T&F Lands Four Titles on Final Day of Big 12 Outdoor Championships

Thursday, May 9

Waco, Texas

Baylor

Big 12 Outdoor Championship

Michaela Francois winning Big 12 4x1 title

T&F Lands Four Titles on Final Day of Big 12 Outdoor Championships

5/11/2024 11:29:00 PM | Track & Field

Results Hill: Ezekiel Jumps for Joy in Title-Winning Performance

WACO, Texas – Baylor track and field closed out the home slate of the 2024 season at the Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium on Saturday night, in the third rain-delayed day of the three-day meet.

Taking four event titles, the Bears wasted no time getting to work on the track, when not sheltered during the nearly two-hour lightning delay.

THE RUNDOWN
The first event of the day led to the first championship of the day for Baylor, as freshman Molly Haywood secured her fourth-straight win, dating back to the Tom Jones Memorial April 12-13, to give the Bears the second sweep of the indoor and outdoor women's pole vault titles joining Annie Rhodes in 2017. Haywood cleared five straight bars to 14-5 ½. Also competing in the event, Tenly Kuhn went 13-5 ¾ for 10^th, a new personal best.

The women's 4x100-meter relay ran away with the title and the stadium record, posting a 43.16-second race with Tiriah Kelley, Kayla Hunt, Alexis Brown and Michaela Francois. That time falls third among all performances in program history, just behind the 2023 squad's marks from the NCAA Championships in Austin.

In just one of Demar Francis' stellar events on the day, the junior ran a personal-best 45.44 to win the men's 400-meter title by one-hundredth of a second. He becomes the first Bear to bring the outdoor championship back to "Quarter-Mile U" since Trey Fields in 2021. Francis returned in the 200 meters for a 20.38-second race for the bronze medal, another new personal best. Colbert was fifth in the event at 20.48.

While the scoreboard originally flashed with a sub-48 time, Nathaniel Ezekiel won his second-career 400-meter hurdle conference title behind a new personal-best 48-flat. With a new meet record and No. 2 national time, the two-time All-American retook his title directly from the 2023 champion and second-place finisher Caleb Dean from Texas Tech.

The Baylor men's 4x100-meter relay opened the meet hot with a program record, as Ricquan Graham, Laurenz Colbert, Kamden Jackson and De'montray Callis tabbed a 38.86-second race, beating the previous record in 2022 by one-hundredth of a second.

Tabbing another silver medal, the Bears quartet of Jackson, Francis, Colbert and Ezekiel put a 3:03.49-season best in the books of the men's 4x400 meters, led by Ezekiel's split of 44.40. The women also ended the meet with a medal in fifth, as Uko, Kelley, Hunt and Jasmine Gryne went 3:35.66.

Kelley added another trophy to the collection in the women's 200 final, crossing fifth at 22.86.

Taking bronze in her third-straight year with All-Conference honors, Koi Johnson landed the sixth-best jump in NCAA DI this season, a 44-1 ¼. Isabella Copeland competed and ended in 15^th place.

Colbert and Callis went 6-7 in the men's 100-meter timed final, matching at 10.31. Going to the thousandths, Colbert got the advantage at 10.303, while Callis was 10.309. Kayla Hunt added another all-conference honor for the Bears in the 100 meters, crossing eighth after 11.41 seconds.

Gryne was seventh in the women's 400-meter hurdles after a personal-best 58 seconds, a time that strengthens her resume as the sixth-best all-time at Baylor.

Landing just one spot out of medal contention, Ukurugenzi Kojo leaped to a PB mark in the men's high jump, crossing 6-10 ¾ in ninth place on his graduation day. In the women's event, Aïcha Moumin found 15^th position at 5-5 ¾.

With another ninth-place finish, Uko ran a 53.08 in the women's 400 just off the podium.

First-semester freshman Ruth Kimeli was 13^th in the women's 1,500 meters at 17:07, while Ellie Hodge finished 25^th in the final race on her home track.

Freshman Parker Brannon was 13^th in the men's pole vault, going 16-0 ¾ after two bars.

Makayla Long finished 13^th in her third event of the meet, throwing a 156-1 throw in the first flight.

Carter Cheek was 15^th overall in the men's 110-meter hurdles at 14.42.

Rachel Hickey ran a 2:07.54 time in the women's 800 meters for 16^th.

UP NEXT
The Bears await final selections to the NCAA DI West Regional Championships, held in Fayetteville, Ark., May 22-25.

- BaylorBears.com -