LEXINGTON, Ky. – Akala Garrett and Kendrick Smallwood led No. 17/13 Texas Track and Field with hurdle titles on the final day of the SEC Outdoor Championships. The 17th-ranked men finished seventh with 53.5 points, and the No. 13 women tied for ninth with 52 points.

Smallwood became the first male Longhorn to ever win a SEC track and field title on Saturday with a school-record time of 13.13 in the 110-meter hurdles. Smallwood now owns the five fastest times in UT history and is tied for the 12th-fastest time in NCAA history. The win gave the Longhorns 10 team points.

Garrett later won the second-ever SEC track and field title for UT’s women in the 400-meter hurdles with her time of 54.84. Her time equals her eighth-fastest time in school history and she has now won back-to-back 400mH conference titles after setting the Big 12 Championship record last season at 54.73. Freshman Mackenzie Collins was seventh with a time of 58.37, and the two combined for 12 team points.

In the men’s 400m hurdles, Kody Blackwood improved his personal best by .01 second to finish in 48.78 for the silver medal. Blackwood’s time improves his spot to No. 3 on the school’s all-time performer list. Chris Brinkley Jr. was seventh with a personal-best time of 50.58. The two combined for 10 team points.

Grad transfer Elizabeth Stockman used an 80-meter kick to secure the bronze medal in the 1500-meter run with her time of 4:20.88. She scored six team points for the Longhorns.

Sophomore Osawese Agbonkonkon returned to the high jump and finished tied for seventh clearing 2.12m (6-11.5) to score 1.5 points. Kelsey Daniel was also seventh in the men’s triple jump with a season-best mark of 15.79m (51-9.75) to score two points.

Back on the track, Kenondra Davis finished fourth with a personal-best time of 22.68 in the 200-meter, while freshman Holly Okuku was eighth in 23.10. Davis later finished eighth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.35 and the two combined for seven points.

Xavier Butler added a fifth-place finish in the men’s 200m with a time of 20.28 for four points.

The women’s 4×100-meter relay of Carleta Bernard, Okuku, Davis and Nita Koom-Dadzie finished eighth with a time of 43.85 to score one team point. The men’s relay saw Smallwood, John Rutledge, Almond Small and Butler finish fourth with a season-best time of 38.81 – the seventh-best time in program history.

Isaac Alonzo added a point for the men finishing eighth in the 5000-meters with his season best performance of 13:56.61.

Texas ended the competition with the women’s 4×400 relay of Ramiah Elliott, Garrett, Carleta Bernard and Okuku finishing sixth in 3:31.90. The men’s 4×400 relay of Nabil Tezkratt, Logan Popelka, Blackwood and Rutledge were fifth in 3:04.42.

Texas Scorers:

Nina Ndubuisi – Shot Put (1^st) – 10 pts

Akala Garrett – 400mH (1^st) – 10 pts

Elizabeth Stockman – 1500m (3^rd) – 6 pts

Aaliyah Foster – Long Jump (4^th) – 5 pts

Kenondra Davis – 200m (4^th) – 5 pts

Eva Jess – 10K – (5^th) – 4 pts

Meagan Humphries – Heptathlon – (5^th) – 4 pts

Elliott, Garrett, Bernard, Okuku – 4×4 (6^th) – 3 pts

Mackenzie Collins – 400mH (7^th) – 2 pts

Bernard, Okuku, Davis, Koom-Dadzie – 4×100 (8^th) – 1 pt

Holly Okuku – 200m (8^th) – 1 pt

Kenondra Davis – 100m (8^th) – 1 pt

Kendrick Smallwood – 110mH (1^st) – 10 pts

Kody Blackwood – 400mH (2^nd) – 8 pts

Solomon Washington – Long Jump (4^th) – 5 pts

Smallwood, Rutledge, Small, Butler – 4×100 (4^th) – 5 pts

Brock Lewis – Decathlon – (5^th) – 4 pts

Xavier Butler – 200m (5^th) – 4 pts

Tezkratt, Popelka, Blackwood, Rutledge – 4×400 (5^th) – 4 pts

Logan Patete – 3K Steeple – (7^th) – 2 pts

Isaac Alonso – 10K – (7^th) – 2 pts

Kelsey Daniel – Long Jump (7^th) – 2 pts

Chris Brinkley Jr. – 400mH (7^th) – 2 pts

Kelsey Daniel – triple Jump (7^th) – 2 pts

Osawese Agbonkonkon – High Jump (t-7^th) – 1.5 pts

Isaac Alonzo – 5K (8^th) – 1 pt

The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.

The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.

It’s the sign of a historically dominant program when even your bad days end with gold.

Despite injuries to two of their top sprinters and a DNF, nothing could stop Long Beach Poly from continuing its reign at the CIF-SS track finals on Saturday at Moorpark High School. Though the setbacks will affect their entries into the CIF State meet, the Jackrabbits still walked away as CIF-SS Division 1 champions for the boys and runners-up for the girls.

“We’re just excited to see this team have this type of success after so many adverse situations happening,” said Poly coach Crystal Irving. “Adversity makes you stronger, so I’m glad that we’re able to come out on top and move on to next week. We’re very blessed and pleased with the outcome.”

It is the 133rd CIF-SS championship in school history for Poly and the 19th for boys’ track & field. It’s also the Jackrabbits’ first time going back-to-back as CIF-SS track champions since 2007.

The Jackrabbits will be back at Moorpark next week for the Masters Meet, where they’ll look to qualify as many entries as possible into the CIF State finals. The CIF State finals will be held at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 30–31.

Boys

The Long Beach Poly boys came into the meet without their top sprinter in Julius Johnson, who was the Moore League champion in both the 100m and the 200m. The sophomore has been nursing a foot injury that should keep him out for another few weeks.

On top of that, the boys opened their first race with a DNF in the 4x100m, where they were favored to earn at least six points for their team. The error came on the final baton exchange, bringing the Jackrabbits to a complete halt. They immediately pleaded for interference by the lane next to them — but to no avail.

The combination of setbacks left Poly trailing heading into the final race, where the Jackrabbits needed a win in the 4x400m to clinch the title. Gus Armstrong, Jarrius Hill, Darieon Shufford, and Noah Smith found that win with a 3:13.20 — 36 hundredths ahead of Rancho Cucamonga who finished second in the overall scoring.

“Just seeing my team put the work in and put me in that spot, I knew I had to close it out like that,” said Smith, who anchored a tight final leg.

Smith also came in second in the 400m with a time of 47.79. Due to injuries last year, it’s the first time Smith was able to run in an individual event at the CIF-SS finals.

“Last year it was definitely a hard year for me,” he said. “It kinda hurt me a little bit [not running in the 400m] and not being able to showcase what I can do and help my team out in different ways. So this year I knew I could put points up for the guys and I tried my best to win.”

The Jackrabbits had another second place finish in the 110m hurdles where Lynnox Newton ran a 13.96. The time comes as a new personal-record for Newton and it’s the first time he’s gone under 14 seconds.

Poly picked up another nine points in the 200m where they had a total of three different runners. Malachi Dawson came in fourth with a 21.72 and Hill finished sixth with a 21.86. Jaylen Mcneil ran as an alternative for Johnson and finished in eighth with a 21.98.

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Texas Tech swept the 2025 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship as the men’s team tallied 136 points to claim its sixth crown, while 127 points were posted by the women’s team during its journey to its first Big 12 outdoor title. Both programs were also the 2025 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field champions.

BYU finished second in the men’s standings with 100.66 points, followed by Houston in third place with 96 points, Kansas in fourth place with 75 points and Iowa State rounded out the top five with 71 points.

The BYU women earned 112.5 points for a second-place finish with TCU placing third with 86 points, Baylor finishing fourth with 84.5 points and Kansas’ 55.83 points earned them a fifth-place finish.

BYU’s James Corrigan and TCU’s Indya Mayberry were named the Men’s and Women’s High Point Award winners after earning 20 and 22 points, respectively, during the weekend.

After three days of action, a total of 10 meet records were reset. Headlined by Corrigan’s second record-breaking performance, seven Big 12 meet records were crushed during the Championship’s final day.  

The Red Raider women led the league’s teams in the field events on Saturday as they earned the gold in the high jump, discus throw and the triple jump. TTU’s Temitope Adeshina defended her high jump crown with a meet record jump of 1.97 meters, surpassing the previous 16-year-old mark of 1.95.

Already earning the women’s hammer throw Friday, TTU’s Shelby Frank was not done at the Championship on Saturday as she collected her second Big 12 crown during the weekend with a winning throw of 62.14 in the women’s discus throw.

The women’s team title was secured by TTU following a 26-point performance from the Red Raiders during the women’s triple jump. Victoria Gorlova rounded out TTU’s event winners as she won the event with a jump of 13.66 meters, leading a quartet of Red Raiders finishing within the top eight.  

The Red Raider men claimed the 4×100 with a time of 39.34 seconds, their first gold in the event since 2023. On the women’s side, Baylor claimed its second consecutive Big 12 title in the event with a time of 42.73 seconds.

DeSean Boyce would pick up the Red Raider men’s second crown of the day in the 400 meters (45.42) to claim the program’s second Big 12 title in the event since Gil Roberts was tabbed the winner in 2009.

The runners-up had a productive day on Saturday as the distance runners from both the men’s and women’s programs boasted meet records. BYU’s Meghan Hunter became the first woman to run sub-two minutes in the women’s 800 meters in Big 12 history. Her time of 1:58.99 is now the third-fastest in NCAA history.

Additionally, BYU earned another title as Corrigan posted the Championship’s fastest time in the men’s 5,000 meters at 13:25.46. It marked the second time the junior had reset a Big 12 record this week.

Lexy Halladay-Lowry rounded out record-breaking performances posted by BYU distance runners as she claimed the women’s 5,000-meter crown with a time of 15:14.93, crushing the previous record by seven seconds (15:22.42, 2010). Halladay-Lowry claimed her second Big 12 title in the event during the 2025 season, also winning the indoor title.

The KU men picked up two field events as Dimitrios Pavlidis upheld his discus throw title with a launch of 61.31 meters during his fourth throw before Ashton Barkdull’s personal-best clearance of 5.61 meters in the pole vault led a group of five Jayhawks who finished within the top eight to claim the program’s second consecutive title in the event.  

In front of the Jayhawk home crowd, KU’s Emmaculate Jemutai’s kick within the final meters pushed her to a meet record time of 4:08.60 in the women’s 1,500 meters. The sophomore is the second runner from Kansas to win the gold medal, first claimed in 2010.

Houston’s Jamar Marshall Jr. reinvented the wheel in the men’s 110-meter hurdles as he outlasted a 14-year-old record (13.23) with a time of 13.13 to return the title to Houston. The Cougars reclaimed another sprinting title in the men’s 100 meters as sophomore Cayden Broadnax won the event with a time of 10.15 seconds.

Mayberry, this season’s NCAA leader in the women’s 100 meters, claimed her first Big 12 outdoor title in the event with a time of 11.03 seconds. The freshman is the first TCU woman to claim the gold in the event since the Horned Frogs joined the Conference in 2012. She later claimed the 200-meter title with a 22.47 mark. The freshman has gone undefeated in the event this season, claiming both indoor and outdoor Big 12 titles along with the NCAA indoor crown.

Lloyd Frilot swept the men’s 800 meters this season in the Conference, earning the indoor and outdoor crowns. Joining Mayberry as first-time TCU winners, Frilot is the first Horned Frog winner to clinch the men’s outdoor title.

Kashie Crockett rounded out the title winners from TCU on Saturday, winning the men’s 200 meters with a time of 20.41 seconds.

Baylor’s Nathaniel Ezekiel became the fifth Bear to claim the men’s 400-meter hurdles crown in back-to-back years with a Big 12 record-setting time of 47.89 seconds. During the week, the senior broke his Big 12 meet record twice, first surpassing his 48 seconds from last year during Thursday’s preliminary round.

K-State’s Jhavor Bennett earned the Wildcats’ first gold medal in the men’s triple jump since 2014. The junior won the event with a personal-best throw of 16.21 during his final attempt. 

Safhia Hinds became the third woman from K-State to earn the Big 12 title in the women’s 400-meter hurdles as she crossed the finish line at 55.90 seconds.

OSU’s Fouad Messaoudi earned his third men’s 1,500 meters Big 12 crown in four seasons with a time of 3:37.27.

Adaobi Tabugbo secured the Knights’ second straight Big 12 title in the women’s 100-meter hurdles after the senior ran the event in 12.87 seconds.

Iowa State’s Rachel Joseph went back-to-back in the women’s 400 meters this season, adding the outdoor crown (50.81) after claiming the event during the Big 12 Indoor Championship.

The Arizona State men won their first Big 12 4×400-meter relay (3:02.87) while UCF swept the relay on the women’s side (3:33.62) during the 2025 season to conclude the 2025 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

Big 12 teams will look ahead to preparing for the East and West Regions Qualifying Rounds of the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Athletes accepted into the first rounds, along with the Championship’s combined event athletes, will be announced on Thursday, May 22.

Final Team Standings

Men’s

 
Women’s

 
2025 Big 12 Award Winners 

Men:

High Point Winner: James Corrigan, BYU – 20 points

Discus Throw: Dimitrios Pavlidis, Kansas – 61.31 meters

Pole Vault: Ashton Barkdull, Kansas – 5.61 meters

Triple Jump: Jhavor Bennett, K-State – 16.21 meters

4×100 Meter Relay: Texas Tech (Aidan McDuffie, Johnathan Crawford, Antoine Andrews and Kimarlie Stewart) – 39.34 seconds

1,500 Meter: Fouad Messaoudi, Oklahoma State – 3:37.27

110 Meter Hurdles: Jamar Marshall Jr., Houston – 13.13*

400 Meters: DeSean Boyce, Texas Tech – 45.42 seconds

100 Meters: Cayden Broadnax, Houston – 10.15

800 Meters: Lloyd Frilot, TCU – 1:45.79

400 Meter Hurdles: Nathaniel Ezekiel, Baylor – 47.89*

200 Meters: Kashie Crockett, TCU – 20.41 seconds

5,000 Meters: James Corrigan, BYU – 13:25.46*

4×400 Meter Relay: Arizona State (Nicholas Ramey, Malik Franklin, Trevin Moyer and Jayden Davis) – 3:02.87

Decathlon: Ben Barton, BYU – 7,865 points

Hammer Throw: Gary Moore, K-State – 67.68 meters

Javelin Throw: Preston Kuznof, TCU – 68.32 meters

10,000 Meters: Ernest Cheruiyot, Texas Tech – 29:37.64

High Jump: B.J. Jennings, Texas Tech – 2.22 meters

Shot Put: Fred Moudani-Likibi, Cincinnati – 20.28 meters

Long Jump: Reinaldo Rodrigues, Arizona – 7.64 meters

3,000 Meter Steeplechase: James Corrigan, BYU – 8:22.20*

 

Women:

High Point Winner: Indya Mayberry, TCU – 22 points

Discus Throw: Shelby Frank, Texas Tech – 62.14 meters

Triple Jump: Victoria Gorlova, Texas Tech – 13.66 meters

High Jump: Temitope Adeshina, Texas Tech – 1.97 meters*

4×100 Meter Relay:  Baylor (Tiriah Kelley, Hannah Lowe, Alexis Brown and Michaela Francois) – 42.73 seconds

1,500 Meters: Emmaculate Jemutai, Kansas – 4:08.60*

100 Meter Hurdles: Adaobi Tabugbo, UCF – 12.87 seconds

400 Meters: Rachel Joseph, Iowa State – 50.81 seconds

100 Meters: Indya Mayberry, TCU – 11.03 seconds

800 Meters: Mehgan Hunter, BYU – 1:58.99*

200 Meters: Indya Mayberry, TCU – 22.47 seconds

400 Meter Hurdles: Safhia Hinds, K-State – 55.90 seconds

500 Meters: Lexy Halladay-Lowry, BYU – 15:14.93*

4×400 Meter Relay: UCF (Janiah Pulliam, Twaneise Johnson, Yvette Harris and Jazmen Newberry) – 3:33.62

Heptathlon: Annie Molenhouse, Oklahoma State – 5,729 points

Hammer Throw: Shelby Frank, Texas Tech – 70.37 meters*

Javelin Throw: Irene Jepkemboi, TCU – 57.59 meters

10,000 Meters: Joy Naukot, West Virginia – 33:30.84

Pole Vault: Molly Haywood, Baylor – 4.52 meters

Long Jump: Alexis Brown, Baylor – 7.03 meters

Shot Put: KeAyla Dove, Houston – 18.14 meters

3,000 Meter Steeplechase: Sarah Tait, West Virginia – 9:44.72*

 

 

Bold denotes Saturday’s winners

* Big 12 meet record

 

Santa Barbara High boys volleyball came up just short in a five-set battle with Sage Hill in the CIF-SS Division 4 Championship match on Saturday inside J.R. Richards Gym.

The Dons won two of the first three sets but couldn’t come out on top as the Lightning caught fire down the stretch to win the final two sets and the CIF-SS title, 15-25, 25-13, 18-25, 25-20, 15-8.

“To get here is quite an accomplishment, but to win it, it’s even harder,” Santa Barbara High head coach Chad Arneson said. “I give our boys a lot of credit. They played hard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of our best overall team performances.

“I’m so bummed for our boys because they worked so hard, but they should be proud of what they’ve accomplished.”

Sage Hill’s CIF championship is the program’s second straight, as the Lightning came out on top in Division 5 last season. Meanwhile, the Dons have now been to two championship matches in five years.

Santa Barbara High’s strong playoff run came following an up-and-down regular season that featured a third-place finish in the Channel League and some struggles in marquee matchups.

“I don’t think a lot of teams or even the community thought we were going to go this far with this kind of group, so I’m really proud of our boys,” Arneson said.

“I’m proud of our guys. We did not look this good at the start of the season,” Santa Barbara High senior Jack Goligoski said. “This whole playoff run, we’ve kind of found our lineup and everyone’s just stepped up and played great team volleyball. We don’t have any real standouts, but we always play really well together.”

The Dons will learn if they will continue their season in the State Regional Tournament when brackets are released on Sunday.

In the opening set, the two teams battled to a 5-5 tie, but a kill and a block by Benicio Duarte on back-to-back points gave the Dons a two-point cushion.

Santa Barbara held onto that advantage and it grew out to 15-9 thanks to a pair of kills by Hayes Costner and a Chase Holdren ace, prompting the first Sage Hill timeout of the contest.

The Dons weren’t slowed down by the timeout, as Holdren continued to run a fluid offensive attack and find his talented outside hitters. On the final point of the set, he dished it off to Goligoski, who found Costner for the kill to take the 25-15 win and the 1-0 lead.

Sage Hill came out of the break with a sense of urgency and raced out to a 5-1 lead, forcing Arneson to call a timeout.

The Dons got two quick points out of the break on a Lightning miscue and an ace from Costner, but Sage Hill regained its momentum and continued to pull away to a 13-5 advantage that led to another timeout from Santa Barbara.

The Lightning continued to roll from there, dominating at the net to grow its lead out to as many as 12 points. Long Beach State commit Jackson Cryst finished off the 25-13 win with an ace to even the match at 1-1.

“We’d have momentum, and we’d lose momentum, then we’d win some momentum… (It is a) game of runs,” Arneson said.

Sage Hill carried that momentum over to the third set, as the visitors grabbed the early 4-0 lead and forced a Santa Barbara High timeout.

Following a service error by the Dons, they found themselves trailing 6-3. Benicio Duarte then came up with back-to-back kills on the outside to spark a 6-0 Santa Barbara High run with Goligoski on the service line to take a 9-6 lead.

The Dons found more of a groove as the set progressed, taking advantage of several Sage Hill miscues and coming up with timely kills to pull away and secure the 25-18 win, moving one set away from a CIF-SS title.

The fourth set began just like the previous two as the Lightning grabbed the early momentum and built a 5-1 lead.

The Dons battled back and cut the deficit to one at three different points, including 12-11. However, a kill by Cryst kicked off a 3-0 spurt to extend the Sage Hill lead to 15-11.

The Lightning held the slim advantage for the majority of the set, but Santa Barbara High made a late push with three straight points to cut the deficit to 22-20.

However, Sage Hill reconvened with a timeout and finished off the 25-20 victory to force a winner-take-all fifth set.

“I think winning game four would have been nice… but, that’s the beauty of sports, you know?” Arneson said. “Someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose. Unfortunately, it was us tonight, but our guys should keep their heads high and feel proud of what they’ve accomplished this year.”

In set five, Sage Hill received the opening serve and took advantage with an ace followed by a kill for a quick 2-0 advantage.

That proved to be crucial, as the two sides then traded points until a back row kill by Cryst gave the Lightning a 9-7 lead and led to a Santa Barbara High timeout.

From there, Cryst took full control of the match by hammering down two kills and coming up with a clutch block down the stretch to lead his team to a 15-8 win and a CIF-SS title.

“We got off to a slow start, and it’s tough when you’re on your heels and you have to play against a really good team and offensive dominance over there on that side. [Cryst] definitely set the tone,” Arneson said.

Costner and Duarte led the Santa Barbara High offense with 12 kills apiece while both Luke Zuffelato and Kristian Dybdahl tallied seven kills. Holdren ended the day with 37 assists and 10 digs.

King’s Academy’s boys volleyball program is leaving Polk State College, home of the Class 1A state championship match, with the first title in school history.

The Lions brought out the celebratory brooms, defeating Sports Leadership and Management (Tampa Bay) with a 3-0 sweep to clinch the state hardware.

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Two years after making it to the state series during their sophomore year, Jake Manning, John Casey, and Dylan Wahl broke through during their senior years, while senior teammates Ryan Huff, David Brainard, and Graysen Amestoy also ended their high school careers on a high note.

“Very exciting,” head coach Danielle McCoy said. “It was the goal from the beginning of the season. We had a mission after a tough loss last year in the regional championship, so the boys were very motivated to go as far as we could go.”

After losing to Seminole Ridge in the regional championship last year, King’s defeated Cardinal Gibbons in the same round during this year’s campaign, the only match to really test their limits during their entire postseason run.

(ABC 6 News) – It was a special day in Cannon Falls, as the community rallied together to honor one of their own, who’s life was tragically cut short by melanoma cancer in 2023, with the 2nd annual Alex Hanson Volleyball Tournament.

“It’s all in honor of him man, and that’s why we do it, cause we all love him so much and we just want to come out here and have fun in his honor,” said Philip Marklevits, Alex’s neighbor.

Family and friends of Alex were out Saturday celebrating his memory, in the way he would’ve wanted.

“I knew him for like 4 or 5 years, but we all get so close so fast, so it’s really nice to be able to just do something for him,” said Maddie Johnson, a friend of Alex’s.

“Alex was in a lot of sports. Twins, Vikings, you know, everything. I don’t really care much for a lot of sports so volleyball was the one thing that we had a lot in common,” said Mitchell Ryan, another one of Alex’s friends.

Everyone who knew Alex took the time to reflect on the impact he left on them..

“Alex means a lot to me. And I just come out here because he’d be out here playing to, if he was here with us so that’s why I do it,” said Marklevits.

The tournament wasn’t all games and laughter; it was also about raising awareness of the dreadful disease of Melanoma.

“Wear your sunscreen, get checked. If you see something off, that’s probably the biggest thing is people push off things, so yeah if you see something that doesn’t seem right, get checked out,” said Joe Conner, Alex’s Brother-In-Law.

Most importantly though, the day was about having fun and remembering the good times shared, even if Alex’s loved ones wish he could be playing right alongside of them.

“Everybody is so connected now, it’s nice to see everyone come together and actually supporting something,” said Johnson.

Organizers say that all proceeds this year will go to Cannon Falls and surrounding cities for places to escape the sun to further spread awareness on Melanoma.

11 teams participated in this years tournament and is expected to continue next year.

The event is open to the public. To sign up next year, you can look for a link on the Alex Hanson Volleyball tournament Facebook page.