Baylor Cross Country: Walton, Laktasic Lead the Way at Bear Twilight

[Coleman, Kellen]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – August 30, 2019

Baylor Cross Country: Walton, Laktasic Lead the Way at Bear Twilight
Bears recorded runner-up finishes in both the men's and women's races.


For more information contact: Kellen Coleman, 254-749-6507, Kellen_Coleman at baylor.edu<mailto:Kellen_Coleman at baylor.edu>


**Complete Results attached**


WACO, Texas – Lindsay Walton and Connor Laktasic recorded personal-best times to place third and eighth in their respective races and lead Baylor cross country to a pair of runner-up finishes Friday night at the Bear Twilight Invitational at the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex.

“Lindsay Walton elevated herself completely, which was amazing to see,” Baylor associate head coach Jon Capron said. “I’m so happy for her. A lot of that was just hard work on her part and believing she could be there. To see her do it is awesome. The fact that Lindsay was up there means she belongs with whoever she decides she wants to run with, and that’s super encouraging for us. I have other girls that have the capacity to do that, and they just need to see somebody like Lindsay do it first and say, ‘wait, I can do that too.’ If we can all do that we’re going to be pretty good, which is fun.”

Walton, a senior from Peoria, Ill., bested her PR in the 4K by over a minute with a time of 13:36.4 to finish in third place. Celia Holmes placed 13th with a time of 14:10.2, Haley Everroad finished 19th with a time of 14:29.1, Sadie Hamrin took 23rd at 14:38.4, and Chloe Gangnath (14:39.7) placed 24th to round out the scoring for the Baylor women’s team. The Bears finished with 58 points to place second behind Texas (21 points).

“I’m super pleased with the ladies,” Capron said. “We had a few that weren’t running. We were saving them for later, basically. We really challenged some of the girls to say, ‘hey if there’s a hole in front of you, step into it.’ They really did, and I’m impressed with their assertiveness. That’s the attitude I want to foster and that’s really what I’m looking for. I was super pumped to be able to see that in a race off the bat. We were touching speeds today that maybe we haven’t gotten to just yet, and their comfort in doing that and trying to cover it up at the end was great. To see them achieving all those goals in one race was great.”

Laktasic led a men’s effort that saw all five scoring runners finish in the top-14. He edged his previous personal record in the 6K by 10 seconds to clock in at 18:25.6 and place eighth. TJ Sugg was right behind in 10th place (18:38.9), followed by Ryan Hodge in 11th (18:44.9), Ryan Day in 12th (18:45.9), and Matt Henderson in 14th (18:57.0). The Bears registered 50 points as a team, second behind Texas at 15 points.

“That’s where I want Connor,” Capron said. “I want him stepping into that spot, and I want him leading this team. For him and TJ to kind of get there, and for Hodge to be brave enough to be in the mix too. TJ had a little bit more in the tank. He wasn’t feeling too hot the beginning of today so I gave him permission to hang back a little bit before he hit the gas. Hodge, from not even getting to run this race last year to his first cross country race in a Baylor jersey – to be that assertive and expect himself to be in that pack was great to see.

“Ryan Day did a great job coming home,” Capron added. “He was running against guys that I recruited that maybe ended up at other schools. To see him racing toe-to-toe with some of those guys - a guy that literally walked on - I’m so delighted that he’s able to work himself up to that level.”

With a solid performance to open things up at home, Baylor now looks ahead to the Texas A&M Invitational Sept. 13 in College Station.

“I know that there’s more capacity on this team,” Capron said. “I know the girls that weren’t racing today were a little sad that they didn’t get to pull that jersey on. They’re going to do everything in their power to be with their team and run fast and be ready to go when the time comes. First things first, we need to be ready in November, not August. We’ll take the time, do it the right way and make sure that we’re ready to go when it matters.”

For updates on Baylor's cross country team, follow @BaylorTrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

__________________________________

Kellen Coleman | Associate Director of Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-4049 | C: 254-749-6507

 [/var/folders/pf/02zg9swd0fz7qy7f5nkl4mymsr0bxx/T/com.microsoft.Outlook/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/cidimage004.png at 01D50713.9CE40560] <http://baylorbears.com/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20190831/0789cebe/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 14096 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20190831/0789cebe/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MensResults.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 25849 bytes
Desc: MensResults.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20190831/0789cebe/attachment-0002.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: WomensResults.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 59400 bytes
Desc: WomensResults.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20190831/0789cebe/attachment-0003.pdf>