Saturday, March 13
Fayetteville, Ark.
All Day
Baylor
vs
NCAA Indoor Championships
T&F: Lightfoot, Nugent and Miller Win National Titles
3/13/2021 11:03:00 PM | Track & Field
Bears had three National Champions at the same NCAA meet for the first time in school history.
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For 22 years, current Baylor associate women's head coach Stacey Bowers Smith was in a class by herself as Baylor track & field's only individual national champion on the women's side.
Now, you can add two more to the class roll.
In a memorable 15-minute stretch Saturday night at the NCAA Indoor Championships, freshman Ackera Nugent sprinted to an U20 world-record time of 7.92 seconds in winning the 60-meter hurdles and fifth-year senior Aaliyah Miller was a wire-to-wire winner in the 800 meters with a school- and meet-record time of 2:00.69.
"I felt overwhelmed," said Nugent, a freshman from Kingston, Jamaica, who came in ranked second. "I had to check the board to make sure I won."
Already the collegiate record holder, Baylor junior pole vaulter KC Lightfoot gave Baylor three individual champions at an NCAA meet for the first time in program history. Staying alive by clearing the 5.80-meter bar (19-0 ¼) on his final attempt, Lightfoot went on to win his first NCAA title with a vault of 19-5 ½ that broke the meet and facility records at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center.
"It was pretty much a fairy-tale story," said Lightfoot, who missed three attempts at 19-9, which would have broken Sam Kendricks' American record by half an inch. "It was one of our main goals for the season, to finish it off with an indoor title. I feel like I capped off my indoor season about the best way it could go. I guess the only thing you could add was if I would have kept the American record (bar) up there. But, it's an American record for a reason."
Baylor made the absolute most out of its limited number of entries, with the women recording their fourth top-10 finish and first in six years by finishing ninth with 24 points; and the men tying for 18th with Lightfoot's 10 points in the pole vault.
In the final event of the night, the Baylor women's 4x400-meter relay team of Kayvia Francis, Arria Minor, Miller and freshman anchor Lily Williams placed eighth with a time of :3:33.27 to earn All-America honors and put another point on the board for the Bears.
"We could have probably run a little faster," Baylor coach Todd Harbour said. "And if Tuesdi (Tidwell) had squeezed out a little bit more (sixth in the pole vault), we might have been seventh or eighth. That's probably about all we could have squeezed out of them. I was just proud of them. I think this gives us some momentum going into outdoor (season) now. I think it will get all of our athletes fired up, men and women, to know that we can be even better outdoor."
The heavy favorite going into the meet after breaking the collegiate record three times, Lightfoot entered at 17-8 ½ and cleared his first four bars on first attempts. But, with the field of 16 vaulters down to a final two, BYU's Zach McWhorter cleared a personal-best 19-0 ¼ on his second attempt in the same round that Lightfoot missed.
"Nervous? You can't not be, but it's not my first time doing it. so, it wasn't anything crazy," said Lightfoot, who cleared it on his final attempt and two more bars to beat out McWhorter for the top spot on the medal platform. "We get three attempts for a reason. I just happened to use all three of them."
Harbour said he felt good about Nugent's chances when he saw that she was assigned Lane 2 for the final.
"(At the Big 12 Indoor), she got in trouble being in the middle and getting banged up," Harbour said of Nugent, who finished second in the conference meet in 7.98 seconds after running a 7.91 time in the prelims that would have been the U20 world record had it been ratified. "Sometimes in that hurdle race, you can start whacking hurdles and people's elbows. So, when I saw Lane 2, I said, 'OK, this might be dangerous,' because she's over there by herself."
The lone freshman in the final, Nugent said she "got out to the best start I've ever had," and edged Arkansas' Daszay Freeman by seven-hundredths of a second (7.92 to 7.99).
"To be honest, I went into the race very anxious about everything" Nugent said. "Since my anxiety got so much, I started doubting myself. But, going into the race, I just knew I needed to run my race and nobody else's I went in there, and I was focused and locked-in and just executed everything my coaches have been telling me."
Miller, ranked fifth in the 800 meters coming into the meet, made it to the finals with the seventh-best time. But, she left little doubt from the start, running the first 200 in a blazing pace of 27.69 seconds. Harbour said Miller went out to fast, coming through the first quarter in 56.90 and leading the field by more than a full second.
"She just went out there and buried them," Harbour said, "and then you hang on for dear life. I was nervous for the last 200 meters. I wasn't sure she could hold on. But, she did. I'm proud of her, she's tough."
Miller said she was "shocked" when she saw her time splits, "and I told myself, 'don't freak out, to commit to it.' Regardless of the outcome is, I knew that if I gave it my all, then there's nothing I could be disappointed in."
Beating her previous best by nearly two seconds, Miller finished first in a meet-record time of 2:00.69, breaking the previous mark of 2:01.09 that was set by Oregon's Raevyn Rogers four years ago.
"I was really surprised by the time," she said. "In a championship race, nobody's really focused on the time, you just want to go for the win. But, once I took it out so fast, I was like, 'Well, we're going to see where this takes me.' Two-flat is insane. I'm just extremely humbled, grateful, thankful that we got this far."
While Baylor sent a limited crew to compete in last week's Longhorn Invitational in Austin, the full squad begins the outdoor season with next weekend's Roadrunner Invitational, March 19-20, in San Antonio.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the first time in school history, Baylor track & field had three National Champions at the same NCAA meet as KC Lightfoot, Ackera Nugent and Aaliyah Miller took home gold medals at the NCAA Indoor Championships Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
"It's just kind of an overwhelming feeling," head coach Todd Harbour said. "We thank the Lord. We're humbled and we're grateful. It was a great day."
Lightfoot got things started in dramatic fashion, winning the national championship in the men's pole vault with a meet-record and facility-record jump of 19-5.5 (5.93m). After clearing four consecutive bars to start the day, Lightfoot missed his first two attempts at 19-0.25 (5.80m). With BYU's Zach McWhorter making it on his second try, Lightfoot sailed over on his third and final attempt to stay alive. From there, Lightfoot cleared 19-2.25 (5.85m) on his first attempt to effectively clinch the championship as McWhorter missed all three attempts at that height. Lightfoot went on to set the meet and facility records before taking three attempts at the American record to close out the day.
"KC had to battle in the pole vault," Harbour said. "He had to fight, reach down and he cleared some bars there. He had some competition. I was proud of him. He competed so hard, and to be the NCAA indoor meet record holder now is pretty sweet."
Nugent continued to set the world by storm, blazing to the national championship in the women's 60-meter hurdles with a U20 world record time of 7.92. The freshman from Kingston, Jamaica, won the race by .07 seconds.
"For Ackera to do what she did in the hurdles as a freshman is just outstanding," Harbour said. "World U20 record and first National Champion on the ladies' side since (Baylor associate women's head coach) Stacey Bowers-Smith."
In the women's 800 meters, Miller made sure no one was going to challenge her from the get-go as she went wire-to-wire for a meet-record time of 2:00.69 to win the national championship by .52 seconds. The senior from McKinney, Texas, held an almost two-second lead at the 600-meter mark at 1:27.49.
"The very next race on the track (after Nugent's win in the 60-meter hurdles) was the 800 and there was a period there of 'oh wow, what's gonna happen next?'," Harbour said. "We just had some good stuff going. It was really special. Aaliyah's game plan was to not go out quite that fast. She got a little excited and went out a little bit quicker than we had talked about, but just to be able to hold on off of that pace is amazing. Also, to be an NCAA record holder, that's pretty special."
The women's 4x400-meter relay put the bow on a historic day, placing eighth with a time of 3:33.27 to earn All-America honors for Kavia Francis, Arria Minor, Miller and Lily Williams.
"The 4x4 on the ladies' side, those girls did an outstanding job," Harbour said. "You have a sophomore, two freshmen and Aaliyah. They are young, they'll be back, and I'm proud of them. They competed really hard."
Before today, Baylor's last national champion was Trayvon Bromell in the 2015 indoor 200 meters. Nugent and Miller are the first-ever individual women's indoor national champions for the Bears, joining the 1998 4x400-meter relay team. They are also the second and third individual women's champions overall, joining Bowers-Smith (1999 outdoor triple jump). Lightfoot is the first men's field event national champion since Felix Obi (2014 indoor triple jump). He is the 12th individual men's indoor national champion to go along with nine 4x4 titles, and the 19th overall individual champion alongside 19 4x4 titles.
The Baylor women's team finished ninth as a team with 24 points, the second-ranked team from the Big 12 right behind Texas with 25. Lightfoot gave the men's team a finish of tied for 18th with 10 points.
"Hopefully it will springboard us, both men and women, into a great outdoor season," Harbour said.
With the indoor season complete, Baylor is set to fully begin the outdoor season March 19-20 at the Roadrunner Invitational in San Antonio, Texas.
For continued updates on the Baylor Track & Field team, follow the team's social media accounts all season long: @BaylorTrack.
Baylor Bear Insider
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For 22 years, current Baylor associate women's head coach Stacey Bowers Smith was in a class by herself as Baylor track & field's only individual national champion on the women's side.
Now, you can add two more to the class roll.
In a memorable 15-minute stretch Saturday night at the NCAA Indoor Championships, freshman Ackera Nugent sprinted to an U20 world-record time of 7.92 seconds in winning the 60-meter hurdles and fifth-year senior Aaliyah Miller was a wire-to-wire winner in the 800 meters with a school- and meet-record time of 2:00.69.
"I felt overwhelmed," said Nugent, a freshman from Kingston, Jamaica, who came in ranked second. "I had to check the board to make sure I won."
Already the collegiate record holder, Baylor junior pole vaulter KC Lightfoot gave Baylor three individual champions at an NCAA meet for the first time in program history. Staying alive by clearing the 5.80-meter bar (19-0 ¼) on his final attempt, Lightfoot went on to win his first NCAA title with a vault of 19-5 ½ that broke the meet and facility records at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center.
"It was pretty much a fairy-tale story," said Lightfoot, who missed three attempts at 19-9, which would have broken Sam Kendricks' American record by half an inch. "It was one of our main goals for the season, to finish it off with an indoor title. I feel like I capped off my indoor season about the best way it could go. I guess the only thing you could add was if I would have kept the American record (bar) up there. But, it's an American record for a reason."
Baylor made the absolute most out of its limited number of entries, with the women recording their fourth top-10 finish and first in six years by finishing ninth with 24 points; and the men tying for 18th with Lightfoot's 10 points in the pole vault.
In the final event of the night, the Baylor women's 4x400-meter relay team of Kayvia Francis, Arria Minor, Miller and freshman anchor Lily Williams placed eighth with a time of :3:33.27 to earn All-America honors and put another point on the board for the Bears.
"We could have probably run a little faster," Baylor coach Todd Harbour said. "And if Tuesdi (Tidwell) had squeezed out a little bit more (sixth in the pole vault), we might have been seventh or eighth. That's probably about all we could have squeezed out of them. I was just proud of them. I think this gives us some momentum going into outdoor (season) now. I think it will get all of our athletes fired up, men and women, to know that we can be even better outdoor."
The heavy favorite going into the meet after breaking the collegiate record three times, Lightfoot entered at 17-8 ½ and cleared his first four bars on first attempts. But, with the field of 16 vaulters down to a final two, BYU's Zach McWhorter cleared a personal-best 19-0 ¼ on his second attempt in the same round that Lightfoot missed.
"Nervous? You can't not be, but it's not my first time doing it. so, it wasn't anything crazy," said Lightfoot, who cleared it on his final attempt and two more bars to beat out McWhorter for the top spot on the medal platform. "We get three attempts for a reason. I just happened to use all three of them."
Harbour said he felt good about Nugent's chances when he saw that she was assigned Lane 2 for the final.
"(At the Big 12 Indoor), she got in trouble being in the middle and getting banged up," Harbour said of Nugent, who finished second in the conference meet in 7.98 seconds after running a 7.91 time in the prelims that would have been the U20 world record had it been ratified. "Sometimes in that hurdle race, you can start whacking hurdles and people's elbows. So, when I saw Lane 2, I said, 'OK, this might be dangerous,' because she's over there by herself."
The lone freshman in the final, Nugent said she "got out to the best start I've ever had," and edged Arkansas' Daszay Freeman by seven-hundredths of a second (7.92 to 7.99).
"To be honest, I went into the race very anxious about everything" Nugent said. "Since my anxiety got so much, I started doubting myself. But, going into the race, I just knew I needed to run my race and nobody else's I went in there, and I was focused and locked-in and just executed everything my coaches have been telling me."
Miller, ranked fifth in the 800 meters coming into the meet, made it to the finals with the seventh-best time. But, she left little doubt from the start, running the first 200 in a blazing pace of 27.69 seconds. Harbour said Miller went out to fast, coming through the first quarter in 56.90 and leading the field by more than a full second.
"She just went out there and buried them," Harbour said, "and then you hang on for dear life. I was nervous for the last 200 meters. I wasn't sure she could hold on. But, she did. I'm proud of her, she's tough."
Miller said she was "shocked" when she saw her time splits, "and I told myself, 'don't freak out, to commit to it.' Regardless of the outcome is, I knew that if I gave it my all, then there's nothing I could be disappointed in."
Beating her previous best by nearly two seconds, Miller finished first in a meet-record time of 2:00.69, breaking the previous mark of 2:01.09 that was set by Oregon's Raevyn Rogers four years ago.
"I was really surprised by the time," she said. "In a championship race, nobody's really focused on the time, you just want to go for the win. But, once I took it out so fast, I was like, 'Well, we're going to see where this takes me.' Two-flat is insane. I'm just extremely humbled, grateful, thankful that we got this far."
While Baylor sent a limited crew to compete in last week's Longhorn Invitational in Austin, the full squad begins the outdoor season with next weekend's Roadrunner Invitational, March 19-20, in San Antonio.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the first time in school history, Baylor track & field had three National Champions at the same NCAA meet as KC Lightfoot, Ackera Nugent and Aaliyah Miller took home gold medals at the NCAA Indoor Championships Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
"It's just kind of an overwhelming feeling," head coach Todd Harbour said. "We thank the Lord. We're humbled and we're grateful. It was a great day."
Lightfoot got things started in dramatic fashion, winning the national championship in the men's pole vault with a meet-record and facility-record jump of 19-5.5 (5.93m). After clearing four consecutive bars to start the day, Lightfoot missed his first two attempts at 19-0.25 (5.80m). With BYU's Zach McWhorter making it on his second try, Lightfoot sailed over on his third and final attempt to stay alive. From there, Lightfoot cleared 19-2.25 (5.85m) on his first attempt to effectively clinch the championship as McWhorter missed all three attempts at that height. Lightfoot went on to set the meet and facility records before taking three attempts at the American record to close out the day.
"KC had to battle in the pole vault," Harbour said. "He had to fight, reach down and he cleared some bars there. He had some competition. I was proud of him. He competed so hard, and to be the NCAA indoor meet record holder now is pretty sweet."
Nugent continued to set the world by storm, blazing to the national championship in the women's 60-meter hurdles with a U20 world record time of 7.92. The freshman from Kingston, Jamaica, won the race by .07 seconds.
"For Ackera to do what she did in the hurdles as a freshman is just outstanding," Harbour said. "World U20 record and first National Champion on the ladies' side since (Baylor associate women's head coach) Stacey Bowers-Smith."
In the women's 800 meters, Miller made sure no one was going to challenge her from the get-go as she went wire-to-wire for a meet-record time of 2:00.69 to win the national championship by .52 seconds. The senior from McKinney, Texas, held an almost two-second lead at the 600-meter mark at 1:27.49.
"The very next race on the track (after Nugent's win in the 60-meter hurdles) was the 800 and there was a period there of 'oh wow, what's gonna happen next?'," Harbour said. "We just had some good stuff going. It was really special. Aaliyah's game plan was to not go out quite that fast. She got a little excited and went out a little bit quicker than we had talked about, but just to be able to hold on off of that pace is amazing. Also, to be an NCAA record holder, that's pretty special."
The women's 4x400-meter relay put the bow on a historic day, placing eighth with a time of 3:33.27 to earn All-America honors for Kavia Francis, Arria Minor, Miller and Lily Williams.
"The 4x4 on the ladies' side, those girls did an outstanding job," Harbour said. "You have a sophomore, two freshmen and Aaliyah. They are young, they'll be back, and I'm proud of them. They competed really hard."
Before today, Baylor's last national champion was Trayvon Bromell in the 2015 indoor 200 meters. Nugent and Miller are the first-ever individual women's indoor national champions for the Bears, joining the 1998 4x400-meter relay team. They are also the second and third individual women's champions overall, joining Bowers-Smith (1999 outdoor triple jump). Lightfoot is the first men's field event national champion since Felix Obi (2014 indoor triple jump). He is the 12th individual men's indoor national champion to go along with nine 4x4 titles, and the 19th overall individual champion alongside 19 4x4 titles.
The Baylor women's team finished ninth as a team with 24 points, the second-ranked team from the Big 12 right behind Texas with 25. Lightfoot gave the men's team a finish of tied for 18th with 10 points.
"Hopefully it will springboard us, both men and women, into a great outdoor season," Harbour said.
With the indoor season complete, Baylor is set to fully begin the outdoor season March 19-20 at the Roadrunner Invitational in San Antonio, Texas.
For continued updates on the Baylor Track & Field team, follow the team's social media accounts all season long: @BaylorTrack.
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
Middle Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & FieldBaylor Cross Country: Coach David Barnett on the Baylor Coach's Show | August 20, 2025
Friday, August 22
Baylor Track & Field: NCAA Championship Highlights | June 11-14, 2025
Monday, June 16
Just the beginning for the Prince 📈
Monday, June 16
Always been in our corner 🫶
Saturday, June 14
