No. 11/8 T&F: Ezekiel and 4x1 Quartet Advance to National Finals

No. 11/8 T&F: Ezekiel and 4x1 Quartet Advance to National Finals

6/8/2022 11:23:00 PM | Track & Field

Prosper Nnamdi earns the first All-American honors of the championships for the Bears

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            EUGENE, Ore. – On a day when Baylor hoped to rack up some big points at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, freshman Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the javelin while the Bears got just two of their six entries on the track into Friday's finals.
            One of the highlights on Wednesday's opening day of the meet at Hayward Field was the men's 4x100 relay team of Laurenz Colbert, Isaiah Cunningham, Kamden Jackson and De'montray Callis finishing second in the final heat and beating Clemson by three thousandths of a second.
            Baylor got one of the automatic qualifying spots with a time of 38.981, barely edging Clemson (38.984) at the finish line. Third in the opening heat, Virginia Tech missed out on the final qualifying spot with a time of 38.987.
            "The goal for the season was to make it here," first-year Baylor head coach Michael Ford said. "This was the first time for pretty much all of them on the 4x1 to make it here. I just told them, we don't have to do anything special. We just have to do what we did at conference and at regionals, and we should be fine."
            Nnamdi and freshman Johnny Brackins both came in ranked second nationally in their respective events and legitimate threats to win national titles. But, Brackins fell more than two feet shy of his school-record mark (26-9 ¾), finishing 17^th in the long jump with a 24-6 ¼ on his first attempt.
            "From the two jumps I saw, he was just behind the board," Ford said. "When you give up six or seven inches in the long jump, it's going to hurt you, especially at this meet. He just never got on the board to do what he's been doing."
            After moving up to second place in the javelin with a throw of 253-3 on his final attempt in the opening round, Nnamdi was passed by three others in the finals and placed fifth with a mark of 257-11, less than a foot out of third place.
            "I know he's not happy with how he finished, especially coming in (No. 2)," Ford said. "But, it's a learning experience. He's an 18-year-old, 19-year-old kid. We've just got to get back to the drawing board and get ready for next year. He's got a couple more meets later on in the summer."
            The four points earned by Zaza's fifth-place finish has Baylor tied for 20^th in the team standings after the opening day.
            Baylor's other qualifier on the track was freshman Nathaniel Ezekiel in the 400-meter hurdles. Despite a couple stumbles over hurdles, Ezekiel finished second in his heat behind defending champion Sean Burrell of LSU and posted the fifth-fastest time in 49.44.
            "It was just not a clean race," Ford said, "but he got through and he gets to fight on Friday."
            Failing to advance were Cunningham in the 100 meters (10.27) and Brackins (13.76) and Elijah Morris (13.77) in the 110-meter hurdles semifinals.
            The day ended on a sour note, when the 4x400 relay was disqualified after a protest. Baylor anchor Dillon Bedell clipped USC's Johnnie Blockburger coming out of the final turn and then got edged out at the finish line by three hundredths of a second. Baylor ran 3:02.61 before being disqualified, third in its heat and the ninth-fastest time overall.
            Running on the relay for the first time since the Baylor Invitational two months ago, Howard Fields III had an opening leg of 45.8 and "set us up in good position," Ford said. Ezekiel was pulled from the relay after making the 400-meter hurdles finals, while Hasani Barr said he couldn't go "probably five minutes before we went out there."
            "Luckily, Trey was warmed up and ready to go," Ford said.
            Jayson Baldridge and Matthew Moorer both ran mid-45 in the two middle legs and got it to Bedell in third place. Bedell ran a 45.14-second split on the anchor leg, but it wasn't enough.
            "I don't think Dillon let up," Ford said. "I think once he passed (Blockburger), I don't know if he thought he was good, but I know the USC kid normally finishes strong."
            Taking the stage on Thursday, the Baylor women will open with the 4x100 relay at 7:32 p.m. CDT. The Bears also have entries in the 100 (Caira Pettway), 200 (Mariah Ayers), 400 (Kavia Francis and Imaobong Uko), 800 meters (Aaliyah Miller) and 400-meter hurdles (Gontse Morake), along with the 4x400 relay and Pettway and Alex Madlock in the long jump.

EUGENE, Ore. – Baylor track and field completed Day One of the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field on Wednesday. Nathaniel Ezekiel and the 4x100-meter relay both advanced to Friday's final round of competition and Baylor had its first All-America honor awarded.

The men's 4x100-meter relay got the day started for the Bears, as Laurenz Colbert, Isaiah Cunningham, Kamden Jackson and De'montray Callis finished second in their heat with a time of 38.99 seconds. They advance to the national finals on Friday, to be held at 8:02 p.m. CT.

Ezekiel finished second in his heat of the 400-meter hurdles, qualifying to the finals with a time of 49.44 seconds. The final round of the 400 hurdles will be contested on Friday evening at 9:27 p.m. CT.

Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi earned his first All-America honors in the javelin throw on Wednesday, finishing the event in fifth place with a mark of 257-11. Three of the top-four finishers in the event recorded new personal-bests in the competition.

Cunningham had a strong showing in the 100-meter dash but fell short of the finals-qualifying mark of 10.18 with his mark of 10.27 seconds.

Johnny Brackins and Elijah Morris finished back-to-back in the 110-meter hurdles, ending in 19^th and 20^th, respectively. Shortly after, Brackins made his way to the long jump pit, where he recorded a 17^th-place finish with 24-6¼ jump on his first attempt.

The 4x400-meter relay was disqualified due to an impeding call on the last turn of the anchor leg. The Bear's 4x4 relay year closes with a season-best mark of 3:02.18 at the preliminary round two weeks ago.

The Baylor women get their start at the championships beginning at 7:32 p.m. CT with the 4x100-meter relay.

Coverage of the NCAA Championships will continue across ESPN networks, with Thursday's competition on ESPNU, Friday on ESPN2 and Saturday on ESPN. A schedule of broadcast information broken down by event can be found here.

Live results can be followed throughout the meet online, and tickets can be purchased either at the stadium or online.

For the latest news on the Baylor track and field team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorTrack.

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