Baylor Track & Field: Lightfoot, Nugent Garner Big 12’s Top Honors

[Coleman, Kellen]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 4, 2021


Baylor Track & Field: Lightfoot, Nugent Garner Big 12’s Top Honors
Lightfoot and Nugent have both been officially announced as qualifiers for NCAA Indoors.

WACO, Texas – KC Lightfoot was named Men’s Performer of the Year and Ackera Nugent earned Women’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year as the Big 12 Conference announced its 2021 indoor track & field honors Thursday afternoon.

“We’re very excited for both of them,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “These are always great honors. KC has had a phenomenal indoor season and hopefully will finish on a high note next week at Nationals. I’m happy for him. It’s another nice award. Ackera being a freshman, this is not unexpected, but she battled injury a little bit in the middle of the season and didn’t run a couple meets. For her to have that kind of race at conference to finish off her indoor season to this point heading into the NCAA meet was awesome. It was a great performance for her, and a prelude of things to come, I believe. I’m very proud of both of them.”

Lightfoot is the first Baylor athlete since Reggie Witherspoon (2006 and 2007) and third in school history to earn the top indoor men’s conference honor after putting together the best indoor pole vault season in NCAA history. The junior from Lee’s Summit, Mo., set a new collegiate record on three separate occasions and became the first collegian to ever clear the 6.00-meter mark indoors. Lightfoot’s mark of 19-8.25 (6.00m) set at the Texas Tech Shootout on Feb. 12-13 is tops in the NCAA and Big 12, and ranks him No. 3 in the world as one of only three men’s pole vaulters to clear 6.00 meters this season. Lightfoot cleared at least 5.90m in all five meets during the indoor season, winning his third-consecutive Big 12 Indoor Championship with a meet-record jump of 19-4.25 (5.90m). Lightfoot was named Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Men's Athlete of the Week three times, and took home USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week and USA Track & Field (USATF) Athlete of the Week honors after breaking the collegiate record for the first time at the Texas Tech Corky Classic with a then-world leading mark of 19-5.75 (5.94m). Lightfoot is on The Bowerman watch list for 2021, presented annually to the year's most outstanding collegiate male and female track & field athlete (indoor and outdoor track & field combined). This is his second Big 12 yearly award as he was named men’s outstanding freshman of the year in 2019.

“I’m glad to be the Big 12 Indoor Men’s Performer of the Year,” Lightfoot said. “I’m even more excited to bring the award back to Baylor since the last time we had it was in 2007. I’ve put up some pretty big bars this season, and my jump is feeling better than ever coming into NCAAs.”

Nugent is the third Baylor athlete to be named women’s outstanding freshman of the year indoors and first since Morgan Stewart in 2018. Nugent blazed to a time of 7.91 in the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles at the Big 12 Indoor Championship, setting the Baylor school record and tying the best under-20 mark in world history. If ratified, it would be deemed the U20 World Record in the women’s 60-meter hurdles. The freshman from Kingston, Jamaica, finished as the Big 12 runner-up with a second-place finish in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles, clocking in at 7.98 behind 2019 NCAA Indoor Champion Chanel Brissett of Texas. Nugent burst onto the scene at the Aggie Invitational on Jan. 23, clocking in at 8:08 to hold the No. 2 spots in both the Big 12 and NCAA at the time. With a now-adjusted time of 7.93, Nugent remains No. 2 in both the Big 12 and NCAA and is tied for ninth in the world.

“You are what you repeatedly do every day,” Nugent said. “Excellence is not an act, but a habit. I really am honored that I was chosen for Big 12 Women’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year.”

Lightfoot and Nugent have both been officially announced as qualifiers for the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will take place March 11-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. Live results from the championships can be found at https://dt8v5llb2dwhs.cloudfront.net/Indoor/2021/index.htm.

For continued updates on the Baylor Track & Field team, follow the team's social media accounts all season long: @BaylorTrack.

2021 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Awards
Men’s Performer of the Year: KC Lightfoot, Baylor
Women’s Performer of the Year: Ruth Usoro, Texas Tech**
Men’s Outstanding co-Freshman of the Year: Kyle Gale, Kansas State
Men’s Outstanding co-Freshman of the Year: Yusuf Biziamana, Texas
Women’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year: Ackera Nugent, Baylor
Men’s Coach of the Year: Edrick Floréal, Texas**
Women’s Coach of the Year: Edrick Floréal, Texas

Baylor Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Men’s Performers of the Year
2021: KC Lightfoot, Jr.
2007: Reggie Witherspoon, Sr.
2006: Reggie Witherspoon, Jr.
1999: Brandon Couts, So.

Baylor Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Women’s Outstanding Freshmen of the Year
2021: Ackera Nugent
2018: Morgan Stewart
2007: Nichole Jones


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

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