TicketsTUCSON, Ariz. — Behind conference championships from Orry Willems, Juliette Laracuente-Huebner and Kya Epps, the Cincinnati Bearcats closed out the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships with 19 podium finishes and eight school records across three days of competition on Saturday night.
The Cincinnati women finished sixth overall with 57.5 points, while the men placed 12th with 24 points. Texas Tech swept the team championships, winning the women’s title with 119.5 points and the men’s championship with 127 points.
Willems opened the meet with a championship performance in the men’s hammer throw, winning the event with a school-record mark of 68.65m. He broke his own school record twice during the competition en route to capturing the first Big 12 title of his career. Cincinnati added two more podium finishes in the event as Tyler Thompson placed sixth with a personal-best throw of 62.27m and Ben Fiser finished eighth at 59.77m.
In the women’s hammer throw, Miranda Tcheutchoua earned a fifth-place finish with a toss of 59.79m.
Laracuente-Huebner added Cincinnati’s second conference championship of the weekend by winning the heptathlon with a school-record 6,086 points. She narrowly defeated Annie Molenhouse of Oklahoma State, who finished runner-up with 6,005 points.
After ending the opening day of competition in second place with 3,640 points, Laracuente-Huebner surged into the lead on Friday by winning the long jump with a mark of 6.22m. She later placed sixth in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 37.73m before taking second in the 800 meters in 2:14.23 to clinch the championship. During the opening day of the heptathlon, she placed third in the 100-meter hurdles in 13.52, seventh in the high jump at 1.70m, third in the shot put with a personal-best mark of 13.20m and third in the 200 meters in 23.83.
Epps closed the weekend with another title for the Bearcats, winning the women’s 100-meter dash in a personal-best and school-record time of 11.07. She later added a third-place finish in the 200 meters in 22.72 after previously breaking the school record in the event during preliminary competition with a time of 22.66.
Davenae Fagan also earned a podium finish for Cincinnati, placing third in the women’s 400-meter dash with a season-best time of 51.74.
Cincinnati’s relay teams added two more podium finishes on the final day of competition. The women’s 4x100-meter relay team placed fourth in a season-best 44.35, while the men’s 4x400-meter relay team finished sixth in a program-record 3:04.52. The women’s 4x400-meter relay team also turned in a program-record performance, clocking a time of 3:34.48 to place 10th overall.
In the hurdles, Macaela Walker posted two podium finishes, placing fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best and school-record time of 57.08 before taking seventh in the 100-meter hurdles in a season-best 13.17. Camden Beatty added a fifth-place finish in the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.85 after setting a school record in preliminary competition earlier in the week.
Seth Elking earned a seventh-place finish in the men’s 1,500 meters with a time of 4:00.15, while Macaria Moore-Bastide placed eighth in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.78m.
Additional podium finishes came in the women’s shot put, where Omolola Kuponiyi placed third with a personal-best throw of 15.76m and Emarie Jackson finished sixth at 15.43m. On the men’s side, Matthew Rusch placed eighth in the shot put at 16.96m, while Abby Knouff added an eighth-place finish in the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 4.17m.
The Bearcats also advanced multiple athletes through preliminary competition during the meet, including Walker in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Fagan in the women’s 400 meters, Ethan Long in the men’s 100 meters and Epps in both the women’s 100 and 200 meters.
In the decathlon, Miller Mabury entered the second day of competition in fourth place overall with 3,944 points before suffering an injury that prevented him from finishing the event. Mabury recorded personal bests in the 100 meters (11.12), shot put (13.15m) and high jump (1.97m) during the opening day of competition.
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