Tapping into global forces

On that glorious Saturday when the Texas Tech men's track and field team won its second consecutive Big 12 indoor championship and set meet records for total points and margin of victory, seven Red Raiders won medals in individual events.

What's interesting is the seven men are from seven countries.

The Tech men winning Big 12 gold, silver and bronze on the final day of the meet were sprinters Divine Oduduru from Nigeria and Andrew Hudson from the U.S., jumpers Odaine Lewis from Jamaica and Jah-Nhai Perinchief from Bermuda, middle-distance runners Jonah Koech from Kenya and Sven Cepus from Croatia and combined-events specialist Axel Hubert from France.

They come from all over the world, but Lewis said they're united by their common cause.

"I just like the compactness of the team," said Lewis, who grew up in Montego Bay, the tourist capital of Jamaica. "That's really why I love it here. We look out for each other, always supporting each other and that's what I love. We are like a family here."

Lewis said he can learn what's going on in Bermuda from Perinchief, joke with Hubert to teach him some French, break out some of his Jamaican slang and then explain it in terms more familiar to Americans.

"It's a good feeling to have a team with such a diversity of ethnic background," Lewis said. "We like to interact and share each other's culture. That's what I like about it."

The thought of the Red Raiders, on one afternoon, getting medals from seven men who grew up under seven different flags hadn't crossed Tech coach Wes Kittley's mind until someone pointed it out. 

"I guess what's unique about it is all of them are that good in all different events," Kittley said. "A lot of times, you'll have several internationals, but they wouldn't be spread out that much. So that's pretty unusual. ... I had never thought of it like that."

The Tech men, ranked No. 1 all winter, will try to win their first national title this weekend at the NCAA indoor track and field championships in Birmingham, Alabama. The competition is Friday and Saturday.

In addition to the seven from seven countries, Tech jumper Charles Brown, vaulter Drew McMichael and thrower Duke Kicinski also were Big 12 medal winners with Brown and McMichael also qualifying for the national meet. 

Some of the foreign-born Red Raiders made other U.S. stops before Tech. Lewis and Perinchief were teammates at Iowa Central, and Perinchief spent a year at Arkansas before transferring to Tech. Koech is a graduate transfer from Texas-El Paso who competed at the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets each of the past three years with the Miners.

Koech, the Big 12 champ in the 1,000 meters, said he planned to go to Tech out of high school. He finally got around to it after his best training partners at UTEP exhausted their eligibility or turned pro.

"I made it," Koech said of Tech. "I feel like I am home, where I am supposed to be."

Cepus said his first day in the U.S. was Aug. 17, 2018. But the Big 12 800-meter bronze medalist had been imagining that day for some time.

"In, like, sophomore year of high school, I had planned out in my head I wanted to go to college in America and do track," said Cepus, who's from the Croatian capital of Zagreb. "Sports back home aren't as big as here. This was a big opportunity for me to learn language, continue doing track and (have) 10 times better facilities and everything other that we get here.

"When I finish and graduate here, having American diploma is something that not everybody has back home. So that's going to be also one of my advantages that I'm going to have when I return."

The $48 million Sports Performance Center that Tech opened last year has drawn acclaim and yielded top times. Still, given the vast sums of  money universities spend to build sports facilities, Tech's two-sport indoor center isn't out of place with the times or shocking to college sports fans.

But the Europeans among the Red Raiders seem especially wowed by it.

Things American track and field athletes take for granted are welcome bonuses for Cepus and Hubert. Both brought up the athletic training staff, for example, and Cepus said he'd never lifted weights until he got with Tech's strength and conditioning staff.

"What I like here, it's the facilities, the coach, the team," Hubert said. "There is a team. In France, I practice alone during two years, so it was hard for me.

"Here, I have a team. I have teammates. I have a good roommate, Jah-Nhai. All (the program) is built around the athletes. There is a trainer. There is the training room, the weight room. All these (for) the athletes."

Hubert wanted so much to be a part of it he was willing to persevere. In researching U.S. track and field programs, he liked what he discovered about Tech and its coaches. The resume of associate head coach James Thomas, who oversees the Tech jumpers and combined-event athletes, piqued Hubert's interest, because he wanted to improve in that regard.

Trouble was, the English language is more problematic for Hubert than for Cepus, who started learning English as a second language from first grade.

Hubert took the standardized Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) three times, attempting to be accepted at Tech. Kittley said an interview Hubert took by Skype with Tech admissions ultimately made the difference.

"I really wanted to go here," Hubert said, "because the facilities are awesome. The coaches have very interesting skills. That's why I'm here."

The French freshman gave the Red Raiders an immediate impact. In his first semester, in separate meets, Hubert set the Tech record for score in the heptathlon and won the Big 12 title.

Hubert misses French cheeses, and Cepus can feel a little off-kilter without the coffee shops of his European homeland. For both, American food options take some getting used to.

"Training table's the thing that saves me here," Cepus said.

However, being part of a top-ranked team in a top-notch training center is worth it. And seeing other cultures up close offers a learning experience.

Cepus rooms with three freshmen pole vaulters from Texas, and his teammates are from all over the globe.

"It's great competing with all of them," Cepus said, "training with a lot of different people that come from different styles and types of training. Experiencing all that has helped me a lot. It changes your point of view on things."