No. 11/8 T&F: Pettway Wins All-America Honors in Long Jump

No. 11/8 T&F: Pettway Wins All-America Honors in Long Jump

6/9/2022 11:53:00 PM | Track & Field

Francis, Miller and 4x400 advance to national finals

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            EUGENE, Ore. – It took her all six attempts to get there, but Baylor senior Caira Pettway became just the fifth long jumper in program history to cross the 21-foot mark and earned All-America honors Thursday night with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field.
            Pettway jumped from ninth to seventh on her sixth and final attempt, going a career-best 21-0 ½, and got the Baylor women on the board with two points for a tie for 30^th in the team standings.
            "I think Coach (Stacey) Smith told her, 'You've got one left, just pop one,''' Baylor head coach Michael Ford said. "That's the good thing about the long jump is that you can do it on your last jump."
            While Pettway nabbed her first All-America honors, she could have some company after Friday's finals. An indoor champion in the 800 meters last year, Aaliyah Miller made her first outdoor final by finishing third in her heat and seventh overall in 2:03.05, with sophomore Kavia Francis becoming BU's first 400-meter finalist in 16 years and also helping the 4x400 relay make it with an impressive 51.0-second split on the second leg.
            "I think the girls have been on a mission all year, especially in the fall when we talked about expectations for the team and trying to eventually be a podium team," Ford said. "And I said, it starts this year with them. We knew what we had coming back, and they just kind of put everything together. . . . And I think they're starting to believe in themselves, too."
            Even with three-time All-American Ackera Nugent out with an injury, the women's 4x100-meter relay team of Mariah Ayers, Pettway, Sydney Washington and Bria Bullard ran their second-fastest time of the year. They were fourth in their heat and 13^th overall with a time of 43.78 that ranks as the seventh-fastest in BU history.
            "Without Ackera, I was happy with our time," Ford said. "Mariah's been running anchor all year, and I moved her to first. And we had Bria Bullard on the end, and this was her first time at nationals. But, I think the loss of Ackera hurt us."
            Baylor also lost some potential points with Nugent having to scratch from the 100-meter hurdles semifinals as well. She finished third at last year's outdoor meet and won the 60-meter hurdles title at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships.
            Running out of Lane 9, Francis recorded the second-fastest 400-meter time in program history, finishing fourth in a blazing heat that produced the top two times. The first Baylor quarter-miler to make the finals since Angel Perkins placed ninth in 2006, Francis ran a 51.17-second time that was two hundredths of a second shy of her own school record.
            "I actually thought this race was better," Ford said. "She set the race up better, and I thought she was going to break that sub-51.0. She just ran a smart race. . . . Honestly, she didn't know she made the final until I came back. She was so disappointed, and I said, 'Hey, you know you made the final?' And she said, 'What, I did?'''
            Coming through the first lap of the 800 meters in the lead at 58.68, Miller "still had a little bit left in the tank coming in," Ford said. But, she was third in her heat and had the seventh-fastest qualifying time overall in 2:03.05.
            "I thought she ran great," Ford said of Miller, who won the 2021 NCAA Indoor title with a meet-record time of 2:00.69. "Getting that monkey off your back and making it to the finals was big, but she also ran her race. Last year, she came through really slow, like 60 or 61 (seconds). Today, I think she was like 58."
            After squeezing into the finals with a mark of 20-7 ¼, Pettway fell from eighth to ninth when Missouri's Ayele Gerken went 20-9 ¼ on her penultimate attempt. Down to her last jump, Pettway "popped a big one" with a career-best 20-0 ½ that jumped her to seventh.
            Baylor had some near-misses in other events, including a 12^th-place finish by Pettway in the 100 meters. But, the Bears' 4x400 relay of Ayers, Francis, Gontse Morake and Imaobong Uko ran a 3:29.03 to finish third in their heat and record the sixth-fastest qualifying time.
            "I think, coming off the 200, Mariah literally had 30 minutes to get ready for the relay," Ford said. "I thought she ran a smart race. She could probably go out a little bit harder, but Kavia got us back in the race, and she was running blind out of Lane 8. Ima let them get out on us a little bit in that first 200, but then she closed well for us at the end."
            Baylor has a difficult Lane 9 assignment in the men's 4x100 relay at 8:02 p.m. CDT Friday after registering a 38.99 time in the semifinal round. Nathan Ezekiel has a more favorable spot in Lane 4 of the 400-meter hurdles final at 9:27 p.m. and comes in with the nation's fastest time of the year (48.42).
            Friday's action will be broadcast by ESPN2, with ESPN handling Saturday's women's finals. Live results are available at 2022 NCAA Championships.

EUGENE, Ore. – Baylor track and field completed Day Two of the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field on Thursday. Caira Pettway highlighted the day in the few final rounds held on Thursday, winning All-America honors in the long jump. A trio of Baylor entries also made their way through to Saturday's finals, including Kavia Francis in the 400, Aaliyah Miller in the 800 and the 4x400-meter relay.

"I think the girls have been on a mission all year, especially in the fall when we talked about expectations for the team and trying to eventually be a podium team," said head coach Michael Ford. "And I said, it starts this year with them. We knew who we had coming back, and that just kind of put everything together."

Pettway needed a big jump on her last attempt, and she got it. After falling to ninth place in the final rounds of the long jump, Pettway became only the fifth Bear to ever cross the 21-foot mark, hitting 21-0 1/2 to secure her first-ever All-America honors. Alex Madlock also competed and finished 21^st with a 19-3½ jump.

"I think Coach (Stacey) Smith told her, 'You've got one left, just pop one,'" said Ford. "And that's the good thing about the long jump is that you can do it on your last jump."

Francis not only put up a time fast enough to advance to the final round of the 400 meters, but she also broke her own program record set at the Big 12 Championships mid-May. Her 51.17-second mark puts her No. 8 overall in the event for the championships on Saturday. Imaobong Uko also competed and finished in 20^th place after 51.89 seconds.

Miller led her heat of the 800 meters for about 600 meters and secured her spot in the finals after finishing in 2:03.05. Her final round will be contested on Saturday evening at 5:44 p.m. CT.

The Bears' 4x400-meter relay squad of Mariah Ayers, Francis, Gontse Morake and Uko ran a 3:29.03 to finish in sixth place overall and take the first time qualifying spot to Saturday's final round. The group will compete Saturday night at 6:51 a.m. CT.

The women's 4x100-meter relay, comprised of Mariah Ayers, Pettway, Sydney Washington and Bria Bullard put forward their second-fastest time of the season, finishing in 43.78 seconds. The mark also sets them as the seventh-fastest 4x1 squad in Baylor history.

Pettway also competed in the 100 meters, clocking a 11.18-second race to finish 12^th overall. Her time as a Baylor sprinter closes as the fastest to ever do it wearing the green and gold, setting the program record twice at the Big 12 Championships in May.

Nathaniel Ezekiel and the men's 4x100 get their shot at national gold in Day Three of competition beginning Friday at 8:02 p.m. CT.

Coverage of the NCAA Championships will continue across ESPN networks, with 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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