & TCU 24.
100(0.3)–1. Shaun Maswanganyi’ (Hous-SA) 10.11; 2. **Louie Hinchliffe’ (Hous-GB) 10.16; 3. Marcellus Moore (Tx) 10.16.
200(-0.1): 1. Maswanganyi’ 20.10; 2. Nolton Shelvin (Tx) 20.22; 3. Demar Francis’ (Bay-Jam) 20.38; 4. *Shawn Brown (TxT) 20.43; 5. *Laurenz Colbert (Bay) 20.48.
400: 1. Demar Francis’ (Bay-Jam) 45.44; 2. Richard Johnson (Ok) 45.45; 3. **Logan Popelka (Tx) 45.62; 4. **Shaemar Uter’ (TxT-Jam) 45.63.
800: 1. Yusuf Bizimana’ (Tx-GB) 1:46.07; 2. *Sebastian Fernandez (BYU) 1:46.32; 3. *Darius Kipyego (IaSt) 1:46.69; 4. **Cole Lindhorst (Tx) 1:47.32.
1500: 1. Ezekiel Rop’ (IaSt-Ken) 3:40.61; 2. Peter Smith (IaSt) 3:41.07; 3. ***Devan Kipyego (IaSt) 3:41.42; 4. ***Brian Musau’ (OkSt-Ken) 3:41.45.
St: 1. **James Corrigan (BYU) 8:29.24; 2. Victor Shitsama’ (OkSt-Ken) 8:29.89; 3. Gable Sieperda (IaSt) 8:33.83.
5000: 1. Alex Maier (OkSt) 13:36.19; 2. *Sanele Masondo’ (IaSt-SA) 13:37.20; 3. ***Denis Kipngetich’ (OkSt-Ken) 13:38.84.
10,000: 1. Masondo’ 29:14.53; 2. *Said Mechaal’ (IaSt-Spa) 29:15.62; 3. ***Adisu Guadia’ (OkSt-Isr) 29:17.48.
110H(0.6): 1. De’Vion Wilson (Hous) 13.35; 2. **Antoine Andrews’ (TxT-Bah) 13.63; 3. *DeVontae Ford (TxT) 13.67; 4. *Jamar Marshal (Hous) 13.70.
400H: 1. *Nathaniel Ezekiel’ (Bay-Ngr) 48.00 (7, 8 C);
2. Dean 48.43; 3. *Oskar Edlund’ (TxT-Swe) 48.82; 4. *Caio Almeida’ (OkSt-Bra) 50.40; 5. *Dillon Leacock’ (Hous-Tri) 50.62.
4 x 100: 1. Houston 38.44 (Brown, Hinchliffe’, Broadnax, Maswanganyi’); 2. Baylor 38.86; 3. Texas 38.90; 4. Texas Tech 38.97; 5. BYU 39.89; 6. TCU 39.91.
4 x 400: 1. Texas Tech 3:03.09 (Hicks, Uter’, Bartholomew, Eklund’); 2. Baylor 3:03.49 (Ezekiel’ 44.41); 3. Texas 3:05.08; 4. BYU 3:05.80; 5. Kansas State 3:05.90 (Omalla’ 44.81.
HJ: 1. *Devin Loudermilk (Ks) 7-4¼ (2.24); 2. *Sam Hurley (Tx) 7-1¾ (2.18); 3. ***Jace Posey (TCU) 7-¼ (2.14).
PV: 1. **Anthony Meacham (Ks) 17-8½ (5.40); 2. **Ashton Barkdull (Ks) 17-4½ (5.30); 3. Carson Dittel (TxT) 17-4½.
LJ: 1. Leo Neugebauer’ (Tx-Ger) 25-6 (7.77); 2. *Solomon Washington (Tx) 25-4¾ (7.74); 3. *Nikaoli Williams’ (Ok-Jam) 25-¾ (7.64).
TJ: 1. **Brandon Green (Ok) 54-2½ (16.52); 2. *Kelsey Daniel’ (Tx-Tri) 52-7½ (16.04); 3. *Stacy Brown (TxT) 51-9¼ (15.78).
SP: 1. *Cam Jones (IaSt) 64-6¾ (19.68); 2. *Danny Bryant (BYU) 64-3¼ (19.59); 3. Diego Trevino (Ok) 63-9½ (19.44); 4. ***Trey Wilson (TxT) 63-6¼ (19.36); 5. **Tucker Smith (O.
DT: 1. *Dimitrios Pavlidis’ (Ks-Gre) 201-10 (61.52); 2. Dallin Shurts (BYU) 198-9 (60.59); 3. Devin Roberson (TxT) 194-8 (59.35); 4. Neugebauer’ 192-3 (58.61).
HT: 1. Kade McCall (KsSt) 229-1 (69.83); 2. **Jeremiah Nubbe’ (Tx-Can) 227-0 (69.19); 3. Bayley Campbell’ (Ok-GB) 216-0 (65.85).
JT: 1. *Chinecherem Nnamdi’ (Bay-Ngr) 262-6 (80.02); 2. Cameron Bates (BYU) 228-5 (69.62); 3. ***Riley Marx (KsSt) 223-3 (68.04).
Dec: 1. *Alexander Jung’ (Ks-Ger) 7706; 2. **Dominique Hall’ (Cinc-Aut) 7649; 3. Joel McFarlane’ (TCU-GB) 7613.
