No. 10/No. 11 Baylor T&F: 5 Event Championships Highlight Final Day of Big 12 Championships

Sun May 15 22:41:33 CDT 2022

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 15, 2022

No. 10/No. 11 Baylor T&F: 5 Event Championships Highlight Final Day of Big 12 Championships
Miller, Ezekiel and Women’s 4x400 break meet records
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle, 940-564-0351, Colin_Pirtle1 at baylor.edu

THE RUNDOWN
LUBBOCK, Texas – Baylor track and field closed out the 2022 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Fuller Track and Field Facility on Sunday.

It was a 400-meter hurdle sweep for the green and gold in the men’s and women’s events, as Nathaniel Ezekiel and Gontse Morake won their respective races. Ezekiel ran a personal-best 48.42 seconds to find the top national spot once again in the 400 hurdles. Jayson Baldridge followed in fourth place with a 50.08-second race. Morake won the women’s 400 hurdles by over two seconds in a personal-best 56.19 seconds. Jasmine Gryne finished in seventh after 1:03.48.

The Bears were back at it with a 4x400-meter relay sweep, this time highlighted by a three-second program record for the women’s group. Mariah Ayers, Kavia Francis, Morake and Imaobong Uko recorded a top-8 national mark of 3:26.92, becoming the first Baylor relay squad to break the 3:30 mark since the NCAA Championship meet in 2009. For the men, Hasani Barr, Matthew Moorer, Baldridge and Dillon Bedell hit 3:02.73 to win their edition of the 4x400-meter relay.

Aaliyah Miller added title No. 8 to her storied career as a Baylor Bear with a win in the 800 meters. Her meet-record mark of 2:02.31 is the best so far this season and secured her win by over a second.

Both men’s and women’s squads finished their editions of the sprint hurdles in second and third places, with Ackera Nugent leading the Baylor women. Nugent’s mark of 12.45 in the 100-meter hurdles is a personal best and currently puts her No. 3 in the nation, behind only first-place winner Demisha Roswell of Texas Tech (12.44) and LSU’s Alia Armstrong. Alexis Duncan followed in the bronze-medal position, finishing in a season-best 12.93.

For the men, Elijah Morris finished in that silver medal position, after his 13.51-second race that marked a new personal best, as well as the current national No. 10 mark. Johnny Brackins followed closely behind, just one day after his long jump championship, to finish in 13.62 seconds with a bronze medal.

Isaiah Cunningham put up an impressive sub-10 time in the 100-meter dash, finishing in a blistering 9.97 for a silver medal. Cunningham is only the sixth student-athlete in Division I competition this season to break that 10-second mark, and only the second Bear to do so in program history alongside Trayvon Bromell in 2015.

After breaking the program record in the 100 meters on Saturday, Caira Pettway equaled her PR mark of 11.06 to finish in fifth place. Sydney Washington finished in the sixth-place spot with a new PR mark of 11.27 seconds.

Francis became the fastest quarter-miler in program history on Sunday evening, finishing the race in 51.15 seconds. The previous program record of 51.22 was set by Kiana Horton at the 2018 Big 12 Championship hosted at the Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium. While that mark earned Francis the No. 4 spot in the meet, Uko was just behind in fifth place with a PR of 51.24.

The women’s 4x100-meter relay squad of Nugent, Pettway, Washington and Ayers got the bronze medal after their 43.65-second finish in the event, quick enough to set a new No. 3 spot on the program all-time list. Shortly after, the men came out quickly to break the program record with a 38.96 mark and finish fifth in the event. The foursome of Laurenz Colbert, Cunningham, Kamden Jackson and De’montray Callis broke the 38.98 record that had stood for 32 years.
All four Bears that competed in the 200 meters racked up new personal bests. On the women’s side, Ayers ran a 22.71, followed by Francis’ 22.91. For the men, Colbert reached the finish in 20.27, while Callis was just behind in 20.38.

Koi Johnson set a PR in the triple jump with a mark of 44-2 ½ that was good enough for fourth place in the event. But, with a wind reading of 5.5 m/s, it does not count toward world, NCAA or program records.

Dillon Bedell ran a 45.72-second race in the 400 meters to finish in fifth place with a new personal best. In the pole vault, Ben Conacher also finished fifth after clearing a season-best 17-1 successfully.

Baylor ends the Big 12 Championships with both men and women finishing fourth. For their highest finish since 2015, the men recorded 86 points, while the women earned 92.

For the latest news on the Baylor track and field team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorTrack.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   Baylor swept both the 4x400-meter relay and 400-meter hurdles.
  *   Aaliyah Miller won Big 12 title No. 8 in her career.
  *   Caira Pettway tied her own program record set Saturday in the 100 meters.
  *   Isaiah Cunningham set a new program record for the 100-meter dash and was the first Bear to finish sub-10 since 2015.
  *   The men’s 4x100 of Laurenz Colbert, Isaiah Cunningham, Kamden Jackson and De’montray Callis set a program record with a 38.96-second race.
  *   Kavia Francis is now No. 1 in program history in the 400 meters after her 51.15-second race.
  *   Ackera Nugent broke Tiffani’s McReynold’s program record that stood since 2014 in the 100-meter hurdles.

STAT OF THE MEET
7 – Total number of Big 12 Championships won by the Baylor Bears.

TOP QUOTE
Michael Ford on the team's performance…
"I am just so proud of the coaches, student-athletes and trainers. It really was a team effort this weekend. We had so many personal bests and Big 12 Champs, and overall just so many great performances that snowballed to the 4x400 relays. Happy, but exhausted, and looking forward to regionals.”

www.BaylorBears.com

__________________________________________
Colin Pirtle | Communications Intern (Interim-T&F/XC)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 940-564-0351

[signature_2436452998]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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