Baylor T&F Advances Two to NCAA Championships on Day One of West Prelims

[Pirtle, Colin]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 24, 2023

Baylor T&F Advances Two to NCAA Championships on Day One of West Prelims
Eight Bears advanced through to Friday’s national quarterfinal
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>


SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Baylor track and field opened the 2023 NCAA West Preliminaries on Wednesday at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium. On the first day of competition, only the men competed to punch their tickets to the next round.



Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi and Ben Conacher both qualified to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in Austin, Texas. It is the second-straight year that the javelin thrower qualified to the meet and the first pole vaulter since KC Lightfoot in 2019.



THE RUNDOWN

Prosper Nnamdi punched his ticket to a second-straight NCAA Championship final on Wednesday, throwing a 243-9 mark for third place in the event. The sophomore finished behind two competitors from Nebraska, the winner being the Michael Johnson Invitational silver medalist, Arthur Peterson.



Conacher qualified to his first NCAA championship with a personal-best jump of 17-8½. That mark puts him in a well-deserved T-10th spot on the program’s all-time list.



In the running events contested on the opening day of the meet, eight of the nine total BU entries qualified to Friday’s quarterfinal round.



The three Bears that ran the 400 meters moved on, including Matthew Moorer (45.65), Dillon Bedell (45.86) and Hasani Barr (46.15). Moorer and Barr secured an automatic bid after finishing top-three in their respective heats, while Bedell’s time was the fastest mark out of the bubble three.



Nathaniel Ezekiel ran the fastest time of the night in the 400-meter hurdles and was one of only two competitors that went sub-50 in the event. His 49.22-second mark is the third-fastest race this season, the best being a 48.52 in the finals of the Big 12 Championships.



Kamden Jackson advanced in both the 100- and 200-meter races. His 10.26 in the 100 was good enough for 10th overall in the 100, while a 20.49 got him sixth in the 200. Demar Francis will join Jackson in the 200 finals, finishing just behind in seventh after 20.51. Both runners received automatic qualification to the quarterfinals.



Elijah Morris got another automatic qualification in the 110-meter hurdles, running a season-best 13.88 for 18th overall.



The only BU runner to not advance was sophomore De’montray Callis. The 200-meter runner finished just two spots outside of an advancing spot with a 21.01-second race.



It was a bittersweet day in the shot put circle, as sixth-year senior Cole Hardan threw his final event in a Baylor uniform. He finished 27th, just ahead of freshman Gary Moore Jr., who came in 31st.



QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Ford

On Wednesday’s competition…

“It was a solid first day. I am proud of Zaza [Prosper Nnamdi] for getting to his second-straight national meet. He came into today’s meet and competed like we knew he could. I am also so proud of Ben Conacher. This is something he and Coach [Brandon] Richards have been shooting for and I’m glad he was able to do it with a new PR to find a spot on the all-time list. It was also a good night on the track. Eight of our nine made it to the quarterfinals for a chance to race for a spot in Austin. Nathaniel [Ezekiel] had a great race to win the night in the hurdles. Now we rest to get back and do it all tomorrow with the women!”



WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears continue the 2023 NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Thursday with the women’s competition. Action for BU begins at 8 p.m. CT.

- 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/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230525/dec9c0b8/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11741 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230525/dec9c0b8/attachment-0001.png>