WACO, Texas –
In
its first home meet of 2013, the Baylor track and field team secured 19
event titles and broke one school record on Friday at the
Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex.
"This
meet served the purpose of what we wanted it to," head coach Todd
Harbour said. "To be able to get our kids a dress rehearsal at the venue
where we will host
the conference meet is huge. It is always fun to compete at home and we
had a lot of good things happen for us today."
The
school-record breaking performance came from freshman Felix Obi, who
earlier this year set the school record in the indoor triple jump three
times. In his first
chance in the outdoor season, the freshman wrote his name in the
outdoor section of the record book with a leap of 50-9.25. Obi bettered
the school record jump of Charles Powell, who set the old mark of 49-3.5
in 1984.
The
jump also gave Obi the event title and currently the fifth-best mark in
the NCAA. The El Paso, Texas-native was also second in the long jump.
He posted the fourth-best
jump in the NCAA with a leap of 24-6.25.
Baylor
got another superb performance from sophomore Raena Rhone as she won
the 400-meter title with a personal-best time of 53.42. That mark is
currently No. 1 in
the country. Alyssa Nichols was fourth in the event in 55.60.
In
the other sprints, Ashley Fields won the 200-meter crown for a
second-straight week by posting a time of 23.92. Her teammate, Justise
Dayries was fifth in 24.63.
On
the men's side, Blake Heriot took second in the 100-meters with the
16th-best time in the NCAA of 10.49. Freshman Alex Reece was fourth in
the race with a time
of 10.62.
Reece
then registered a fourth-place finish in the 200-meters by recording a
21.69 mark. Fellow freshman Richard Gary is now ninth in the NCAA, after
taking second
in the 400-meters with a time of 47.59. The time of 48.04 gave senior
Drew Seale fourth place in the event.
Baylor was even more dominant at the middle distance.
Matt
Galvin (8:44.85), Kyle Scanlan (8:49.04) and JR Hardy (8:51.07) swept
the top three spots in the 3,000-meter race with all of the runners
tallying personal bests.
Jonathan
Tijerina won the 1,500-meters in back-to-back weeks with a 4:01.04 time
on Friday. His teammate in the race Chris McElroy was fifth in 4:06.51.
In
the 800-meters, Gavyn Nero (1:52.68) found himself in the top spot for
the second time in two weeks as he recorded the 15th-best time in the
NCAA this year.
While
the women didn't pick up any wins in the middle distances, Olicia
Williams (2:12.69), Lizzy Whitney (2:14.44) and Ivorie Walker (2:14.59)
went third, fourth
and fifth, respectively in the 800-meters.
Mariah
Kelly tied a personal-best in the 1,500 and earned second-place in
4:31.59. That time is 18th in the NCAA this season. Bree Schrader took
fourth in the 3,000-meters
in 10:23.47.
The
Bears picked up two titles in the hurdle events. Christina Holland won
the 100-hurdles in 13.77, which is 18th-best in the country. Taije
Jordan (13.98) was third
in the event.
At the 400-meter hurdle distance, Michelle Nwachukwu took top honors in 1:02.63.
On the men's side, Bryce Grace was third in the 110-hurdles with a time of 14.61.
BU's
relays also shined. For the first time this season, the Lady Bears
fielded a 4x100-meter relay squad. The group of Kehri Jones, Fields,
Omogiate and Dayries
was second in 46.04.
At
the 4x400-meter distance, Omogiate, Nwachukwu, Holland and Rhone,
claimed top honors in 3:42.44. The ‘B' squad for BU in the event
(Nichols, Brittany Ogunmokun,
Dayries and Calesia Henson) was fourth in 3:50.07.
The
men's 4x400-meter quartet of Heriot, Justin Allen, Seale and Gary won
the meet crown in 3:10.15. The Bears' ‘B' group of Joe Barb, Isaiah
Duke, Reece and Nero
took fourth in 3:15.99.
Baylor
also took part in the steeplechase event for the first time this
outdoor season. On the women's side, Rachel Johnson (6:46.11), Mariah
Kelly (6:55.07) and
Sarah Guhl (7:35.34) were first, second and fifth, respectively at the
2,000-meter distance.
The men grabbed the top two-spots in the event as Taylor Jackson (6:00.12) and Derwin Graham (6:00.14) went No. 1 and 2.
In
the field events, Hayden Loudenslager earned first in the high jump
with a personal-best leap of 6-6.75. Loudenslager also took fourth in
the triple jump with
a leap of 44-9.5.
Justine
Charbonnet was the long jump champion in 19-4, while teammates Brianna
Richardson (18-11.25) and Jessica Gabler (18-5) were third and fourth.
Richardson
got her own crown with a win in the triple jump. Her 40-6 leap is
currently eighth-best in the NCAA. Kaitlin West was second in the event
at 39-4.5.
In the women's high jump, Jessica Shadley, Lauren Rover and Kaylyn Schultz all tied for third with jumps of 5-3.
Skylar
White had a special day as she doubled with wins in both the shot put
(52-6) and the discus (177-0). Those marks are fifth and second in the
NCAA, respectively.
Desmine
Hilliard was close to matching White as he took first in the discus
(177-0) and second in the shot put (52-8.75), a personal-best mark for
the sophomore.
Baylor
dominated the javelin throw on the men's side as Blake Mayberry had a
personal-best throw of 219-0 to win and teammate Richard Hansen was
second with a heave
of 189-5. Mayberry's toss is 14th in the NCAA.
On
the women's side, Taylor Torres (132-6) and Lauren Rover (126-0) both
established personal-bests in the event, while taking second and third,
respectively.
In the hammer throw, Erin Atkinson (194-1) was second and Jasmine Adekoya was fifth (162-9).
Baylor will now take part in the Texas Relays, which begin on March 27.
Follow @BaylorTrack on Twitter for updates on the team all season.
