Baylor T&F’s Kostarellis Punches Ticket to NCAA Championship with a Program Record

[Pirtle, Colin]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 25, 2023

Baylor T&F’s Kostarellis Punches Ticket to NCAA Championship with a Program Record
Four Bears advanced through to Saturday’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 completed the first day of the women’s competition at the NCAA West Preliminaries at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium on Thursday in the second overall day of the meet.



The Bears advanced another competitor to the NCAA Championships in Austin and moved four onto the national quarterfinals to be contested Saturday evening.



THE RUNDOWN

Annamaria Kostarellis, who was in the lead pack for the first half of the race and then the lead pair of the rest, crossed the line in second place Thursday for a new program record and a ticket to the NCAA Championship in Austin. She rebroke her PB and program record set earlier in the season by three seconds with a 32:10.96.



Gontse Morake ran the second-fastest mark of the night in the 400-meter hurdles and the second-fastest mark by any Bear in program history on Thursday at 56.33 seconds. She takes a big Q from the race and moves to Saturday’s quarterfinal with Jasmine Gryne who finished 17th overall and led the timed qualifiers after a season-best 58.83-second race.



Sophomore Imaobong Uko got a big Q in the women’s 400 to automatically qualify to the quarterfinals behind a 51.86-second performance for 13th overall.



Mariah Ayers ran a 22.91-second 200 for eighth on the night and second in heat three. She joins four other Big 12 runners in the quarterfinals on Saturday night. Bria Bullard missed the cutoff by three places, running a 23.53.



Bullard originally qualified to the quarterfinals in the 100 meters, but after further review, missed her spot by one-thousandth of a second. Her 11.498-second race was the first mark out. Michaela Francois also ran but didn’t advance, finishing 36th at 11.63 seconds.



There was a PB in the shot put for Makayla Long, who threw 53-7 ½ for 19th place. The redshirt freshman was in third at the conclusion of the first two flights were complete but did not advance.



Koi Johnson completed jump event one of two for the weekend, ending her year in the long jump. Hitting 19-2 ¾, Johnson finished 39th and preps for the triple jump competition on Saturday to return to the NCAA Championships for the second-straight year.



QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Ford

On Thursday’s competition…

“I am super proud of Anna [Kostarellis] qualifying to nationals in Austin in the 10k. She did an awesome job in that race, and I am so glad we have her over here at Baylor. Overall, we performed well. Makayla [Long] didn’t qualify for nationals, but she did get a PR in the in the shot put today. Glad to see Ima [Uko], Mariah [Ayers], Gontse [Morake] and Jasmine [Gryne] qualify for the quarterfinals on Saturday. It was tough in the 100 with the results getting changed, but I am still super proud of Bria Bullard. We have to rest up and get them ready for Saturday. We are up to three making it to Austin, and I look forward to seeing who is added tomorrow.”



WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears continue the 2023 NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Friday with the men’s quarterfinal rounds. Action for BU begins at 7 p.m. CT and the meet will be streamed on ESPN+.



- 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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