IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 Conference has announced the yearly awards for the 2025 outdoor season. Baylor collected three honors as Nathaniel Ezekiel claimed Men’s Performer of the Year and Alexis Brown was named the Women’s Performer of the Year and the Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Kansas’ Bryce Barkdull earned the Men’s Outstanding Freshman honor while TCU’s Indya Mayberry was named the Outstanding Freshman of the Year on the women’s side. Iowa State’s Gus Langford claimed Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Texas Tech’s Wes Kittley rounded out this season’s awards as the Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year.

Ezekiel led the nation in the men’s 400-meter hurdles this season, showcasing his best performance at the 2025 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship. The senior from Delta State, Nigeria, set the eighth fastest time in NCAA history (47.90) during the preliminary round before he marked the seventh fastest mark (47.89) during the final, resetting his own Big 12 meet record from last year. He is one of two Big 12 hurdlers whose marks rank within the top seven all-time and account for two of three marks that have been set in this decade.

Brown defended her Big 12 women’s long jump title with a personal-best leap of 7.03 meters, becoming the third woman to jump over 23 feet in NCAA history. Also competing in sprinting events, the graduate student posted a personal record time of 11.08 in the 100 meters at the Big 12 Championship to claim her second top 10 NCAA-season leading mark at No. 10 (No. 1 in long jump). She finished her weekend at the Big 12 postseason event as a member of the defending women’s 4x100-meter relay team that set a BU program record (42.73), which sits a No. 2 in the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Performance List.

Brown also became the fifth woman in Conference history to claim the outdoor season’s Performer of the Year award in back-to-back seasons while earning Baylor’s first Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. Brown posted a 3.96 GPA as a business administration student.

Barkdull is the first Jayhawk since 2019 to earn the Big 12 Men’s Outstanding Freshman title. During the 2025 outdoor season, he posted a season-best clearance of 5.51 meters in the pole vault while finishing in the top five in all seven meets he competed in this season. He registered his best performance at the Big 12 Championship, where he placed third and was a member of the KU squad of vaulters that earned 28 points as five Jayhawks placed within the event’s top six finishes.

Mayberry continued to make her mark in TCU’s history as the first Horned Frog to be named Most Outstanding Freshman (men’s or women’s) since the program joined the Big 12 during the 2012-13 academic year. The Fort Worth native went undefeated in the women’s 100 meters during the outdoor season and currently holds the NCAA’s fastest time this season with a mark of 10.91 seconds. She posted a season-best mark of 22.47 in the women’s 200 meters at the Big 12 Championship to earn her overall fourth Conference title. On the final day of the Championship, she started by helping the Horned Frog women earn silver in the 4x100-meter relay before winning the 100 and 200 meters en route to claiming the Women’s High Point Award. Mayberry also claimed the indoor season’s Big 12 Women’s Performer and Outstanding Freshman awards.

Langford collected the Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year with a 3.93 GPA as a kinesiology and health major. The junior from St. Paul, Minnesota, is the second Cyclone male to earn the award since it was first awarded in 2013.

Kittley led the men’s team to its sixth outdoor Big 12 title while the women’s team claimed its first outdoor crown. The Red Raider men procured 136 points and had four individual event winners. The Red Raider women tallied 127 points, including four Big 12 titles. Additionally, the team secured the title after earning 28 points in the women’s triple jump with the top three finishers coming from the TTU squad. This season’s honors mark the first Women’s Coach of the Year award for Coach Kittley and is his fifth time earning the Men’s Coach of the Year honor.   
 
2025 Big 12 Outdoor Season Awards
Men’s Performer: Nathaniel Ezekiel, Baylor
Men’s Outstanding Freshman: Bryce Barkdull, Kansas
Men’s Scholar-Athlete: Gus Langford, Iowa State
Women’s Performer: Alexis Brown, Baylor
Women’s Outstanding Freshman: Indya Mayberry, TCU
Women’s Scholar-Athlete: Alexis Brown, Baylor
Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year: Wes Kittley, Texas Tech