The Big 12 announced the 2026 outdoor track and field end-of-season awards. Five programs were represented, with BYU earning three selections.
Arizona’s Mason Lawyer was voted as the Conference’s Men’s Performer of the Year, while BYU earned two men’s awards with Tayvon Kitchen collecting Men’s Outstanding Freshman and Carter Cutting was voted as Men’s Scholar-Athlete. For the women, Kansas’ Emmaculate Jemutai garnered Women’s Performer of the Year, BYU’s Jane Hedengren earned Women’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year, and Cincinnati’s Juliette Laracuente-Huebner claimed Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Texas Tech’s Wes Kittley secured both Coach of the Year awards. Selections were voted on by the Big 12 head coaches, who were prohibited from voting for their own student-athletes.
Lawyer tallied 20 points at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship to win the Men’s High Point Scorer. The freshman collected two gold medals in the men’s 100 and 200 meters. He broke a 15-year-old meet record with a time of 20.02 seconds in the 200 meters. Lawyer is the first Wildcat to earn an end-of-season award since Arizona joined the league in 2024 and the first freshman since 2009 to earn the Conference honor.
Jemutai became the fourth Jayhawk in history to earn the Women’s Performer of the Year award. The junior earned two gold medals at the Big 12 Outdoor Championship in the 800 and 1,500-meter races. She successfully defended her 1,500-meter title with a mark of 4:09.66, before winning the women’s program’s first Big 12 800-meter title with a mark of 2:05.90.
The Cougars’ Kitchen set his season best mark of 13:16.27 in the 5,000 meters during the Bryan Clay Invitational. When he set the mark in April, it was the fifth-fastest time in the nation and ranked fourth in NCAA history. Kitchen is the first athlete from BYU to earn the Outstanding Freshman award since joining the league in 2023-24.
Hedengren continued to blaze her path in the BYU record book, being named both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 Outstanding Freshman. She is the current NCAA leader in the women’s 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Hedengren claimed her first Big 12 outdoor title in the 5,000 meters, outpacing the field by nearly 25 seconds with a mark of 15:26.94.
Cutting collected the Men’s Scholar-Athlete award after carrying a 3.9 GPA as a business major.
Laracuente-Huebner claimed the Women’s Scholar-Athlete accolade, posting a 4.0 GPA as a speech and language hearing sciences major while competing in every meet for the Bearcats.
Kittley swept the Coach of the Year awards for the second year in a row after leading the Red Raider men to their seventh outdoor Big 12 title and the women’s team to their second program title. The Texas Tech men tallied 127 points with two individual titles, while the Red Raider women posted 119.5 points, highlighted by the 4x400 team earning the Big 12 title for the first time in program history. This season’s honors mark the second Women’s Coach of the Year and his sixth time earning the Men’s Coach of the Year honor.
2026 Big 12 Outdoor Season Awards
Men’s Performer: Mason Lawyer, Arizona
Women’s Performer: Emmaculate Jemutai, Kansas
Men’s Outstanding Freshman: Tayvon Kitchen, BYU
Women’s Outstanding Freshman: Jane Hedengren, BYU
Men’s Scholar Athlete: Carter Cutting, BYU
Women’s Scholar Athlete: Juliette Laracuente-Huebner, Cincinnati
Coach of the Year: Wes Kittley, Texas Tech