Baylor Track & Field Sends Select Group To Notre Dame’s Last Cha - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

WACO, Texas – A total of 12 members of Baylor's track and field team will have one more chance to improve their season marks at the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday. The meet at the Loftus Sports Center is BU's final competition before next week's NCAA Indoor Championships.

"We are excited for the opportunity to go up to Notre Dame and get a few more into the NCAA meet," head coach Todd Harbour said.

Currently, Baylor has six individuals and both of its 4x400-meter relay teams qualified for the NCAA Championships, but with the field not set until after this weekend that number could change.

Each of the competitors will aim for a spot in the top16-20 in each event, depending on how many entrants the NCAA invites after the automatic qualifiers are admitted.

Individually, Baylor will just have four competitors in action: Joe Barb (400m), Erin Atkinson (weight throw), Brianna Richardson (triple jump) and Olicia Williams (800m).

Barb will be working to improve on his 400-meter time of 48.40. The senior needs to run in the neighborhood of 46.50 to be in contention for an NCAA spot.

In the weight throw, Atkinson currently sits in 15th with an automatic qualifying heave of 67-8.25. If the junior were to equal her career-best throw of 68-4.5, she would move up to No. 11 on the list. 

After taking third place at the Big 12 Championships in the triple jump, Richardson is tied for 45th on the NCAA list with a leap of 41-1.5. The freshman will need to improve by just over a foot to get into the NCAA top-20.

Williams turned in a career-best time of 2:07.52 in the 800-meters at the Tyson Invitational to be ranked 39th on the NCAA list. To be among the NCAA hopefuls, Williams will work to run below a 2:06.4 this weekend in the event.

For the relays, the NCAA automatically takes the top 12 times. Baylor will run its men's and women's relay squads this weekend with both sitting near the cutoff line.

BU's men's 4x400-meter relay team will look to improve on its time of 3:07.91. That mark recorded by the quartet of Isaiah Duke, Everett Walker, Drew Seale and Richard Gary to win last week's Big 12 Championship title is currently the 10th-best on the NCAA qualifying list.

The women's relay team of Christina Holland, Ashley Fields, Idia Omogiate and Raena Rhone currently own the 11th automatic qualifying position with a time of 3:36.05.

Both relay teams are slated to have a different makeup for this weekend as Justin Allen will run in place of Everett Walker and Alyssa Nichols will go in place of Christina Holland.

The competition will start on Friday with the weight throw event, before picking back up with the contesting of the triple jump on Saturday at 11 a.m. 

Following this weekend's meet, Baylor will travel to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Complex.

For updates on the team, follow @BaylorTrack on Twitter.