T&F: Haywood Wins Fourth-Straight Big 12 Title

Friday, February 27

Lubbock, Texas

Baylor

Big 12 Indoor Championship

T&F: Haywood Wins Fourth-Straight Big 12 Title

2/27/2026 10:15:00 PM | Track & Field

Bears finish 1-2 in pole vault, De Gannes third in long jump

BIG 12 DAY ONE RESULTS

LUBBOCK, Texas – Winning her fourth-consecutive Big 12 title, Baylor junior Molly Haywood cleared the last two heights on her final attempts and went 1-2 in the pole vault with teammate Tenly Kuhn on Friday at the Big 12 Indoor Championships at the Sports Performance Center.

Starting with the 2024 Big 12 Outdoor Championships, Haywood has won each of the last four conference titles, including a sweep of last year's championships. Kuhn finished second with a season-best mark of 14-5 ¼, with the vaulters contributing 18 of the Bears' 24 points on the first day of the meet.

Matching her finish from a year ago, sophomore Janae De Gannes finished third in the long jump with a season-best mark of 21-0 ¾ on her fifth jump of the day. She went over 21 feet on each of her last two jumps after making the finals with a jump of 20-10 ½.

The Bears also had some near misses, with freshmen Kingston Williams and Landon Freeman placing ninth in the men's long jump and high jump, respectively. Williams, who is 13^th through the first four events of the heptathlon with 2,978 points, made the finals in the long jump but wasn't able to improve on his best of 23-10 ¼.

Demario Prince broke his own school record in the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles with a 7.54 time that was the second-fastest qualifying time overall.

Baylor coach Michael Ford said his "big highlight, at least for Day 1," was Austen Diggs (20.72), Laurenz Colbert (20.76) and Bailey Hashmi (20.89) advancing to the finals in the men's 200 meters. That same trio narrowly missed the finals of the 60 meters, with Diggs placing ninth (6.73), Colbert 11^th (6.75) and Hashmi 14^th (6.77).

The Baylor men, scoreless on the opening day, also qualified Amon Malakwen for the 600-yard finals with a PR time of 1:09.30, just outside the program's top-10 all-time list.

On the women's side, the Bears lost some big points with Tiriah Kelley having to pull out of the 60 and 200 meters with the flu. She is No. 1 in the Big 12 and second nationally in the 200 with a school-record time of 22.53 that she ran two weeks ago on this same track.

Sophomores Hannah Lowe and Royaltee Brown both made the finals in the 60 meters with season-best times of 7.36 for the seventh- and eighth-fastest times I the prelims.

Logan Todorovich was another near miss in the pentathlon, finishing 10^th with a personal best of 3,927 points, the fourth-most in program history. She had season-best marks of 8.56 in the 60-meter hurdles and 19-7 in the long jump, but fell from fifth to 10^th with a disappointing time in the 800 meters.

"Solid day," Ford said. "Definitely want to start off with Molly and Tenly going 1-2 in the pole vault. We definitely needed those points to start off the meet right. Royaltee and Hannah making the finals (in the 60 meters) was important, especially learning that Tiriah had the flu and wouldn't be able to run.

"Overall, happy with the first day. Now, we'll get some rest and see what's next for tomorrow."

Saturday's Day 2 action begins at 10 a.m. with the first of the three final events in the heptathlon. Field events start at 1 p.m., with running finals at 2. The meet is streamed live on ESPN+, with live results available at Big 12 Indoor.

For the latest news on the Baylor track and field team all year long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorTrack.

- BaylorBears.com -