OSU Cowboys Track Star Sets New Program Record Before Big 12 Championships

This Oklahoma State Cowboys runner will be heading into the Big 12 championships as one of the runners to beat in this event.

Oklahoma State Cowboys logo. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Oklahoma State’s appearance at the Arkansas Twilight meet on Friday featured one of the greatest running performances in Cowboys history.

Hafez Mahadi not only won OSU’s first race of the day, but he used his 800-meter-run to set a new program record with a time of 1:45.59. It also set a new meet record for the Arkansas Twilight.

Mahadi overtook a record that stood for two years. Mehdi Yanouri previously held the mark of 1:45.97, which was set at the 2024 Flanders Cup in Belgium.

Hafez Mahadi’s Record-Breaking Run

Mahadi also takes down the Arkansas Twilight Meet Record with his time of 1:45.69!#GoPokes I #run4okstate https://t.co/buHbtEapu5 pic.twitter.com/KM49FLisq9

— Oklahoma State XC/T&F (@run4okstate) May 9, 2026

Mahadi ran with four other Cowboys in the race. The next closest OSU runner was Ben Currence, who finished 11th with a time of 1:50.95. That doesn’t mean that Mahadi wasn’t pushed. Riley Witt, who runs for Division II Northwest Missouri, set his own personal best and finished in second place with a time of 1:45.96. He was the only other runner to break the 1:46 mark in the race.

Mahadi is a senior from Doha, Qatar who typically runs in the 600 meters, the 800 meters, the 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters. Entering this season his previous personal best in the 800 was 1:46.65. He also had his best finishes last season in the 800. He came in fifth in the 800 at both the Big 12 outdoor and Big 12 indoor meets, leading to first-team honors in both races. He is also a 2024 all-Big 12 selection in the indoor 800 meters.

The Arkansas Twilight was just his second race since the Big 12 Indoor Championships in February, where he finished in first place with a 1:47.95. His only other outdoor race was at the Pepsi Florida Relays, where he finished 16th in the 800 with a time of 1:48.05.

Eight other Cowboys and Cowgirls posted results that put them among the Top 10 in program history in their discipline. But Mahadi was the only one to break a record.

Also, former Cowboys runner Fouad Messaoudi won his first professional race with Hoka, as he won the 1,500 and set a meet and facility record he previously set with a time of 3:32.25. Messaoudi was a critical part of OSU’s 2023 and 2025 national title-winning cross-country teams.

The Big 12 Championships will be held from May 14-16 at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. From there, NCAA qualifiers will compete in the NCAA West Prelims from May 27-30, a meet that will see Cowboy and Cowgirl qualifiers return to Fayetteville, Ark. The NCAA Championships will be held from June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore.