T&F: Nugent, Fields III, Women’s 4x400 Win Conference Titles

Friday, February 25

Ames, Iowa

All Day

Baylor

Big 12 Indoor Championship

T&F: Nugent, Fields III, Women’s 4x400 Win Conference Titles

2/26/2022 9:57:00 PM | Track & Field

Baylor women finish the meet in fourth-place while men end in eighth

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            AMES, Iowa – Even without really being pushed in the final, Baylor sophomore Ackera Nugent posted her fifth sub-8.0-second time and won her first conference indoor title with a 7.91 clocking in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday at the Big 12 Indoor Championship.
            Nugent's facility-record time highlighted a day at the Lied Recreation Center that saw Baylor win two other conference championships with Howard Fields III in the men's 400 meters and the women's 4x400 relay of Kavia Francis, Iamaobong Uko, Aaliyah Miller and Mariah Ayers.
            "I am just so proud of the group overall," said first-year head coach Michael Ford. "I thought we competed well. We really fought for every point that we got today. . . . We'll start resting up to get some ready for outdoor and others ready for nationals in a couple weeks."
            The defending NCAA Indoor champion, Nugent was already a lock for the NCAA Indoor Championships that will be held March 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala. Her career-best time of 7.90 ranks fourth nationally, nine-hundredths of a second off LSU sophomore Alia Armstrong's national-leading 7.81.
            "I feel like I'm actually in a great form," Nugent said. "I'm staying healthy. And the fact that I'm still consistent (with my times) after a twisted ankle about three weeks ago, that's a good thing."
            After running 8.05 in the preliminary round, Nugent blitzed the other finalists with her fourth-straight finals time of 7.93 or lower. Texas senior Milan Young was almost three-tenths of a second behind her, finishing as the runner-up in 8.18, with Baylor senior Kennedy Bailey fifth in 8.36.
            "I'm a competitor, and I'm going to compete, regardless," Nugent said. "And I don't want to say I didn't have competition, because I did. All eight of us who made the finals, it shows that they've worked hard. All I have to do is just keep my composure with my own race and finish."
            The reigning Big 12 outdoor champion in the 400, Fields added his first indoor title with a PR time of 46.16 that ranks 16^th nationally and should qualify him for nationals.
            "Coach Ford always tells me to make sure I get out the first 50, so that's what I did," said Fields, who trailed Texas freshman Brian Herron at the 200-meter mark. "I would say (Kyle Gale) from Kansas State pushed me the first 200, for sure. After that, I just made sure that I stayed focused and ran my own race."
            After "very much sitting on the edge" of qualifying going into the Big 12 meet, Fields said, "I definitely solidified my spot for nationals."
            Sophomore Dillon Bedell finished third in his heat and fourth overall in 46.82, giving Baylor 14 of its 48 total points in the one event.
            "I did win, I did PR, but I definitely want to look for the bigger stages like nationals," Fields said. "I'm hoping to have my mind set on winning nationals as well."
            Fields also made sure the 4x400 relay squad punched its ticket, running a 44.91-second anchor leg and bringing the Bears home in second place with a season-best time of 3:04.60 that's ranked ninth nationally. Baylor's previous best was 3:06.23 at last month's Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Ky.
            After a good leadoff leg by Bedell, the handoff from Matthew Moorer to Nathaniel Ezekiel for the third leg was "a little messed up, a little shaky," Fields said. But Ezekiel, who also finished second in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:07.60 that ranks second all-time in program history, ran a strong 45.84-second leg to move the Bears from fourth to second in their heat.
            "The guy from Texas was a little too far ahead. I kind of ran out of real estate," Fields said of Texas winning in 3:04.19, "but I'll definitely get him at nationals."
            In the penultimate race, the Baylor women's 4x400 relay took a comfortable lead with Francis' opening leg of 53.53 and coasted to victory by more than two seconds over Texas Tech with a season-best time of 3:32.77 that ranks as the fourth-fastest in program history.
            "It was really exciting to be able to have another opportunity to defend our championship from last year and post a fast time for nationals," said Miller, who ran a 53.27-second split on the third leg.
            Beating their previous best by better than 1 ½ seconds, the Bears are on the bubble with a mark that's 21^st overall but 12^th-best among schools' No. 1 squads. The top 12 relay teams advance to nationals.
            Francis and Miller were the lone holdovers from last year's relay that won the Big 12 title in 3:31.90.
            A fifth-year senior who didn't try to defend her title in the 800 meters, Miller said it was good just to "come back and just be healthy and run with a bunch of people who are winning on and off the field. That's just really nice to be a part of something like that."
            In the field events, Alex Madlock snagged her second bronze medal, finishing third in the triple jump with a season-best mark of 43-3 that ranks 22^nd nationally; and Cole Hardan shattered a school record that had been in place for 36 years.
            Hardan finished seventh in the shot put with a throw of 59-7 that topped the previous record throw of 59-3 ½ set by Marvin Lewis at the Southwest Conference Indoor Championship in 1986.
            The Baylor women finished fourth with 75.5 points, while the men were eighth with 48, just three points behind Kansas.
            "Overall, I thought we had a good meet," Ford said. "Going into the season, I thought we'd get 50 points on the men's side, and we got 48. For the ladies, I thought we'd get fourth, and we did. I am really pleased."
            While the qualifiers will head to the NCAA Indoor Championships in two weeks, the outdoor season begins March 19 at the TCU Invitational in Fort Worth.

THE RUNDOWN
AMES, Iowa – Baylor track and field wrapped up the 2022 Big 12 Indoor Championship in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday. The Bears ended with seven in the top-three positions for their events.

Ackera Nugent ran a 7.91-second race in the women's 60-meter hurdles en route to her first indoor Big 12 Championship, while also setting the facility record at the Lied Recreation Center. Kennedy Bailey earned four points for the Bears with her fifth-place finish, running an 8.36-second race.

Howard (Trey) Fields III completed his Big 12 gauntlet with a 46.16 personal-best race in the men's 400 meters. Fields is now the defending champion for both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 Championships in the 400. Dillon Bedell just missed the podium, landing in fourth-place after a 46.82-second finish.

The women's 4x400 squad, comprised of Kavia Francis, Imaobong Uko, Aaliyah Miller and Mariah Ayers, finished in 3:32.77, over two seconds before the silver medalists from Texas Tech. That time sets the season-best for the women's 4x400 at Baylor, while also setting the fourth-fastest relay in school history.

The men's relay group that included Bedell, Matthew Moorer, Nathaniel Ezekiel and Fields finished their relay in second-place, while also setting the seventh-fastest 4x400 relay time in program history of 3:04.60.

Cole Hardan crushed the previous program record with a 59-7 throw. That previous record of 59-3.5, set by Marvin Lewis, has been in place since the Southwestern Conference meet in 1986. Mikayla Deshazer finished in ninth-place with a 47-10 ½ throw on her fifth attempt.

In his first conference meet, Ezekiel won a silver medal in the 600 yards. Ezekiel finished his race with a personal-best 1:07.60, enough to keep him in the same spot all-time at BU, now just over three tenths of a second behind Floyd Thompson's record set in 2000.

Alex Madlock won her second bronze medal of the meet with a 43-3 jump in the triple jump. Koi Johnson ended her day in 10^th, after jumping 41-3 ¼ on two separate attempts.

Moorea Long set a new personal-best in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-8 ½. That height is good enough for the fifth-best high jump performer in school history.

There were three athletes representing the Bears in the finals of the women's 60 meters, with Caira Pettway finishing in fourth-place in the event with a 7.32 personal-best time. Washington and Michaela Francois were sixth and seventh, respectively.

Isaiah Cunningham finished in the middle of the pack in the men's edition of the 60-meter dash, ending in fifth place with a 6.75-second race.

Uko and Francis finished fifth and sixth in the 400 meters, respectively, with Uko finishing in 53.29 seconds.

Freshman Johnny Brackins recorded a 10^th-place finish of 47-10 ½ in the triple jump, which ended his time in the preliminary rounds of the competition.

Elijah Morris finished the men's 60-meter hurdles in fifth-place, earning four points for the green and gold. Brackins had a few missteps, which led to an eighth-place finish in 8.23 seconds.

Ayers finished the 200 meters in fourth-place, running a 23.42 race and adding five team points to the Bears. Sydney Washington finished in eighth-place.

Ryan Day added his name to the program's all-time list in the 3,000 meters in spot No. 6, finishing in 8:16.40. On the women's side, Hayden Gold finished in 9:59.08 and Ellie Friesen wasn't too far behind with a 10:07.29 finish.

Freshman Taylor Whitfield put up a season-best 4:52.31 in the mile, finishing the race in ninth-place.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ackera Nugent won her first indoor conference championship in the 60-meter hurdles after a 7.91 race.
Trey Fields ran a personal-best 46.16-second race in the 400m to win the indoor Big 12 championship.
Alex Madlock finished third in the triple jump, making it two bronze medals in both jump events for the senior.
Caira Pettway finished in the fourth-place position in the 60-meter dash.
Nathaniel Ezekiel ran the second-fastest 600 yards time in program history with 1:07.60.
The women's 4x400 relay won gold with a season-best 3:32.77.

STAT OF THE MEET
59-7 – Shot put throw by Cole Hardan that crushed the program-record set in 1986.

TOP QUOTE
Michael Ford on the team's performance…
"I am just so proud of the group overall. I thought we competed well. We really fought for every point that we got today. For Ackera, it's always special to win your first indoor Big 12 title and set a facility record. Trey Fields also got his first indoor Big 12 title after winning outdoor last season. We'll start resting up to get some ready for outdoor and others ready for nationals in a couple weeks."

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