Baylor T&F’s Hardan Breaks Own School Shot Put Record

Sat Jan 21 21:07:32 CST 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Jan. 21, 2023

Baylor T&F’s Hardan Breaks Own School Shot Put Record
Kostarellis, Conacher win gold
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Baylor track and field put a close on the second indoor meet of the season on Saturday evening at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

The Bears walked away with two gold medals, a new program record and a top-10 all-time mark from the quick, single day meet.

THE RUNDOWN

In the last event of the day, Cole Hardan, Cooper Mack and Gary Moore Jr. all advanced to the final three throws of the shot put competition. Hardan walked away with a new personal-best and program record of 18.19 meters, breaking his old mark by just three centimeters.

Ben Conacher won the gold medal in the men’s pole vault, clearing 17-4 ¾ on his first attempt. In the women’s event, Tenly Kuhn led the Bears for the second-straight meet, while Lillianna Ifft and Keidra Mills recorded the first clearances of their collegiate careers.

In her first meet with the Bears after transferring from the University of New Mexico for the spring semester, Annamaria Kostarellis got out with a steady lead and put on a masterclass in the women’s mile. The grad transfer beat the rest of her field by eight seconds, while running the a 4:54.

Lily Williams boosted her personal-best in the 600 meters on Saturday, crossing the line second overall with a time of 1:27.57, which was good enough for No. 10 all-time in NCAA history. Nicholi Brown found the 10th place spot in the men’s event, finishing with a 1:20.63.

Koi Johnson hit a new personal-best of 42-2 ¼ to finish with a silver medal in the women’s triple jump, while Aren Spencer had some good looks in the men’s event to finish seventh with a mark of 48-8.

Nathaniel Ezekiel made a monster personal-best in the 400 meters, finishing fourth overall with a 46.57. Demar Francis followed right behind, finishing fifth in 46.82 seconds.

Ricquan Graham and Matthew Moorer finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 200-meter finals after a 21.02-second performance from Graham and a 21.10-second performance from Moorer.

Eli Morris advanced out of the preliminary round of the 60-meter hurdles and finished sixth in the finals, with a days-best time of 8.00. Simone Ballard finished 12th in the women’s race, crossing with an 8.53.

The men’s mile featured Drew Snyder and Ryan Hodge, who both had solid marks put on the books. Snyder finished third-overall with a 4:16, while Hodge finished sixth-overall with a 4:20.

The unseeded section of the women’s 200 meters saw Summer Sergeant finish fifth with a 24.39 and Michael Francois finish eighth with a 24.69 to lead the Baylor contingent in the top-8 of the race. Following in the unseeded 400, Allie Scott finished sixth overall with a 58.83, and Audrey Williamson 12th.

Following in the qualifiers of the 60-meter dash, Francois and Sergeant returned to the track for 17th and 26th place finshes, respectively, while Bria Bullard joined in at 15th.

Moorea Long and Aïcha Moumin both collected top-8 marks in the high jump, with Long finishing fifth from a 5-7 clearance, followed by Moumin tied for sixth with 5-5.

Mariah Ayers and Imaobong Uko finished back-to-back in the women’s 400 meters ater a 23.45-second performance from Ayers and a 23.57 performance from Uko, which was a new indoor personal-best for the sophomore.

In the long jump, Keviah Ealy crossed 19 feet for a seventh-place finish, followed by Alexandra Rutenis in ninth and Nikayla Fitzgerald in 13th.

In the women’s shot put, Makayla Long placed sixth after throwing for 48-0 ½ on her second attempt.

STAT OF THE MEET

3 – centimeters between Cole Hardan’s new and old school records.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Ford

“We had a good meet overall. I am super proud of how we competed, especially with such a long track meet. Our kids had to get up early, but I thought they handled it well and competed hard. Coach [Jeff] Chak has done a great job with our throw groups and helping Cole Hardan to another school record. From the vault, to the jumps, to the sprints, and even the distance with Lily Williams in the 600, the team just had a good, solid meet and the kids are steadily improving. Now we have one more meet before a little break, but first we just need to keep putting the work in to get ready for Arkansas.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears head to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the star-studded Razorback Invitational on Jan. 27-28.

- BaylorBears.com -

_________________________________________
Colin Pirtle | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (T&F, XC, MTEN)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 940-564-0351

[signature_2230589939]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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