Five Wildcats Win Individual Titles on Big 12 Championship Day One

Five Wildcats Win Individual Titles on Big 12 Championship Day One

Feb 28, 2026 | Track & Field

K-State won both the men's and women's weight throw and long jump as well as men's high jump

LUBBOCK, Texas – The K-State track and field teams had five individual champions crowned in the field events on Friday (February 27) as the Wildcats swept the men's and women's weight throw and long jump and the men's high jump. After the first six events of the weekend, both the men's and women's teams sit in 1^st place. The men have 62 points; the women collected 48.5 points.

Seniors Monique Hardy and Kade McCall earned the weight throw crowns, juniors Uroy Ryan and Maud Zeffou-Poaty leaped to the long jump titles and senior Devin Loudermilk soared to 1^st place in the men's high jump at the Sports Performance Center.

Hardy won the women's weight throw with a distance of 21.89m (71' 10"), almost five full feet ahead of the runner-up finisher. This is her second conference title; she previously won the event in 2024 at 21.11m.

McCall, a fifth-year senior, won his first indoor conference title in the men's weight throw as he tied his personal best at 22.63m (74' 3"). This is the first time a program has had a consecutive event winner since Texas Tech in 2021-22.

Ryan jumped 7.90m (25' 11") to move up one spot to no. 3 in the all-time indoor records with a personal best of an inch in the men's long jump. He is the first Wildcat to win the men's long jump in a decade, in 2016 Ifeanyich Otuonye claimed 1^st place with a jump of 7.70m.

Zeffou-Poaty jumped 6.62m (21' 8.75") in the women's long jump, an inch and a half further than her previous best. Still sitting at no. 3 in the indoor school records, she is less than two inches from the second best jump all-time. The last Wildcat to win the event was Akela Jones in 2016 at 6.75m.

Loudermilk had a season's best in the men's high jump clearing 2.25m (7' 4.5"), half an inch from his lifetime best at 2.26m. He previously won the event in 2024 for Kansas, but he is the first Wildcat to win the event since TJ Shankar won three consecutive years from 2019-21.

Junior Trevon Hamer ran in the 60-meter dash preliminary race with a new school record time of 6.58 seconds, qualifying for the final race in 3^rd place. The previous record of 6.62 was set by Terence Newman in 2002.

Another school record was broken as senior Vanessa Mercera ran the women's 600 yards for the first time in 1:18.79, qualifying for the final race in 3^rd place. The previous record was 1:19.46 from Sonia Gaskin in 2015.

Freshman Zoey Brinker finished 4^th in the women's pentathlon with 4,091 points, a new personal best. She won the high jump with a clearance of 1.81m (5' 11.25") and finished runner-up in the 800 meters with a time of 2:18.37.

After the first four events of the men's heptathlon freshman Dorian Charles sits in 8^th place with 3,101 points, fellow freshman Mattix DaCunha sits right behind in 9^th place with 3,095 points while senior Emil Uhlin is in 12^th place with 2,995 points.

The final day of the championship wraps up on Saturday (February 28) starting at 10 a.m. with the men's heptathlon 60-meter hurdles at 10 a.m. The women's shot put begins the field events at 1 p.m., the track events will start an hour later at 2 p.m. with the women's 60-meter hurdles final.

FROM THE TRACK
Head Coach Travis Geopfert
On the jumps events garnering the most points…
"The long jump was incredible. In the men's long jump, we scored 27 points. And I just really appreciate all those athletes have the bigger picture in mind. Sometimes with elite jumpers, you're almost on a pitch count, and all those guys, but one, only took three jumps, because we have finals tomorrow in the 60 meter dash and in the triple jump. And so just really appreciate how they went out, got the job done early, and they can leave some gas in the tank for tomorrow."

On the strategy to competing in the post season…
"We almost look at this championship season like first round of the playoffs, like college football playoffs. You go, execute your plan, save some bullets, get ready for the next meet. And so that's what we're doing right now... We're going to be in a dog fight with Texas Tech both sides, and perhaps BYU, also on the women's side, and shoot our bullets. We'll see what we got, and then get ready for the NCAA meeting two weeks."

Big 12 Championship
Sports Performance Center
Lubbock, Texas

Women's Pentathlon- Zoey Brinker
4. Overall, 4,091 points (PR)
19. 60 Meter Hurdles, 9.01 (PR)
1. High Jump, 1.81m (5' 11.25")
17. Shot Put, 10.51m (34' 5.75")
9. Long Jump, 5.78m (18' 11.75")
2. 800 Meters, 2:18.37 (PR)

Women's Pentathlon- Lalie Pouzancre-Hoyer
11. Overall, 3,888 points
9. 60 Meter Hurdles, 8.65 (PR)
T7. High Jump, 1.69m (5' 6.5")
18. Shot Put, 10.04m (32' 11.25")
12. Long Jump, 5.69m (18' 8")
9. 800 Meters, 2:23.67

Women's Pentathlon- Kayla Goodwin
12. Overall, 3,865 points
14. 60 Meter Hurdles, 8.86
14. High Jump, 1.63m (5' 4.25")
4. Shot Put, 12.09m (39' 8")
17. Long Jump, 5.61m (18' 5")
12. 800 Meters, 2:25.08

Women's Mile (Preliminary)
5. Vienna Lahner, 4:50.11 (q)

Women's 60 Meter Hurdles (Preliminary)
9. Jourdin Edwards, 8.39 (PR)
16. Vanessa Mercera, 8.50

Men's 60 Meter Dash (Preliminary)
3. Trevon Hamer, 6.58 (Q) (PR)*
6. Tah Chikomba, 6.63 (q) (PR)

Women's 600 Yards (Preliminary)
3. Vanessa Mercera, 1:18.79 (q)*
5. Delaney Brinker, 1:19.25 (q) (PR)
14. Delaney Wright, 1:21.44 (PR)
19. Angi Pondler, 1:22.99

Men's 600 Yards (Preliminary)
3. Heath Grant, 1:08.52 (q)

Women's 400 Meters (Preliminary)
12. Desirae Riehle, 53.51 (PR)
19. Anastasiia Kretova, 54.35 (PR)
23. Reese Kasper, 55.31
24. Ariana Jackson, 55.31

Men's 400 Meters (Preliminary)
8. Nen Matlock, 46.42 (q) (PR)
14. Bongumusa Nkosi, 46.74 (PR)
15. Tavon Underwood, 46.78

Women's Weight Throw
1. Monique Hardy, 21.89m (71' 10")^

Women's Pole Vault
13. Claire Bybee, 3.90m (12' 9.5")

Women's 1,000 Meters (Preliminary)
8. Vienna Lahner, 2:47.01
10. Anna Pozdeeva, 2:47.94 (Q) (PR)

Men's 1,000 Meters (Preliminary)
11. Dylan Plath, 2:24.83 (PR)
18. Vance Krudwig, 2:29.69

Men's 800 Meters (Preliminary)
2. Oskars Bambals, 1:49.98 (Q)

Men's Long Jump
1. Uroy Ryan, 7.90m (25' 11")^
2. Tah Chikomba, 7.87m (25' 10")
4. Trevon Hamer, 7.63m (25' 0.5")
5. Croix DaCunha, 7.61m (24' 11.75")

Women's Long Jump
1. Maud Zeffou-Poaty, 6.62m (21' 8.75") (PR)^
3. Chisom Nwafor, 6.51m (21' 4.25") (PR)
5. Aaliyah Lindsay, 6.31m (20' 9")
7. Tesia Thomas, 6.29m (20' 7.75")
21. Lalie Pouzancre-Hoyer, 5.81m (19' 0.75")

Men's High Jump
1. Devin Loudermilk, 2.25m (7' 4.5")^
3. Alan Hanna, 2.16m (7' 1")

Women's High Jump
2. Sharie Enoe, 1.93m (6' 4") (PR)
T7. Cheyla Scott, 1.81m (5' 11.25")
T9. Shanniqua Williams, 1.73m (5' 8")
15. Zoey Brinker, 1.73m (5' 8")

Men's Weight Throw
1. Kade McCall, 22.63m (74' 3")^
2. Gary Moore Jr., 22.34m (73' 3.5")
20. Riley Marx, 17.81m (58' 5.25") (PR)
21. Ricardo Hayles, 16.36m (53' 8.25")

Men's Distance Medley Relay
8. K-State, 9:56.81
(J. Avila, C. Ways, V. Krudwig, J. Esquibel)

Men's Heptathlon- Dorian Charles
8. 60 Meter Dash, 7.04 (PR)
7. Long Jump, 7.09m (23' 3.25") (PR)
11. Shot Put, 13.00m (42' 8")
10. High Jump, 1.92m (6' 3.5")

Men's Heptathlon- Mattix DaCunha
5. 60 Meter Dash, 6.92
10. Long Jump, 6.93m (22' 9")
15. Shot Put, 11.46m (37' 7.25")
3. High Jump, 2.01m (6' 7") (PR)

Men's Heptathlon- Emil Uhlin
13. 60 Meter Dash, 7.17 (PR)
14. Long Jump, 6.59m (21' 7.5")
10. Shot Put, 13.03m (42' 9")
4. High Jump, 1.98m (6' 6")

-- k-statesports.com --

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on the K-State Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.