Baylor T&F Closes Clyde Hart Classic with Seven Collegiate Wins

Sat Mar 23 19:48:07 CDT 2024

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 23, 2024

Baylor T&F Closes Clyde Hart Classic with Seven Collegiate Wins
Bears sweep 4x100 titles to open Day Two of competition
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor track and field completed the Clyde Hart Classic on Saturday evening, tabbing five overall event wins with two additional collegiate victories on the second day of competition.

Opening the day, both 4x100-meter relay squads won their respective events for BU, while Demar Francis won the men’s 400, Alexis Brown won the women’s 100 and Rachel Hickey won the women’s 800, as the women’s 4x400-meter relay and De’montray Callis finished second only to professional athletes.

THE RUNDOWN

The Bears put on a show for the first two events on the track, winning both the women’s and men’s 4x100-meter relay races. The women took the win after 43.93 seconds behind Tiriah Kelley, Imaobong Uko, Alexis Brown and Michaela Francois. In the men’s event, Ricquan Graham, Laurenz Colbert, Kamden Jackson and Callis tabbed a 39.19-second race that landed fourth on the early NCAA list.

Francis dropped, at the time, the third-fastest quarter-mile mark of the outdoor season on Saturday afternoon. His 45.90 was the top time of the day, beating the 2023 Big 12 Champion in the event, Zarik Brown. Nicholi Brown had a PR in the race after 47.98 seconds and was followed by freshman Jack Jackson in 16th.

One day returned from the program record to win the long jump competition, Brown sped out to take the women’s 100-meter title in 11.42 seconds, the ninth-best mark in the NCAA thus far. Kayla Hunt was next for BU in sixth place, with Michaela Francois in ninth and Summer Sergeant in 19th.

Running her elite race for the first time in a Baylor uniform, Hickey won the women’s 800 meters with the 20th-best NCAA time of 2:08.44. Just behind her, Ellie Hodge took silver in the event at 2:09.97, with Hayden Gold next for BU in eighth with a 2:17.45.

Finishing second only to the professional training group, AthleticsTX, the BU women won the collegiate title in the women’s 4x400-meter relay with a 3:36.52. That race saw Jasmine Gryne, Uko, Summer Sergeant and Kelley put together the No. 8 spot in NCAA DI at the time of competition.

In the men’s 100 meters, Callis ran a 10.49 for second overall, but first among collegiate competitors. Jackson’s 10.65-second race placed him eighth in the event, ahead of Graham in 13th with a 10.77.

The men’s 4x400-meter relay put together a 3:08.33 for third overall, second only to Oklahoma in college competition, by Jackson, Francis, Graham and Callis. Of that group, only Francis was a member of last season’s All-American quartet on the track.

Closing on the same bar but seven places apart, Aïcha Moumin and Sydney Smith had air over the 5-6 bar with Moumin taking fourth and Smith taking 11th. Cassidy Bennet recorded the first mark of her Baylor career for 17th place, jumping up and over 5-2 ¼.

Makayla Long had a finals spot in the women’s shot put, throwing a 51-9 ¼ toss on her first attempt. In the men’s event, Cooper Mack fouled out as Gary Moore Jr., competing unattached, was second with a personal-best mark of 61-10 ¼.

Closing out the meet, Ukurugenzi Kojo went 6-9 in the high jump in his first marks of the 2024 outdoor season, enough for fifth place as the only Bear in the men’s competition.

Freshman Ellie Fooshee finally got to start her collegiate career in the javelin throw on Saturday morning, taking 10th overall in the women’s competition after leading the first heat with her best throw of 123-7.

With his first result since the 2022 cross country season, sophomore Ethan Wrase led the Bears in the men’s 800 meters, clocking a 1:56.27 in the race for 12th place. Ryan Hodge finished just a blink after in 1:56.27, with Kanalu Wong behind him at 1:57.20.

Back in his second race at Baylor, Carter Cheek took 12th in the men’s high hurdles as the only Bear competing in either of the sprint hurdle races.

Audrey Williamson was the highest finisher for the Bears in the women’s 400-meter dash in 28th place, followed by Lily Williams in 32nd.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Ford

On the meet…

“I thought we had a very good meet in our first real outdoor opener. The weather was great, and the crowd was great. I really appreciate all of the colleges that came to our meet this weekend. We had a lot of wins, and I am glad we could do that on our home track. I am so impressed with Alexis [Brown] yesterday in the long jump and today in the 100. It was her first 100 in two years and she jumped really well yesterday for a big school record. Ellie Hodge also had a good day to win the 1,500 last night. Overall I think Friday went well. Today, we started out well running really fast times in the 4x100 on both sides. Rachel Hickey got her first win as a Bear and Ellie ran really well too in the 800. Demar Francis just missed a PR but ran very well in the men’s open quarter. Also have to shout out Zaza [Prosper Nnamdi] for breaking the school record and the Nigerian national record in the javelin. We had a lot of personal bests and quite a few season-best marks, even with such a young season. We still have some work to do, but the team is coming along. I am very pleased with the Bears at this meet and now we just have to get ready for LSU.”

UP NEXT

Baylor heads to Louisiana for LSU’s Battle on the Bayou on Friday and Saturday, March 29-30. Splitting from the group, the pole vaulters will send NCAA Indoor qualifiers, Molly Haywood and Alencia Lentz, to the 96th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, while the rest of the vault crew attends Texas State’s Bobcat Invitational.

- BaylorBears.com –

_________________________________________
Colin Pirtle | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (T&F/XC, MTEN, FB)
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/20240324/e97c6c09/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/20240324/e97c6c09/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2024-CHC-Final-Results.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 423946 bytes
Desc: 2024-CHC-Final-Results.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20240324/e97c6c09/attachment-0001.pdf>