IRVING, Texas –
Baylor
track and field's Felix Obi has been named the Big 12 Indoor Track
& Field Outstanding Freshman of the Year as voted on by the league's
head coaches and announced by the conference
office on Wednesday.
Obi,
an El Paso, Texas, native, currently owns the fifth-best triple jump in
the NCAA this season at 53-feet, 1 inch. That jump, a school-record,
helped Obi become the first
Baylor men's triple jumper to win a Big 12 Championship title on Feb. 24.
In
his first season at Baylor, Obi has set the school's triple jump record
a total of three times. He first broke the record at the Razorback
Invitational to place third, before
turning around two weeks later to better that leap at the Tyson
Invitational to be fifth.
Along
with his win in the triple jump, Obi took third in the long jump
competition at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. At that meet the
freshman tallied a season-best jump
of 24-7.25 to currently be ranked No. 35 in the country.
Obi
becomes the fourth Baylor male athlete to win the indoor freshman
honor, joining Brian Couts (1998), Tre Gardner (1999) and Jacob Norman
(2006).
Obi
along with several teammates will conclude Baylor's indoor season this
weekend by competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville,
Ark.
For updates on the team, follow @BaylorTrack on Twitter.
