The Morning Stake: Duffield and Adkins Finish 1 and 2 in NCAA Championships

JaCorian Duffield wins the NCAA National Championships in the high jump and Bradley Adkins finishes second! Plus, Texas Tech needs $11 million more before building the indoor practice facility.

Track and Field

Duffiend and Adkins Finish First and Second. Huge congrats. Just huge as JaCorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins finished first and second in the high jump in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. This is the first time in NCAA history where teammates finished first and second and this is the first time that a Texas Tech athlete has won both in the indoor and outdoor championships.

With the help of Duffield and Adkins, the men’s team finished 9th overall, which is the first time that Texas Tech has finished with a top 10 team in both indoor and outdoor venues. Here’s head coach Wes Kittley:

“Another incredible NCAA Championship performance from JaCorian and Bradley,” Texas Tech head coach Wes Kittley said. “To do something that has never been done in NCAA history is incredible. I am so proud of both of them. For JaCorian, our senior leader, what a perfect way for him to end his career here. That propelled us to a top 10 finish as well, which is just amazing. I’m so proud of this program for being top 10 in indoors and outdoors.”

Duffield reflects that this is a special moment for him:

This is a special moment,” Duffield said. “I don’t think it has really hit me yet, especially Bradley and I going 1-2 again. Going into the fall, we knew that if we put in the work, we would be capable of something like this. To come out here and be able to do it is truly a blessing. God is good.

Football

Need $11 Million to Start Indoor Practice Facility. According to LAJ’s Don Williams, Texas Tech is waiting on $11 more million dollars in order to begin building the proposed indoor practice facility. A couple of notes in the article, which is that Texas Tech chose Gensler as the architecture firm, which is a different firm that did the renderings, and that they hope to release the updated renderings in August. Athletic director Kirby Hocutt isn’t expecting those funds to come in within the next four months and is relying on private funds to complete the funding:

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m optimistic about the interest in the project that people have. They see the need that we have for it and the value that it would bring to our athletic programs, but we are dependent upon private support in making these a reality. I’m still extremely confident we’re going to get there, but to say that’s going to be in 30 days or 120 days, I wouldn’t venture that far, sitting here today.”

Grinding. This has been the familiar theme this year with head coach Kliff Kingsbury in that he hasn’t been in the news all that much and he’s said much of the offseason and spring that he and the team are just working, or grinding for the young folks. DMN’s Chuck Carlton got similar quotes from Kingsbury, who said that he’s excited for the changes that he’s made and have addressed issues:

“It’s one of those offseasons that we definitely took a closer look at what we’re doing as a program and we’ve addressed it,” Kingsbury said. “After the spring, I was very encouraged. I can’t wait to get to fall camp and see how we’ve improved.”

He also took a hard look at himself. Kingsbury, who turns 36 in August, has enjoyed a meteoric rise to head coach at his alma mater before the 2014 season.

“As a head coach, I’m trying to evolve and improve. I’m trying to get better at what I do,” Kingsbury said. “I know how to call plays; I know how to game-plan.”

Athlon’s All-Big 12. Athlon Sports has their All-Big 12 team and Le’Raven Clark and Pete Robertson make the first team, while DeAndre Washington and Jakeem Grant make the second team. There’s also third and fourth teams, which include Branden Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Devin Lauderdale, Jared Kaster, Alfredo Morales, Micah Awe, Nigel Bethel and Taylor Symmank.

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