NO SMALL LEAP
3/14/2025 11:51:00 PM | Track & Field
Former Florida transfer fulfills goal of winning a national championship
Jerry Hill, BaylorBears.com
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Stacey Smith has lost track of exactly how many text messages she has on her phone from Alexis Brown saying, "I want to be a national champion!"
After finishing fifth in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships and the USA Olympic Trials, Brown came back "with a lot of motivation" from last year.
"She was the top collegian at the Olympic Trials, and I told her, 'You're going to use that as motivation for next year,''' said Smith, Baylor's associate head coach. "I said, 'When you go to national indoor and you go to national outdoor, it will be nothing to you.'''
Competing on college track and field's biggest stage at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Brown put a huge exclamation on what's been a phenomenal indoor season, winning the program's first national championship in the long jump on Friday with a school- and facility-record mark of 22 feet, 7 ¾ inches.
"My goal all offseason, all year, was to bring home the national title," said Brown, a native Texan who transferred from Florida three years ago. "I think finishing fifth indoors, fifth outdoors, fifth at the Olympic Trials, I was like, 'I'm going to use that as motivation.' And then, I came out here and did it."
Although she was ranked third behind Florida's Anthaya Charlton and Tacoria Humphrey of Illinois, with a previous PR mark of 22-3 ¾, Brown came into the meet with confidence because "I knew it was going to take a 22 (foot jump), and I've jumped 22 feet more than any girl out here."
On Friday, she had more 22-foot jumps (four) than the rest of the field combined (three).
"I knew if I executed, and I just did what I knew I would do, that I was going to be able to bring home the win," she said.
It started with her first jump, when Brown moved up from the 13th spot in the rotation to the very first jump of the meet so that she could get a jump in before the prelims of the 60-meter dash.
"When they came up to me and asked if I wanted to be the first jumper, Coach Stacey and I were like, 'Yes!' because I knew I'd be fresh," said Brown, who soared to a mark of 22-5 ¼ that no one but her would top over the six rounds of the competition at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
"And that would give me a little more confidence going into the 60, where I didn't feel like I had to be so tense running it if I knew, 'Okay, if I go out there and do my first jump well, then I can just be more relaxed in the 60 and in your next jumps.' So, that's what I did, because I knew my second jump after running a 60 wasn't going to be my best jump. And you never want to risk it on the third jump, because you just never know what can happen."
After recording two of the four 22-foot jumps in the first three rounds, Brown put it even further out there on her first jump in the finals with a new school and facility record of 22-7 ¾ that essentially shut the door on the other remaining eight competitors.
"I could tell," Brown said of a winning jump that beat Humphrey, the runner-up, by a full six inches. "Sometimes, with me, I never know how far it is until I hear the crowd, or if it's a good jump, Coach Stacey is really happy. But when I looked at the pit, I was like, 'Okay, this is the furthest I've been in the competition.' So, I knew it was out there. I was just hoping they would give me the white flag (for a legal jump). And they did."
Smith said she didn't even see Brown's final jump, another 22-footer, because "at that point, I was just in tears."
"I'm so proud of her," said Smith, Baylor track and field's first female national champion when she won the outdoor triple jump in 1999. "Just watching everything that she has gone through, and to finally reap that reward, that's just a blessing in itself."
Brown becomes first NCAA champion since 2021, when Ackera Nugent (60 hurdles), Aaliyah Miller (800 meters) and pole vaulter KC Lightfoot all won national titles on the same day.
With junior Tenly Kuhn tying for seventh in the pole vault at 14-5 ¼, the Baylor women ended the opening day in sixth place with 11 points. Junior Tiriah Kelly narrowly missed a qualifying spot in the 200 meters, finishing 10th overall at 23.03 and just seven-hundredths of a second behind East Carolina's Kelly Ufodiama (22.96).
"Tiriah got 10th in her first national meet, so we have some positive going into the meet," Baylor head coach Michael Ford said. "I'm just looking forward to finishing up, getting some All-Americans and hopefully we'll get another national champion."
Just minutes after her first jump, Brown was in the blocks for the first heat in the 60 and earned a qualifying spot in the finals with a time of 7.18. Georgia's Kaila Jackson won the second heat with the fastest overall time of 7.11, with the eight finalists separated by just seven-hundredths of a second.
"When I was watching the second heat go, and the times popped up, I was like, 'Oh, they ran fast!''' Brown said. "And then, seeing that I made it to the finals, I was like, 'Oh my goodness.' For a 7.18 to be the cutoff time, that's fast. I just have to recover tonight, make sure I'm doing everything right and understand the job is not done. I still have the 60 to run."
On the men's side, the Bears sent two of their three runners to Saturday's finals. Ranked No. 1 in the 400 coming into the meet, Nathaniel Ezekiel recorded the fastest qualifying time at 45.44, while Demar Francis snuck in with the eighth-fastest time in the 200 meters at 20.70.
Sophomore Demario Prince finished one spot out of the finals for the 60-meter hurdles, placing ninth with a time of 7.60, just two-hundredths of a second out of sixth and nine-thousandths of a second behind LSU's Jahiem Stern (7.591) for the final qualifying spot.
On the final day of the meet, Brown will compete in the women's 60-meter finals at 2:10 p.m. CT Saturday. Ezekiel and Francis will run in their respective finals at 5:20 and 5:50 p.m. and will both run in the 4x400 relay final at 6:20.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Stacey Smith has lost track of exactly how many text messages she has on her phone from Alexis Brown saying, "I want to be a national champion!"
After finishing fifth in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships and the USA Olympic Trials, Brown came back "with a lot of motivation" from last year.
"She was the top collegian at the Olympic Trials, and I told her, 'You're going to use that as motivation for next year,''' said Smith, Baylor's associate head coach. "I said, 'When you go to national indoor and you go to national outdoor, it will be nothing to you.'''
Competing on college track and field's biggest stage at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Brown put a huge exclamation on what's been a phenomenal indoor season, winning the program's first national championship in the long jump on Friday with a school- and facility-record mark of 22 feet, 7 ¾ inches.
"My goal all offseason, all year, was to bring home the national title," said Brown, a native Texan who transferred from Florida three years ago. "I think finishing fifth indoors, fifth outdoors, fifth at the Olympic Trials, I was like, 'I'm going to use that as motivation.' And then, I came out here and did it."
Although she was ranked third behind Florida's Anthaya Charlton and Tacoria Humphrey of Illinois, with a previous PR mark of 22-3 ¾, Brown came into the meet with confidence because "I knew it was going to take a 22 (foot jump), and I've jumped 22 feet more than any girl out here."
On Friday, she had more 22-foot jumps (four) than the rest of the field combined (three).
"I knew if I executed, and I just did what I knew I would do, that I was going to be able to bring home the win," she said.
It started with her first jump, when Brown moved up from the 13th spot in the rotation to the very first jump of the meet so that she could get a jump in before the prelims of the 60-meter dash.
"When they came up to me and asked if I wanted to be the first jumper, Coach Stacey and I were like, 'Yes!' because I knew I'd be fresh," said Brown, who soared to a mark of 22-5 ¼ that no one but her would top over the six rounds of the competition at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
"And that would give me a little more confidence going into the 60, where I didn't feel like I had to be so tense running it if I knew, 'Okay, if I go out there and do my first jump well, then I can just be more relaxed in the 60 and in your next jumps.' So, that's what I did, because I knew my second jump after running a 60 wasn't going to be my best jump. And you never want to risk it on the third jump, because you just never know what can happen."
After recording two of the four 22-foot jumps in the first three rounds, Brown put it even further out there on her first jump in the finals with a new school and facility record of 22-7 ¾ that essentially shut the door on the other remaining eight competitors.
"I could tell," Brown said of a winning jump that beat Humphrey, the runner-up, by a full six inches. "Sometimes, with me, I never know how far it is until I hear the crowd, or if it's a good jump, Coach Stacey is really happy. But when I looked at the pit, I was like, 'Okay, this is the furthest I've been in the competition.' So, I knew it was out there. I was just hoping they would give me the white flag (for a legal jump). And they did."
Smith said she didn't even see Brown's final jump, another 22-footer, because "at that point, I was just in tears."
"I'm so proud of her," said Smith, Baylor track and field's first female national champion when she won the outdoor triple jump in 1999. "Just watching everything that she has gone through, and to finally reap that reward, that's just a blessing in itself."
Brown becomes first NCAA champion since 2021, when Ackera Nugent (60 hurdles), Aaliyah Miller (800 meters) and pole vaulter KC Lightfoot all won national titles on the same day.
With junior Tenly Kuhn tying for seventh in the pole vault at 14-5 ¼, the Baylor women ended the opening day in sixth place with 11 points. Junior Tiriah Kelly narrowly missed a qualifying spot in the 200 meters, finishing 10th overall at 23.03 and just seven-hundredths of a second behind East Carolina's Kelly Ufodiama (22.96).
"Tiriah got 10th in her first national meet, so we have some positive going into the meet," Baylor head coach Michael Ford said. "I'm just looking forward to finishing up, getting some All-Americans and hopefully we'll get another national champion."
Just minutes after her first jump, Brown was in the blocks for the first heat in the 60 and earned a qualifying spot in the finals with a time of 7.18. Georgia's Kaila Jackson won the second heat with the fastest overall time of 7.11, with the eight finalists separated by just seven-hundredths of a second.
"When I was watching the second heat go, and the times popped up, I was like, 'Oh, they ran fast!''' Brown said. "And then, seeing that I made it to the finals, I was like, 'Oh my goodness.' For a 7.18 to be the cutoff time, that's fast. I just have to recover tonight, make sure I'm doing everything right and understand the job is not done. I still have the 60 to run."
On the men's side, the Bears sent two of their three runners to Saturday's finals. Ranked No. 1 in the 400 coming into the meet, Nathaniel Ezekiel recorded the fastest qualifying time at 45.44, while Demar Francis snuck in with the eighth-fastest time in the 200 meters at 20.70.
Sophomore Demario Prince finished one spot out of the finals for the 60-meter hurdles, placing ninth with a time of 7.60, just two-hundredths of a second out of sixth and nine-thousandths of a second behind LSU's Jahiem Stern (7.591) for the final qualifying spot.
On the final day of the meet, Brown will compete in the women's 60-meter finals at 2:10 p.m. CT Saturday. Ezekiel and Francis will run in their respective finals at 5:20 and 5:50 p.m. and will both run in the 4x400 relay final at 6:20.
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Hurdles
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