BATON ROUGE, La. – Due to inclement weather delays at the Bernie Moore Stadium, the Battle on the Bayou had to be cut short on the final day of competition. Baylor track & field still managed to earn nine top-10 finishes on its last day in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
THE RUNDOWN
Michaela Francois had a successful meet, earning a seventh place finish in the women's 100m. Her 11.32 (2.8m/s) mark ranks No. 9 in the NCAA this season. Francois was also a member of the 4x100 relay team that garnered a season-best 43.78 time. The squad of
Tiriah Kelley,
Hannah Lowe,
Alexis Brown and Francois earned a fifth place finish and a top-10 mark in Baylor program history.
Two Bears grabbed top-10 finish in the hurdles with
Mason Dossett coming away with a sixth place finish at 14.01 (5.3 m/s) in the 110mH and
Kaylah Braxton in 10
th in the 100mH at 14.26 (0.6m/s).
In the women's 400m,
Summer Sergeant and
Aaryona Kinchen led for the Bears with Sergeant earning a PR at 54.35 and a ninth place finish. Kinchen right behind her at 54.62 and in 10
th place.
In the men's 800m,
Amon Malakwen ran for a 1:48.80 mark, ranking No. 12 in the NCAA this season.
Leading in the field events were triple jumpers
Iyanna Webb and Isabella Copeland. Webb, a freshman standout, jumped for a fourth place finish at 41-8.5 (3.7 m/s), the 12
th best mark in the NCAA this season. Copeland finished in 11
th at 39-2.5 (2.0 m/s). In the men's triple jump,
William Sistruck finished 10
th at 45-1 (1.5 m/s).
Sydney Smith matched her season-best with a 5-5 mark and a seventh place finish in the high jump.
The meet was cut short before the men's and women's 4x400 relay teams could compete.
Competing at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin,
Molly Haywood and
Tenly Kuhn made waves in the women's pole vault. Haywood in her outdoor season debut lept for a new PR of 14-8, the No. 2 best mark in BU program history. Kuhn also earned a PR, her second one in back-to-back weeks, with a 14-4 mark to move her to fourth in BU history.
At the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Texas State,
Lillianna Ifft won the women's pole vault Sec. B with a PR 13-3.5 mark. On the men's side of the pole vault Sec. B,
Parker Brannon came away with an eighth place finish at 15-11.
MIKE ON THE MIC
"Besides the weather delays and the rain, I thought we performed pretty well," said head coach
Michael Ford. "The ladies 4x100 relay, we had the second-fastest two legs on there this weekend to have a season-best. Janae [De Gannes] yesterday was a highlight for me to jump a personal best in long jump. Sima [Lucero] did well in the 400 hurdles yesterday.
Michaela Francois had a good meet also, running 11.30 in the 100.
Other than that, I thought everything else was good. I thought the pole vaulters at the Texas Relays and at Texas State did well. Tenly PR'd again, Molly [Haywood] jumped 14-8 and Lillianna [Ifft] won at the Bobcat Invite. Overall, I thought we had a good meet. Due to the weather at the LSU meet, we didn't have a chance to run the relays, but overall we're just going to rest up. We got a couple of kids banged up this weekend, but that's just the nature of our sport. We'll get back to the drawing board on Monday and get them ready for the Florida Relays."
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor returns to Waco to prepare for the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Florida from April 4-5.
