Of the 417 student-athletes in Texas Tech Athletics, 13 are pursuing a degree in the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. From splitting their time between the equine arena and the soccer field to finding running routes in the streets of South Africa during a veterinary sciences summer study abroad trip, Davis College’s student-athletes bring a new set of skills to the classroom and their respective sports. 

Outstanding in His Field  

Wes Kittley has culminated an impressive list of achievements in his 25 years as head coach of Texas Tech Track and Field. Kittley made Red Raider history by leading the men’s track and field team to two NCAA national championships in 2019 and 2024, the first for any sport in Texas Tech men’s athletics.              

One of the most decorated head coaches to ever lead teams at Texas Tech, Kittley has produced 31 national champions, 200 Big 12 Conference champions, 19 Olympians, and eight Olympic medalists. In 2023, he was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  

Alongside Kittley’s coaching accolades, his dedication to forming strong connections with his athletes makes him stand out. This commitment, he said, stems from his positive coaching philosophy that is deeply influenced by his background in West Texas agriculture.  

“I was raised in a little, small farming community called Rule, Texas, on our family farm,” Kittley said. “We raised cotton and wheat and had about 50 momma cows in the pasture. It was just a wonderful life.”   

Stretched across roughly 300 acres of pasture surrounded by miles of barbed wire fence, the Kittley’s farm had been in their family for 73 years, originating in 1940. After selling the farm in 2013, Kittley said he realized how much he missed being surrounded by production agriculture. Shortly after, he purchased a wheat and cattle operation in Lorenzo, Texas.   

“I call it gentleman farming,” Kittley said. “My daddy would always say if you saw these farmers driving their pickups around looking at their farm, they are a gentleman farmer. So, I’m a gentleman farmer.”   

Although Kittley’s focus now is helping grow student-athletes and the track and field program at Texas Tech, he continually checks in on his farm in Lorenzo. He plans to devote more of his time to farming and ranching when he retires from coaching one day. For now, agriculture serves as a hobby and passion for Kittley outside of what he calls his “oval office.”    

“The older I get, the more agriculture becomes important to me,” he said. “I came from that ‘getting up early, going to work, driven’ mindset while watching my parents and family on the farm, and I make sure to implement those same qualities into my coaching.”   

Kittley attributes his championship-level success to year-to-year consistency and trusting the process, similar to what he has seen with farmers and ranchers.  

“Farmers have this blind faith that they’re always going to make a crop the next year,” Kittley said. “It just amazed me how my dad and grandparents had this mentality that the good Lord was going to take care of us and that we were going to always survive. That’s given me a positive outlook on things because of that farm life and the blind faith.”   

That “blind faith” kept Kittley working through wins and losses year after year until he generated success within the Texas Tech track program. 

“Daddy had this mentality of just staying positive and going back to work next year and the year after, which is the biggest thing I gained from being with them on the farm,” Kittley said. “It taught me to stick with it, put my head down, and go to work. I was here [at Texas Tech] for 20 years before I won a national championship. People ask, ‘How did you do it?’ I say, ‘I just stayed with it.’”   

Throughout his 25 years of coaching track and field at Texas Tech, Kittley said he appreciates the influence agriculture has on his Davis College student-athletes, noting their work ethic, grit and unique outlook on hardship.  

“Ag kids have just a whole different perspective on doing hard things,” Kittley said. “You learned some real grit out there. It could be a perfect day to go outside and work, or it can be an ugly day, and you’re still going to have to be there, just like with athletics and track.”   

Agricultural kids have just a whole different perspective on doing hard things, you learn some real grit out there.

Wes Kittley

Galloping and Goals

For Texas Tech Soccer forward, Ashleigh Williams, pursuing a degree in agriculture was not always the goal. The Allen, Texas, native was kicking a soccer ball at the age of three. As she quickly improved her soccer skills, she also developed an interest in horses after watching the 2010 film “Secretariat.”  

“I didn’t grow up around horses or the country environment, but I always had a love for animals and specifically horses,” Williams said. “It is kind of funny because I wanted to take the veterinarian route but decided maybe that wasn’t for me, so freshman year, I chose to focus on horses.”  

As a junior animal science major, Williams said she loves the Davis College environment. She especially enjoys being surrounded by peers who come from vastly different backgrounds. Like her soccer career, she said she started from the bottom and has continually learned and grown within the equine industry, allowing herself to flourish on the soccer field and horseback.  

“What motivates me is I’m working my way up in the world of agriculture like what I did with soccer, especially coming from a non-agricultural background,” Williams said. “Seeing that growth every day is really cool. I’m looking to get my own colt right now, so that’s even more exciting and a huge next step for me.”  

Alongside her equine endeavors, Williams was only one of 10 players to start in all 23 of Texas Tech’s soccer games this season. She also tied the school record for game-winning goals (7), which earned her a spot on the 2023 Big 12 All-Conference First-Team and has twice been selected as the Big 12 Conference Soccer Player of the Week. 

Williams plans to enter the National Women’s Soccer League draft with hopes of competing at the professional level after college while finding a career in equine science following her professional soccer endeavors.   

Williams said being a student-athlete competing at a high level comes with great opportunities and challenges, alike. 

“I absolutely love being an athlete, even though it’s hard,” Williams said.  

She said finding a balance between her course schedule and soccer practice can be challenging, but she is making it work.  

“At the end of the day, soccer is important, but being a student and getting your education is more important,” Williams said. “I just had to go do a little extra and come back to finish what I missed, but I’m so willing to do it if I can do both soccer and horses.”  

Williams said she values her experience at Davis College despite not coming from a traditional ag background.  

“I feel like agriculture is something that can be scary to break into if you don’t have any background in it,” Williams said. “I still care about it, and I’m willing to work and understand how the agriculture industry works.”   

Harvesting Success 

Like Williams, Texas Tech Women’s Cross-Country athlete Sarah Zdansky and Texas Tech Women’s Basketball player Kelly Mora both found a home within Davis College despite coming from non-agricultural backgrounds. 

Born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, it was an easy decision for freshman forward Mora to pursue her dreams of playing college basketball at Texas Tech. She said it was her high school agricultural science teacher who inspired her to seek a degree in agricultural education. 

“I really don’t have an agricultural background,” Mora said. “What kind of got me interested in it was my first agricultural science teacher, Roger Green. He loved coming to my basketball games and would invite our classes to the farm. I just loved Mr. Green’s class and him as a teacher.  

While sinking three-pointers and perfecting her layups, Mora said she also plans to explore agricultural leadership as she progresses through her academic career at Texas Tech.  

 Likewise, cross-country runner and track and field long-distance athlete Sarah Zdansky was inspired in high school to head down the agricultural route as a veterinarian.  

“I’ve always wanted to be a veterinarian, even before I could pronounce the word,” Zdansky said. “I would list all the animal doctors I wanted to be: a dog doctor, a cat doctor, etc. Although the list changed every day, my passion for helping animals never did, so I’ve been studying animal science and have done internship after internship to hopefully get into veterinary school.”  

Zdansky’s passion for running the trails is only rivaled by her dedication to caring for animals. During an animal science internship, Zdanksy had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of attending a study abroad trip in South Africa.  

“My favorite Davis College experience was when I went to South Africa with Dr. Nathan Hall for a two-week class in Bella Bella, which is a very small town about two hours from Johannesburg,” Zdansky said. “Almost every day we went to an elephant reserve about five and half miles down the road and got to study elephants while experimenting with them based around their olfactory senses. It was really fun. I got to learn a lot about conservation, wildlife and veterinary studies, and we got to talk with actual wildlife veterinarians there.”  

Zdansky and Mora agreed the opportunities and friendliness of Davis College are unparalleled, making them feel accepted and welcomed into the agricultural community at Texas Tech. Because of the support and connections built, they have been able to adapt to their busy schedules to perform competitively both athletically and in the classroom. 

 “I like the friendliness of the people in the college and all the professors,” Zdansky said. “They are really laid back and easy to talk to. In the Davis College, there is a lot of flexibility with the professors and my schedule, which is helpful because being a student athlete, our schedules don’t have as much flexibility as other students.”  

Zdansky said she commits roughly 24 hours a week to practice, meetings, competitions and other required events through athletics all while working a part-time job at a local veterinary clinic and going to class.  

These qualities are present in most Davis College student-athletes, Kittley said, and he loves watching track athletes, like Zdansky, flourish both athletically and academically.  

One of the Coach Kittley’s past athletes, who is also an alumna of Davis College, has a particularly unforgettable story about overcoming huge obstacles that are not just on the eight-lane track. 

Throwing Against the Odds 

In 2008, Patience Knight, a dual degree wildlife and range management student-athlete, was packing her bags in preparation for a shot put competition when she received an unexpected call from the team physician. She said that call would change her life.  

She noticed several missed calls and knew the news would not be good. A few moments later, she found out she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during her sophomore year of college at the peak of her throwing career.  

Not wanting to let her coaches and team down, Knight made the courageous decision to continue competing while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy on top of being a stellar student at Davis College. After countless grueling days, Knight scored points for the Texas Tech Track and Field team at the Big 12 Conference Championship, won a conference shot put title, and set a school record – all while battling cancer.  

“After I was cancer-free and had gone through all my treatments, it was time for the indoor conference championship,” Knight said. “We had done all this training, and the year before, I had contributed points for the first time while undergoing treatment, but this time, Coach had told me I could win. It came down to the last throw of the competition. Everything came together, and I just launched it. I threw 56 feet and 7 inches. Nobody came close to that.” 

Although Knight has had an impressive athletic career, she continues to make her mark not only in the shot put sand but also through her career in studying wildlife and forestry, working at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of their research staff.  

Knight said she attributes finding her love for wildlife, forestry, and plant science to her start in agriculture at Davis College and her degree program. Since graduating from Texas Tech, Knight said she has gone on to study tree inventory in various forest ecosystems, aquaculture systems, imperiled streams, insular micro-ecosystems, and much more. 

“My favorite and biggest project I am currently working on is the Paint Rock Forest Dynamics plot project,” Knight said. “We do tree inventory by measuring, mapping, identifying, and marking them over a long period of time. With that, we gain a ton of information and can track climate change, pest implications, the dynamics of the trees and so much more.” 

Coming from a military background, Knight said she “stumbled” into agriculture while taking classes her freshman year and unexpectedly fell in love with the industry, especially since she has never experienced the realm of agriculture before. She said her successful career was directly influenced by her time at Davis college and the relationships built with faculty and staff within wildlife and range management.  

In 2023, Knight was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame in the same class as former Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Similar to Mahomes and Knight, other football student-athletes have made impressive impacts on multiple playing fields.  

Everything came together, and I just launched it. I threw 56 feet and seven inches. Nobody came close to that.

Patience Knight

Beyond the Scoreboard   

A third-generation Red Raider and natural resources management major, Tanner Allen plays outside linebacker for Texas Tech Football. Allen said he had plans of becoming a game warden when he entered his first year of college. However, after exploring more of his degree in natural resources management, he shifted his goals to cultivating crops after he was done growing his football talents.  

Raised in Bryan, Texas, Allen worked on his family farm every summer, where he said he learned the value of consistency, physical labor, and hard work. 

“If you don’t put up that fence in time, your cattle are going to be free roaming, or if your fence is not put up properly, then it’s not going to hold the cattle in,” Allen said. “It’s the same thing with football, too. You have got to keep working hard and stay consistent. What you put into it is what you get out.” 

Allen said some of his favorite aspects about being in the Davis College are the opportunities, networking and support system offered to all students, regardless of their degree path. Since being in natural resources management, he has developed a passion for ranch management and production agriculture. Alongside learning about the industry in the classroom, Allen said he enjoys talking to teammates about agriculture.  

Dual Talents

Sharing their experiences in agriculture is a common point of conversation among Davis College student-athletes. 

Cross-country athlete, Zdansky, said she has enjoyed discussing her learning experiences with her teammates.  

“Telling my teammates about the experiences I’ve gotten related to agriculture, including my trip to South Africa allows me to educate them on just certain things I’ve done like that they’ve never seen before,” Zdansky said. 

Williams and Mora said they both regularly talk about their classes, agricultural experiences and involvement within the Davis College. Additionally, each of the athletes said they learned valuable skills from their time in the college, which they apply to their everyday life and sports. 

These athletes show the pursuit of excellence has no boundaries, whether it is on the track or the court, or in the veterinary clinic or the agricultural classroom.  

“I definitely talk about agriculture within the team and my sport, and I am proud to do so,” Williams said. “It makes me happy talking about horses and my agricultural classes because we are more than just athletes; we have hobbies outside of that, like in agriculture.  

“It’s good to realize people are not what you expect. They are different than what you think they would be.” 

Taylor Limbaugh, Lead Writer; Amanda Terrell, Photo Director; Kory Humphrey, Design Coordinator; Jenna Howle, Digital and Advertising Manager

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