Track & Field Set to Host Baylor Invitational

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            With eight event titles at last weekend's USC Trojan Invitational to open the outdoor track and field season, Baylor coach Todd Harbour came back with one of those ear-to-ear smiles plastered on his face.
            But, as excited as he was with wins by KC Lightfoot in the pole vault, Megan SaxvanderWeyden in the javelin and Jalen Seals in the long jump and Isaiah Cunningham (200), Trey Fields (400), Sarah Yocum (100-meter hurdles) and Leti De Souza (800) on the track, Harbour was leaping for joy over the football team's contributions.
            Kalon "Boogie" Barnes was clocked in a winning time of 10.43 in the 100 meters, JT Woods was third in the 100 meters (10.61) and seventh in the 110 hurdles and both Raleigh Texada and Mark Milton also competed in Los Angeles.
            For Saturday's four-team Baylor Invitational at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium, that quartet will be joined by quarter-miler Chris Platt.
            "I can't say enough about (football coach Matt Rhule) and his staff and how they're trying to make this work," Harbour said. "I don't know anyone else in the country that has five (football players running track). This is a big deal. At the same time, it can be a big deal if Coach Rhule and those guys can establish, 'We're not just talking the talk, we're walking the walk.' Hopefully it's not going to take away from anything they're doing on the football field."
            The first of two home meets for the Bears, the Baylor Invitational brings in competitors from North Texas, Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word. Field events begin at 10 a.m., with the women's 2,000 meters kicking off the running events at 2 p.m. and the meet scheduled to finish around 5:30.
            "All you need is a couple good teams and you can get what you need in," Harbour said. "We're going to talk about just competing against ourselves. We'll have some competition in some of the events, but in some of them they're just going to have to get after it and compete against themselves. You've got to do what you've got to do. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and hold off. But, it's still a chance to compete at home. You want to do well."
            After the opening weekend of outdoor season, Baylor is 13^thin the men's USTFCCCA rankings and 31^stin the women's rankings. An indoor All-American who already broke the school indoor record as a freshman, Lightfoot is now tied for second on Baylor's all-time performer list with his winning vault of 18 feet, 5 ¼ inches at USC.
            "Our guys are in a pretty good place right now, and our ladies have just got to keep getting better," Harbour said. "April is a big month, so we don't want to take any meet as 'OK, we've got to do all this at this meet.' No, we just want to keep getting better. Little by little, we need other people to step up other than KC."
            Lightfoot and NCAA Indoor Championship qualifier Tuesdi Tidwell will be competing in the pole vault at 12 and 2:30 p.m., respectively.
            All-American quartermiler Wil London is being held out with a slight hamstring injury, but Fields is in a loaded 200-meter field that football's Milton, Woods and Texada. The second heat of the 100 meters includes Barnes, Milton, Texada and Cunningham, while Platt is running on the 4x400 relay "B" team.
            "I know Chris Platt is chomping at the bit to get on that 4x4," Harbour said. "He's ready to go."
            In a busy schedule, the Bears will compete at next week's Texas Relays in Austin, followed by Texas A&M's Reveille Invitational the next weekend and then a week off before hosting the Michael Johnson Invitational April 19-20.
            "It's a long season," Harbour said. "As long as you get ready, execute – the results vary from weekend to weekend – but you've got to do the things you need to do week-in and week-out."

WACO, Texas – Baylor track & field is home for the first time this year as the Bears host the Baylor Invitational Saturday at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium.

"It's always nice to be at home," head coach Todd Harbour said. "We're looking forward to hopefully getting the weather to cooperate. We have some athletes that will be making their outdoor debut, and they are excited and ready to go. We're looking forward to another great opportunity to continue to improve and get better."

Baylor has one outdoor meet under its belt thus far, and the Bears are ranked preseason No. 13 in the men's USTFCCCA Track & Field Rating Index and No. 31 in the women's rankings.

Last Saturday at the USC Trojan Invitational, eight Baylor student-athletes won event titles including Kalon Barnes, Isaiah Cunningham, Leti De Souza, Howard Fields III, KC Lightfoot, Megan SaxvanderWeyden, Jalen Seals, and Sarah Yocum.

Lightfoot holds the number one pole vault in the nation by over a foot as he set the Cromwell Field & Loker Track Stadium record, tied for second on the all-time Baylor outdoor performer list, and tied for the No. 6 all-time Baylor performance with a jump of 18-5.25.

Fields won the 400 meters at USC with the No. 2-ranked time in America, 46.49. He and the Bears will run their first 4x400-meter relay of the outdoor season this weekend.

Barnes, a freshman defensive back for the Baylor football team, clocked 10.43 in the 100 meters to make his collegiate debut at No. 6 in the country.

De Souza blazed to the second-best time in America (2:08.13) to win the 800 meters at USC. She and her teammates will run the 4x400-meter relay for the first time this outdoor season on Saturday.

SaxvanderWeyden ranks No. 6 in the nation after an impressive throw of 164-09 (50.21m) that gave her the win at USC by more than 19 feet. She now holds the No. 2 all-time performance in school history, just shy of her school record (166-4).

"Our goal is to improve and get better," Harbour said. "We're still kind of getting into the outdoor season. We've got a big one next week - Texas Relays - so you pace yourself a little bit this time of year. You always want to continue to make improvement."

Action kicks off Saturday with the women's javelin, men's hammer throw, and men's high jump at 10 a.m. CT. Running events will begin at 2 p.m. CT with the women's 2000-meter steeplechase.

Live results for the Baylor Invitational can be found at http://results.deltatiming.com/tf/2019-baylor-invitational.

For continued updates on the Baylor Track & Field team, follow the team's social media accounts all season long: @BaylorTrack.

Track & Field Set to Host Baylor Invitational

Players Mentioned

Kalon Barnes

Isaiah Cunningham

Howard Fields III

KC Lightfoot

Wil London

Mark Milton

Chris Platt

Megan SaxvanderWeyden

Jalen Seals

Raleigh Texada

Tuesdi Tidwell

JT Woods

Sarah Yocum

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