The South Plains College Texans showcased their dominance at the NJCAA 2025 National Indoor Track and Field Championships, capturing the national title with an outstanding 119.5 points. The Lady Texans also put up a strong fight, finishing ninth with 23 points at the two-day meet held at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center on March 7-8. Wes Miller, who is in his first semester as the head track coach at South Plains College, was pleased with the performances. Despite the teams moving up and down throughout the two-day competition, Miller said the teams stayed strong to claim the championship in the end. "Great performances all around," Miller said. "The men came out on top, and the women—we battled and had some really good individual performances as well. I couldn't be more proud of how much they fought over the two days. It went back and forth and didn't really solidify until the last couple of events on Saturday."
The Texans set the tone early by winning the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) on Friday, with the team of Divan Du Plooy, Carlton Siwela, Tamer Sakar, and Hamdani Benahmed finishing in 9 minutes, 48 seconds. Andrew Stone also contributed points that day with a sixth-place finish in the long jump, recording a leap of 7.52 meters (24' 8 .").
Saturday saw the Texans continue their dominance. Denzel Simusialela placed second in the 60-meter dash (6.63 seconds), and Benahmed proved to be a crucial scorer, winning both the mile (4:06.91) and the 1000-meter run (2:27.88), bringing in a combined 20 points.The Texans made a decisive statement in the 200-meter dash, sweeping the podium as
Simusialela (first), Elijah Joseph (second), and Carlton Siwela (third) secured 24 points. Mouatez Sikiou added another eight points with a second-place finish in the 400-meter run (46.65 seconds)."I think the guys were focused, they were hungry," Miller said. "We had some setbacks during the meet, like any competition, but they responded every time. We had some good performances towards the end that really stood out—especially the men's 200, where those three guys went first, second, and third. That was huge—24 points in the total team standing."
To cap off the meet, the Texans' 4x400-meter relay team—Siwela, Waly Bathily, Joseph, and Sikiou—delivered a record-setting performance, winning the event in 3:06.10, the fastest time in NJCAA meet history.
"It's huge anytime you can break a meet record," Miller said. "For those four guys to go out and run, even though we had already secured the title, they ran for SPC and for pride. Everyone remembers the last event of the meet, so we wanted to make sure everyone remembered we won the 4x400. Running in front of a home crowd with students, administrators, and professors there—it was a great way to finish the meet."
On the women's side, the Lady Texans saw key contributions in multiple events. Ruth Agadama placed fourth in the 60-meter dash (7.47 seconds), while Olga Lapuzova took fourth in the pole vault, clearing 3.75 meters (12' 3.5"). Sydney Roquebrun finished fifth in the long jump (5.84 meters/19' 2"), and Abril Okon secured a seventh-place finish in the high jump (1.62 meters/5' 3.75"). Miller praised the Lady Texans' effort despite a tough competition and said their performance this past weekend demonstrates the potential the team has harnessed for the upcoming outdoor season.
"We had a freshman, Rashima Lindo, hit a huge PR in the prelims and qualify for the finals without being ranked coming in. Ruth had a rocky preliminary round in the 60, but she stepped up really big in the final," he said. "We had several girls in the field events do well—Olga got fourth in the vault, and Abril scored in both the high jump and the pentathlon. We just missed out
on scoring in the women's 4x400, but the signs are good for outdoor season. We're a better outdoor team than an indoor team, so I think we'll be stronger moving forward." As the Texans and Lady Texans shift focus to outdoor season, Miller remains motivated for what's ahead. "For the guys, it's a good sign of what we can do outdoors," he said. "We have several events we're better at outdoors than indoors. We get to add the javelin, the discus, and we have some really good throwers there. Jaime is the returning national champ in the javelin, so he gets to join us outdoors. We scored really well in the men's 4x100 last year, and I think we're even better this year."
Despite it being his first semester as head coach for the Texans, Miller has already led the team to a national title while helping both teams navigate the challenges of a highly competitive indoor season. Miller describes the experience as both rewarding and humbling. "It's humbling, stepping in and having the team buy in and allow me to coach them and give it their all—that's huge. Obviously, it's exciting moving forward. We're going to use it in recruiting and work on bringing in the next batch, but this group is special. Any championship is special, but your first one as a head coach definitely means a lot." Miller said.
The Texans and Lady Texans will now turn their attention to the outdoor track and field season as they look to build on their indoor success. For complete meet results, visit: Live Results