LUBBOCK, Texas – Baylor track and field had 12 individuals and two relays close the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships with All-Conference honors on Saturday evening at Texas Tech's Sports Performance Center.
 
In the team standings, BU women took fifth with 44 points and the men took 10^th with 31 points. Texas Tech won the men's team title and Texas won its final Big 12 Indoor women's title. The Bears produced a total of 19 All-Conference performances across the two-day meet.
 
THE RUNDOWN
In the 400 final that featured a Bear in both the men's and women's competition. Nathaniel Ezekiel was the bronze medalist in the men's event with a 45.73 race before Imaobong Uko took eighth in the women's race at 53.27 seconds.
 
Tiriah Kelley and Mariah Ayers took sixth and eighth in the women's 200 meters, with a personal-best mark of 23.23 for Kelley. In the men's race with two more Bears, Demar Francis was the bronze medalist after 20.60 seconds while Laurenz Colbert was fifth in 20.87.
 
Demario Prince equaled his personal best of 7.62 ran Friday in the preliminaries in the finals on Saturday, finishing fourth behind Houston in first and a pair of Texas Tech Red Raiders in second and third.
 
Alexis Brown totaled out at 13 added team points with her fourth-place finish in the women's 60-meter dash. Her 7.29 is the second-best mark of her career, after the 7.25 clocked in the preliminary round. The men's sprint saw Colbert in seventh for two team points behind a 6.75-second effort.
 
Makayla Long took her second-straight indoor All-Conference honors in the shot put, throwing 51-0 ¾ for one team point. Gary Moore Jr. added three team points for the Bears to tab a sixth-place finish with a personal-best chunk of 59-9.
 
The women's triple jump featured Koi Johnson with another Big 12 medal, as she found the final spot on the podium in eighth with a jump of 41-11 ¼.
 
Both 4x400-meter relays closed the meet with All-Conference status on Saturday. The women's squad of Uko, Kelley, Gontse Morake and Ayers finished fourth after 3:37.97, while Francis, Ezekiel, Kamden Jackson and De'montray Callis bettered the season-best time to 3:07.26 for sixth.
 
Freshman Sydney Smith jumped to a new personal best at 5-5 ¾ in the high jump for 13^th in the women's event, while Ukurugenzi Kojo cleared one bar for another PR at 6-7 for 14^th.
 
Ellie and Ryan Hodge both competed in their respective 3,000-meter races, with both finishing 31^st.
 
QUOTABLE
Head coach Michael Ford
On the meet…
"I am super proud of both teams today, the women placing fifth and the men's placing 10th. Nate [Ezekiel] and Demar [Francis] both had great performances today, placing third in 400m and 200m. Gary Moore's personal best in the shot put was huge for us. Coach Chak had a great meet scoring in the weights and shots on both sides. Laurenz [Colbert] had a good meet placing in both the 200m and 60m, especially after being out most of last year due to injuries. Alexis Brown continues to amaze me, placing in the long jump yesterday and today scoring in the 60m in fourth place. I am also happy that the 4x4 got a season-best today and really competed hard. I am looking forward to the outdoor season with both teams, which starts this upcoming weekend, and I am excited for the NCAA indoor selections this week.
 
UP NEXT
The Bears open the 2024 outdoor home schedule with the Baylor Invitational on Saturday, March 2.