Friday, March 11
Birmingham, Ala.
All Day
Baylor
vs
NCAA Indoor Championships
T&F Readies for NCAA Indoor Championships
3/10/2022 4:58:00 PM | Track & Field
Bears send 10 student-athletes to the meet
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Going into his first indoor season as head coach, one of Michael Ford's goals was taking a bigger group to this year's NCAA Indoor Championships, which starts Friday and Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
And while it will be hard to match last year's school-record three individual national champions, the Baylor track and field teams do have strength in numbers.
In addition to sophomore Ackera Nugent returning to defend her title in the 60-meter hurdles, the Bears have freshman Johnny Brackins in the long jump, senior Howard Fields III in the 400 meters, junior Mariah Ayers in the women's 200 meters and both 4x400-meter relays.
"We wanted to have a bigger representation than we did last year, especially on the men's side, where we only had (pole vaulter) KC Lightfoot. He was the lone one," Ford said of the 2021 national champion that qualified for the Olympics after turning pro. "You've got the men's relay team coming back, and they haven't been there since COVID. And they didn't get a chance to run the last time they went to nationals (in 2020) in Albuquerque."
Like Nugent a year ago, Brackins is a true freshman making his NCAA Championship debut. A versatile athlete who also competed in the triple jump and 60-meter hurdles, Brackins goes into the meet as a long shot to make the finals with a mark of 25 feet, 8 inches that is tied for 15th.
His goal going in is to break the school record of 26-1 ¾ set 30 years ago by Lee Miles. Since seven of the 16 qualifiers have gone 26 feet, it may take that for Brackins to make the finals.
"I think in some of my past meets, I haven't executed how I needed to," said Brackins, who had his PR in winning the Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Ky., six weeks ago. "I still want to set the school record, I'm not too far from it, actually. . . . I definitely have it in me to jump something crazy. I just have to get on the board and carry it through the whole competition. But, it's definitely in me."
A Missouri state champion in the long jump, triple jump and 110-meter hurdles at Lee's Summit High School, has a "quiet kind of confidence," Ford said.
"I actually watched him compete in Oregon at the high school national championships, and he just impressed me," Ford said of Brackins, who was committed to USC before the coach left to take the head job at Georgia. "It's a rare event where you can do long and triple and the hurdles, and he was successful in all three of them.
"I don't videotape a lot of the jumps at high school meets. But, for him, I videotaped all six jumps in the triple. I sent it to (associate women's coach Stacey Smith) and said, 'Hey, we've got to get him.'''
Brackins was actually a high school teammate of Lightfoot's at Lee's Summit, where he also tried the 200, 400 and 4x400 relay and even took one shot at the 300-meter hurdles. But, he never jumped in with Lightfoot in the pole vault.
"That was never on the list," he said. "I'll let the crazies do that. I never tried."
While Ayers earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the 4x100 relay as the anchor leg at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, the junior sprinter is making her debut in an individual event. Outside of the top 16 after the conference meets, Ayers only got a spot when five ahead of her dropped out of the race.
"I'm just going to go out there and try to (run a personal best), just trying to see where I'm at," said Ayers, who's tied for 14th in the 200-meter field with an adjusted time of 23.25. Kentucky's Abby Steiner is the favorite going in with a time of 22.09.
"I feel like I could (compete with the top runners). I surprise myself a lot, so I won't until I get there, honestly."
Ford said Ayers gained confidence last year with top-five finishes in the 200 at the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
"I think her indoor season probably would have gone a little better (last year), but she was dealing with COVID and she was also hurt," Ford said. "This year, I think she's been really locked-in on being better. I also think the 4x400 has been helping her with her 200, to get her stronger at the end of the race. But, she's really been locked-in."
Ayers will also anchor the 4x400 relay that won the Big 12 Indoor title with a time of 3:32.77. She will be joined by Kavia Francis, Imaobong Uko, with either Demitra Carter or Gontse Morake expected to fill in for Aaliyah Miller.
"We're trying to get the school record," Ayers said of the 3:30.6 record time. "I think we have a chance, honestly, but we just want to go out there and compete."
Fields is also in two events, winning the 400 at the Big 12 Indoor with a personal-best time of 46.16 and anchoring the 4x400 relay to a runner-up time of 3:04.60 that ranks seventh all-time in program history and ninth in the nation. The other relay legs for the men's 4x400 are Dillon Bedell, Matthew Moorer and freshman Nathaniel Ezekiel.
"Going into the season, based on what we had back from last year's team, I thought we could run 3:03, 3:04," Ford said. "Every track meet, we might have had three guys that ran really well and one guy that didn't. So, I said, 'Hey, this is the last opportunity that we could have.' And they all just kind of put it together. I still think we have probably another second, maybe a second and half in there, if we do things right."
Nugent also won a Big 12 title in the 60-meter hurdles and is ranked fourth this year with a school-record time of 7.89 seconds. She's chasing LSU sophomore Alia Armstrong, who's ranked No. 1 with a time of 7.81 that she ran at last month's Tyson Invitational.
"If Johnny hits it right, she should be top eight," Ford said of the team's chances this week. "I think pretty much everyone has to run their very best to make top eight, and I think it's doable. On the oval, it honestly depends on the lane assignments. The bank at Birmingham isn't really high, so you really have to go a little bit harder than you probably want to, but I think their chances are great if they execute their races properly."
WACO, Texas – Baylor track and field is set to compete at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday and Saturday at the Birmingham Crossplex.
Ackera Nugent, Howard Fields III, Mariah Ayers, Johnny Brackins, Dillon Bedell, Matthew Moorer, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Kavia Francis, Imaobong Uko and Aaliyah Miller all qualified for the meet, with Jayson Baldridge, Hasani Barr, Demitra Carter and Gontse Morake joining as relay substitutes.
"One of the goals this year was to have a bigger representation than we did last year, especially on the men's side where we only had KC Lightfoot," said head coach Michael Ford. "Now, you put Johnny Brackins in the long jump and Trey Fields doing the 400, both for their first time. On the women's side, you have Ackera Nugent coming back as a defending national champion, and Mariah Ayers making her first national championship in an individual race."
Nugent enters the 60-meter hurdles as the defending national champion and currently holds the No. 4 mark in NCAA competition this year. The sophomore already improved her mark from last year by two-hundredths of a second and broke her own program record twice this year.
Fields III, hot off his Big 12 Championship in the 400 meters, enters the race with the No. 16 seed. Ayers is set to run in the 200-meter dash, qualifying with 23.18 seconds as the No. 14 seed. Brackins is in the national meet his freshman season with a 7.82 mark set in Kentucky the third week of the season.
The men's 4x400 squad of Bedell, Moorer, Ezekiel and Fields III will take their conference silver-medal winning time of 3:04.06 into the meet as the No. 9 seed.
The women's 4x400 will feature Francis, Uko and Ayers, with Miller's spot to be filled by either Carter or Morake, which will be determined closer to race time. The women's 3:32.77 qualifies as the No. 12 seed.
The championship meet will be streamed on ESPN3 from the Birmingham CrossPlex. ESPNU will re-air the competition Sunday night, March 13. Ticket information, a meet schedule and live results are all available online.
For the latest news on the Baylor track and field team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorTrack.
Baylor NCAA Schedule
Friday, March 11
4:00 p.m. – Men's Long Jump (Brackins)
4:25 p.m. – Men's 400m Semifinal (Fields III)
7:55 p.m. – Women's 60m Hurdles Semifinals (Nugent)
8:25 p.m. – Women's 200m Semifinals (Ayers)
Saturday, March 12
4:20 p.m. – Men's 400m Final (Fields III)
5:20 p.m. – Men's 4x400m Relay
7:40 p.m. – Women's 60m Hurdles (Nugent)
7:50 p.m. – Women's 200m Finals (Ayers)
8:20 p.m. – Women's 4x400 Relay
Baylor Bear Insider
Going into his first indoor season as head coach, one of Michael Ford's goals was taking a bigger group to this year's NCAA Indoor Championships, which starts Friday and Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
And while it will be hard to match last year's school-record three individual national champions, the Baylor track and field teams do have strength in numbers.
In addition to sophomore Ackera Nugent returning to defend her title in the 60-meter hurdles, the Bears have freshman Johnny Brackins in the long jump, senior Howard Fields III in the 400 meters, junior Mariah Ayers in the women's 200 meters and both 4x400-meter relays.
"We wanted to have a bigger representation than we did last year, especially on the men's side, where we only had (pole vaulter) KC Lightfoot. He was the lone one," Ford said of the 2021 national champion that qualified for the Olympics after turning pro. "You've got the men's relay team coming back, and they haven't been there since COVID. And they didn't get a chance to run the last time they went to nationals (in 2020) in Albuquerque."
Like Nugent a year ago, Brackins is a true freshman making his NCAA Championship debut. A versatile athlete who also competed in the triple jump and 60-meter hurdles, Brackins goes into the meet as a long shot to make the finals with a mark of 25 feet, 8 inches that is tied for 15th.
His goal going in is to break the school record of 26-1 ¾ set 30 years ago by Lee Miles. Since seven of the 16 qualifiers have gone 26 feet, it may take that for Brackins to make the finals.
"I think in some of my past meets, I haven't executed how I needed to," said Brackins, who had his PR in winning the Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Ky., six weeks ago. "I still want to set the school record, I'm not too far from it, actually. . . . I definitely have it in me to jump something crazy. I just have to get on the board and carry it through the whole competition. But, it's definitely in me."
A Missouri state champion in the long jump, triple jump and 110-meter hurdles at Lee's Summit High School, has a "quiet kind of confidence," Ford said.
"I actually watched him compete in Oregon at the high school national championships, and he just impressed me," Ford said of Brackins, who was committed to USC before the coach left to take the head job at Georgia. "It's a rare event where you can do long and triple and the hurdles, and he was successful in all three of them.
"I don't videotape a lot of the jumps at high school meets. But, for him, I videotaped all six jumps in the triple. I sent it to (associate women's coach Stacey Smith) and said, 'Hey, we've got to get him.'''
Brackins was actually a high school teammate of Lightfoot's at Lee's Summit, where he also tried the 200, 400 and 4x400 relay and even took one shot at the 300-meter hurdles. But, he never jumped in with Lightfoot in the pole vault.
"That was never on the list," he said. "I'll let the crazies do that. I never tried."
While Ayers earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the 4x100 relay as the anchor leg at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, the junior sprinter is making her debut in an individual event. Outside of the top 16 after the conference meets, Ayers only got a spot when five ahead of her dropped out of the race.
"I'm just going to go out there and try to (run a personal best), just trying to see where I'm at," said Ayers, who's tied for 14th in the 200-meter field with an adjusted time of 23.25. Kentucky's Abby Steiner is the favorite going in with a time of 22.09.
"I feel like I could (compete with the top runners). I surprise myself a lot, so I won't until I get there, honestly."
Ford said Ayers gained confidence last year with top-five finishes in the 200 at the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
"I think her indoor season probably would have gone a little better (last year), but she was dealing with COVID and she was also hurt," Ford said. "This year, I think she's been really locked-in on being better. I also think the 4x400 has been helping her with her 200, to get her stronger at the end of the race. But, she's really been locked-in."
Ayers will also anchor the 4x400 relay that won the Big 12 Indoor title with a time of 3:32.77. She will be joined by Kavia Francis, Imaobong Uko, with either Demitra Carter or Gontse Morake expected to fill in for Aaliyah Miller.
"We're trying to get the school record," Ayers said of the 3:30.6 record time. "I think we have a chance, honestly, but we just want to go out there and compete."
Fields is also in two events, winning the 400 at the Big 12 Indoor with a personal-best time of 46.16 and anchoring the 4x400 relay to a runner-up time of 3:04.60 that ranks seventh all-time in program history and ninth in the nation. The other relay legs for the men's 4x400 are Dillon Bedell, Matthew Moorer and freshman Nathaniel Ezekiel.
"Going into the season, based on what we had back from last year's team, I thought we could run 3:03, 3:04," Ford said. "Every track meet, we might have had three guys that ran really well and one guy that didn't. So, I said, 'Hey, this is the last opportunity that we could have.' And they all just kind of put it together. I still think we have probably another second, maybe a second and half in there, if we do things right."
Nugent also won a Big 12 title in the 60-meter hurdles and is ranked fourth this year with a school-record time of 7.89 seconds. She's chasing LSU sophomore Alia Armstrong, who's ranked No. 1 with a time of 7.81 that she ran at last month's Tyson Invitational.
"If Johnny hits it right, she should be top eight," Ford said of the team's chances this week. "I think pretty much everyone has to run their very best to make top eight, and I think it's doable. On the oval, it honestly depends on the lane assignments. The bank at Birmingham isn't really high, so you really have to go a little bit harder than you probably want to, but I think their chances are great if they execute their races properly."
WACO, Texas – Baylor track and field is set to compete at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday and Saturday at the Birmingham Crossplex.
Ackera Nugent, Howard Fields III, Mariah Ayers, Johnny Brackins, Dillon Bedell, Matthew Moorer, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Kavia Francis, Imaobong Uko and Aaliyah Miller all qualified for the meet, with Jayson Baldridge, Hasani Barr, Demitra Carter and Gontse Morake joining as relay substitutes.
"One of the goals this year was to have a bigger representation than we did last year, especially on the men's side where we only had KC Lightfoot," said head coach Michael Ford. "Now, you put Johnny Brackins in the long jump and Trey Fields doing the 400, both for their first time. On the women's side, you have Ackera Nugent coming back as a defending national champion, and Mariah Ayers making her first national championship in an individual race."
Nugent enters the 60-meter hurdles as the defending national champion and currently holds the No. 4 mark in NCAA competition this year. The sophomore already improved her mark from last year by two-hundredths of a second and broke her own program record twice this year.
Fields III, hot off his Big 12 Championship in the 400 meters, enters the race with the No. 16 seed. Ayers is set to run in the 200-meter dash, qualifying with 23.18 seconds as the No. 14 seed. Brackins is in the national meet his freshman season with a 7.82 mark set in Kentucky the third week of the season.
The men's 4x400 squad of Bedell, Moorer, Ezekiel and Fields III will take their conference silver-medal winning time of 3:04.06 into the meet as the No. 9 seed.
The women's 4x400 will feature Francis, Uko and Ayers, with Miller's spot to be filled by either Carter or Morake, which will be determined closer to race time. The women's 3:32.77 qualifies as the No. 12 seed.
The championship meet will be streamed on ESPN3 from the Birmingham CrossPlex. ESPNU will re-air the competition Sunday night, March 13. Ticket information, a meet schedule and live results are all available online.
For the latest news on the Baylor track and field team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorTrack.
Baylor NCAA Schedule
Friday, March 11
4:00 p.m. – Men's Long Jump (Brackins)
4:25 p.m. – Men's 400m Semifinal (Fields III)
7:55 p.m. – Women's 60m Hurdles Semifinals (Nugent)
8:25 p.m. – Women's 200m Semifinals (Ayers)
Saturday, March 12
4:20 p.m. – Men's 400m Final (Fields III)
5:20 p.m. – Men's 4x400m Relay
7:40 p.m. – Women's 60m Hurdles (Nugent)
7:50 p.m. – Women's 200m Finals (Ayers)
8:20 p.m. – Women's 4x400 Relay
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