The No. 25 men’s and No. 17 women’s track and field teams are competing at the 2013 Michael Johnson Dr Pepper Classic on Saturday. The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Hart-Patterson Track Complex in Waco.

The event will feature top runners from 16 schools, including four schools in the Big 12.

The schedule begins with field events at 9:30 a.m. and concludes with evening running events, which will begin at 5 p.m. There will also be afternoon running events that will overlap the field events.

“Well, it’s always a special weekend and it’s getting more and more special every year,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “This is our last tune-up before the Big 12 meet.”

Baylor is coming off a strong showing at the Texas Invitational. Baylor took wins in three events, and junior thrower Erin Atkinson broke the school record in the hammer throw with a distance of 213-2.

Senior thrower Skylar White won the shot put and discus competitions at the same meet, marking this the second time she has done that this season. She recorded a 181-0 mark for the discus, which ranks No. 4 nationally. White also throwing the shot put 55-2, which is a season-best thus far. However, she is looking to get better at the shot put.

“The discus is always number one in my heart,” White said “I feel like the discus is going well. It’s better than shot put, but right now I’m coming along in the shot put. I have everything that I need to improve and get better in shot put, so I need to stop putting it to the side and go ahead and do it.”

Along with the shot put and discus, the field events include javelin, hammer throw, pole vault, long jump, high jump and triple jump.

Atkinson’s record-breaking performance ranks No. 7 nationally. Senior thrower Jasmine Adekoya also will take part in hammer throws.

Junior sprinter Blake Heriot along with senior sprinter Justin Allen led the men’s team in the sprints. Heriot ran a 10.45, a personal best, in the 100-meter dash to take second place. He also got second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.86. He will also run in the 400-meter dash this weekend.

“I’m excited because it’s the 400 again and I’ve been looking good in practice this whole week, and we’ve got a big one, a big practice today and I’ll look even better,” Heriot said.

Baylor is finished in the top five, in several other sprinting competitions. In the women’s 4X100 relay, senior sprinter Idia Omogiate, freshman sprinter Justise Dayries, sophomore sprinter Ashley Fields and junior sprinter Justine Charbonnet finished in second place with a time of 45.37.

Sophomore distance runner Rachel Johnson was fifth in the 1,500 with a 4:36.56 time.

Baylor will hope to improve before beginning the Big 12 Outdoor Championships that run from May 3 to May 5.

The Baylor Track and Field Team practices at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex on Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

After a successful meet at the Texas Relays last weekend, the No. 23 men’s and No 14 women’s track and field teams turn their attention to the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla.; home of the relay teams that bettered the Bears twice last weekend. This will be the team’s first Florida Relay.

“Relay meets are always a chance to have a little fun,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “We’re looking forward to it.”

The Gators host the event at the Percy Beard Track. Both the Gator’s men’s and women’s teams earned titles in the 4×400 meter relay in Austin last weekend, although the 4×4 is historically known to be an event dominated by the Bears.

“It’s a good group and we’re excited about the opportunity,” Harbour said. “It’s the first time we’ve ever been to the Florida Relays, so we need to do well, represent well, and hopefully it will be a great experience. We’re on good upswing right now with a lot of our athletes recovering from a long indoor season.”

The women’s team advanced to the finals at Texas Relays and placed seventh. The team of junior Idia Omogiate, freshman Ashley Fields, senior Brittany Ogunmokun and sophomore Raena Rhone posted a time of 3:32.12, the best time for Baylor in this event since 2011. Omogiate said the team competed well and is excited for this weekend. She will compete in the 4×100 and the 4×400.

“I’ve never been to the Florida Relays, so I’m really excited,” Omogiate said. “I’m really excited to go run the relays, especially since, like Coach Harbour said, one day it’s individual events and the next day you only have to worry about the relays.”

The men’s team, composed of junior Blake Heriot, seniors Joe Barb and Drew Seale and freshman Gary Richard, placed third at the Texas Relays. They were the first team to handoff the baton, but dropped to third coming out of the second leg’s opening turn. The time posted was 3:03.90, the Bears’ best time of the season.

“We had a taste of what the Florida Gators can do and we respect them,” Barb said. “But we feel like we’ve put in enough work here that we’re going to win it all. And nationals are going to be even more interesting.”

The NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. are one month away. With each meet, the team strives to better their times and prepare for nationals.

“We have high hopes for nationals,” Barb said. “We feel like we’ve put in enough work that it’s our time to shine and bring the Baylor tradition back of winning the 4×4… Each one of us try to get better individually so we can each drop a second and hit that mark.”

Liberty freshman Lauren Cook participates in the high jump competition during the Michael Johnson Dr. Pepper Classic held at the Hart-Patterson Track Complex. Baylor Track and Field finished with an overall 11 wins.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

The Bears join athletes from a variety of levels and states this week in Austin for the 86th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, the second-largest track and field meet in the U.S.
The Texas Relays are held at the University of Texas. Events are held at the high school, college, university and invitational levels.

Baylor has a history of solid performances at the Texas Relays, especially with regard to the relay teams. Last year, the men’s team earned the title in one of the sprint medley relays.

Senior thrower Skylar White, a junior at the time, took home first place in the shot put to add to Baylor’s strong showing.

“We’re excited about it,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “It’s always a crazy weekend. Texas Relays is bigger than it needs to be. We’re hoping it all goes smooth.”

White returns to the Texas Relays this week and said she plans to win the title again. Last weekend at the Baylor Quad Invitational, she doubled up with wins in both the shot put with a throw of 52-6 and the discus with a throw of 177-0. These marks are fifth and second in the NCAA, respectively. White will be competing in both events again this week.

“I’m expecting to win,” White said. “Always expecting to win anywhere I go, no matter what, especially at Texas Relays. And since I didn’t get a chance to go when I was in high school, I’m always excited to go now that I’m in college.”

White said her previous performances at Texas Relays are part of what gives her confidence as she looks to compete this year.

Also competing with a successful past weekend under his belt is freshman jumper Felix Obi. Earlier this season, he set the school record in the indoor triple jump three separate times.
He carried this momentum into the outdoor season during his first outdoor meet as a Bear last weekend. Obi set the outdoor record for Baylor in the triple jump with a leap of 50-9.25, a distance that surpassed that of the previous record holder Charles Powell, who jumped 49-3.5 in 1984.

“Honestly, I’m expecting a good performance again,” Obi said. “This season is really just testing me to see where I can be.”

Obi’s triple jump ranks him No. 5 in the NCAA. He also ranks No. 4 in the long jump with a leap of 24-6.25

Senior sprinter Everett Walker returns to the track and field scene for the Texas Relays after being out due to an injury. Walker was injured the week before the NCAA Indoor Championships and had to have an alternate run in the 4×400 relay.

Though relay teams are not finalized until 30 minutes before the events, many of the usual athletes will be going to Austin.

For the men’s team, athletes who have been known to run the 4×400 are going. This includes senior sprinters Drew Seale, Justin Allen and Walker, junior Blake Heriot, and freshmen Isaiah Duke and Richard Gary.

The women’s 4×400 team could consist of senior sprinters Brittany OgunMokun and Christina Holland, junior Michelle Nwachukwa, and sophomore Ashley Fields.

Each of these athletes will go to the meet in addition to the possible alternates, but the final lineup is still being formulated. Decisions will be made after the final practice before the Texas Relays.

The Texas Relays will continue until Saturday.

The Baylor Track and Field Team practices at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex on Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

The track and field team is hosting its first home meet of the season in the Baylor Quad Invitational today, an all-day outdoor event at the Hart-Patterson Track & Field Complex.

The invitational meet will start at 11 a.m. with running events commencing at 1:30 p.m. The meet concludes at 5:20 this evening with the 4×400-meter relays.

After a successful indoor season, the Bears began their outdoor season last weekend at the TCU Invitational. There, the team claimed twelve titles and recorded multiple personal bests. This weekend, the athletes have an opportunity to take a break from travel and enjoy a meet at their own facility.

“It’s always nice to be at home,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “We’ve always had good performances here. I don’t think we’ve ever walked away from a meet where we felt that it was just bad. We’ve always felt pretty good.”

In the previous years, Baylor typically served as a host for one meet per season. Today’s meet will mark the first of three home meets this season.

“We’re definitely excited to be at home versus traveling somewhere,” Harbour said.

The Baylor Quad Invitational meet will host competitors from North Texas, SFA, TCU, and the women’s squad of SMU. Currently in USTFCCCA [The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association] rankings, the Bears hold 13th place for the women’s team and 28th for the men.

Senior hurdler Christina Holland is first in the nation for the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.17 seconds, a time which earned her the title at the TCU meet. However, Holland said that remaining number one is not her main goal. She said she is mainly looking to earn a title at the Big 12 meet.

“I’ve got bigger goals,” Holland said. “I really don’t want to jinx myself, but my goal this season for outdoors and for the Big 12 Championships, for home, for my senior year I would like nothing more than to win the 400 hurdles. I know I have to do a lot to get there. I have to stay focused and can’t get distracted with rankings. I just need to keep pushing myself and trusting my faith.”

Approaching this meet, Baylor’s throwers sit well in the rankings. Junior thrower Erin Atkinson placed first in the hammer throw event with a school-record toss of 63.32m, giving her the second-best mark in the NCAA this season.

Senior thrower Skylar White took top honors in the discus with a throw of 53.44m, which ranks third in the country this season. For the men, sophomore thrower Desmine Hilliard placed third with the second-best mark in school history at 55.51m.

Starting his first season with the Bears well, junior thrower Blake Mayberry placed first in the javelin event with a throw of 63.27m.

Both of Baylor’s 4×400-meter relays earned titles as well last weekend. The women’s relay team consists of sprinters Idia Omogiate, Ashley FieldsFields, Holland, Raena Rhone and is sixth in the nation with a time of 3:41.49. The men’s relay team of sprinters Justin Allen, Isaiah Duke, Joe Barb and Richard Gary is ranked third nationally after running the event in 3:10.06.

Running along current Bear track athletes, former Baylor All-Americans Marcus Boyd, Zwede Hewitt and Jeremy Wariner will also be running this weekend. Last month, Wariner and Boyd took first and second, respectively, at the USA Indoor Championships for the 400-meter event.

After hosting today’s meet, Baylor will travel to Austin next week to participate in the Texas Relays, which begin on March 27.

Despite a noticeable size disadvantage, Tiffani McReynolds has continued her pursuit of greatness in hurdles since being drawn to the sport in elementary school.
Jed Dean | Lariat Photo Editor

Staff Writer
Waco Tribune-Herald via Associated Press

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tiffani McReynolds turned in the best race of her career in the 60-meter hurdles, but it still wasn’t quite enough to claim a national championship.

Nevertheless, second place isn’t too bad.

The Baylor junior claimed the second silver medal of her career at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday, posting a career-best time of 7.96. Clemson’s Brianna Rollins, the national leader coming into the meet, zipped to the title in a meet-record 7.79 clocking.

“I feel like I won, because I hit the time I was working to hit all season,” McReynolds said. “I wanted to be under eight seconds, so I’ll take 7.96. That’s amazing. I feel marvelous.”

On the men’s side, the Bears’ 4×400 relay team produced its best time of the season, as the foursome of Blake Heriot, Justin Allen, Drew Seale and Richard Gary notched a 3:07.59 clocking. But that was good enough only for sixth. Still, the school renowned as Quarter-Miler U carved out All-America recognition for the seventh straight year and 26th time in the last 28.

Baylor freshman Felix Obi picked up All-American honors in his debut season with a sixth-place showing in the triple jump final.

Obi appeared in danger of falling out of the top eight, but busted his best effort of the day (52-43/4) on his final jump.

“It was either go big or go home for me,” said Obi, the Big 12 champion.

Baylor senior Skylar White failed to duplicate her All-American effort from a year ago, finishing 10th in the women’s shot put at 54-71/2.

TCU senior Charles Silmon, a former Waco High track standout, took third in the 60-meter dash, running 6.61. Mississippi State’s DeAngelo Cherry won the race at 6.54.

Arkansas won the men’s team title on its home track, racking up 74 points, while Oregon claimed the women’s title. Baylor finished tied for 25th on the women’s side and tied for 32nd on the men’s.

The Baylor Track and Field Team practices at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex on Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

Baylor track and field is sending 10 athletes and one relay alternate to the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend.

Altogether, the team is scheduled for six events, including three individual women’s events, two individual men’s events and one men’s relay.

On Feb. 23 and 24 at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, 28 members of Baylor track and field earned 39 All-Big 12 honors.

This included two All-Big 12 honors earned by 15 of the competitors for the women’s team, and 19 All-Big 12 accolades earned by 13 of the men.

After a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, with a record-setting six event titles for Baylor, the Bears have been buckling down for one of the biggest meets of the season.

“You always want to try to place as high as you can,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “We’ve had a lot of success indoors over the years, a lot of top four finishes. We’re ranked 25th and 27th, so it’s always nice to try to exceed those expectations and exceed your rankings.”

If these athletes perform to the caliber that they have in past NCAA Indoor Championships, it should be a successful meet for Baylor.

Six returning competitors have earned All-America honors previously for this meet, including Justin Allen, Blake Heriot, Drew Seale, Erin Atkinson, Tiffani McReynolds, and Skylar White.

Of those athletes, Atkinson, Seale and McReynolds have made All-American status within the last two seasons.

“I feel good,” Harbour said. “We’ve got a good group, you know, veterans. Skylar [White] has been there before and done it, Erin [Atkinson] was there; they were both All-Americans last year. Blake [Heriot] knows what it’s all about, so we’ve got a good group going. We’ve got some young ones too; this will be Felix [Obi]’s first time.”
After returning from an injury last year, junior hurdler Tiffani McReynolds has had a successful season thus far.

She has the second-best mark in the NCAA for the 60-meter hurdles this season with a time of 8.02. Two weekends ago, she won her third straight Big 12 title and has yet to lose a 60-meter hurdle event this season.

Additionally, McReynolds holds all top ten records for Baylor in this event.

“I feel a lot better practice-wise than I did last week and the week before conference,” McReynolds said.

During her freshman year, McReynolds placed second at the NCAA Indoor Championships. This year, she is going into the event as No. 2 in the nation.

“I’m really excited,” McReynolds said. “Hopefully I can go ahead and take the title this year.”

One of the athletes to earn a title at the past Big 12 Championship was junior sprinter Blake Heriot, who has big hopes for this meet.

He won the 200-meters with career-best time of 20.77, the ninth-fastest mark in school history and the fifth-best in the NCAA this season.

His title earned Baylor its sixth Big 12 Indoor title in the 200-meters and Baylor’s first title in this event since 2009.

“I’ve been so excited this week,” Heriot said. “Hopefully I can get the win and score more points for the team. Those are the things I want to accomplish.”

Additionally, Baylor’s throwers, Atkinson and White, will join the team for this meet with a combined five wins for the season so far. The men’s 4×400-meter relay team also joins the ranks.

Unfortunately, the team will have to compete without senior sprinter Everett Walker due to an injury.

Obi, a triple jumper, is Baylor’s highest-ranking male entering the NCAA Championships.

The Baylor men’s and women’s cross-country teams persevere not only through distance running but long hours of academic work as well.

On Monday, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced that both teams had received All-Academic honors.

Junior Ben Allen said he loves when cross-country gets awards because few of the team’s athletes go professional.

When it comes to balancing a high GPA as an English major and practice, Allen said there are some sacrifices.

“We just lose a lot of sleep,” Allen said. “We have 6:30 a.m. practice every day until 8:30. I try to go to sleep early, but I usually have to study to keep my GPA up.”

The men’s team earned a cumulative GPA of 3.45 and had eight athletes make the Academic All-Big 12 team for the 2012 season.

The team finished seventh at the Big 12 Championships last weekend, the highest placed cross-country finish for Baylor since 2004. For the regional level, the men earned 14th place.

“The first priority is – and should be – academics,” assistant coach Jon Capron said. “We don’t want to jeopardize their academic work.”

Junior Brad Miles attributes his diligence in his studies to the rigorous cross-country practice schedule.

Were it not for an early morning run, Miles says his day would lack productivity.

“I put an emphasis on schoolwork and sleep,” Miles said. “When I wake up early to go run, it gets my day started right. I feel like I’m more productive when I get up and run than when I just wake up and go to class.”

The women pulled ahead of the men in what Capron referred to as a “private competition” with a cumulative GPA of 3.47.

According to Capron, there is a slight rivalry between both teams to earn the higher GPA.

To date, the men’s team has yet to win.

In addition to earning the award-winning GPA, the women’s team placed eighth at the Big 12 Championships.

The team ended the season by placing seventh in the NCAA South Central Region.

The Baylor men’s cross-country team is one of 145 men’s teams to earn all-academic status by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

In addition, the women’s team is one of 200 nationally to receive this honor. Kansas State and Oklahoma State are the only other Big 12 programs to have both the men’s teams and women’s teams recognized.

The Baylor track and field team will compete in the Big 12 Indoor Championships this weekend and hope to both keep titles and reclaim them.

Unlike the previous meets this season, the Big 12 Championship is a team meet. Until now, track and field athletes have been competing for individual scores and ranking. This weekend in Iowa, the team has a chance to pull together and work toward one win as a whole.

“When you go to a conference meet, it’s all about the team,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “It’s all about you performing at your very best so the team has a chance to be measured at the end of the day as high as you possibly can. When they put those team results up at the very end, that’s all that really matters.”

From 1998 until 2009, Baylor’s men’s relay team has held the title for the 4×400-meter at the Big 12 Championships. However, in 2010 A&M stole that title and has held it ever since. This year, with Baylor holding the fastest 4×400-meter relay time in the league at 3:09.89, the team hopes to reclaim the title. Each runner on the relay team is in the Big 12’s top-12 with Blake Heriot ranked 5th (47.25), Richard Gary close behind at 6th (47.45), and Isaiah Duke and Drew Seale tied for 12th with a time of 47.77.

“We feel really great,” Seale said. “We’ve had a great couple weeks of work since our last track meet. We really feel like we’re going to be able to drop a really fast time and make it to nationals in a couple of weeks.”

Harbour is aiming for a time of 3:06 and said he is confident in the ability of his athletes. For both the men’s and the women’s 4×4, there are multiple athletes available to step in. The relay teams for this meet has yet to be finalized, however, and senior sprinter Everett Walker will be placed on the first team for the men.

Walker will be running in the 60-meter and 200-meter in addition to the men’s 4×400-meter relay. He is second in the league in the 60-meter with a career best time of 6.69 and first in the 200-meters event at 20.81, also a career best. According to Walker, he performed better last meet after the team had taken the previous week off. In reference to the Big 12 Championship and having the past week off, Walker is hoping the trend will continue and result in a good performance.

“I feel confident, but I don’t want to feel too overconfident.” Walker said.

Also holding a dominant place in the Big 12 Championship record book, junior sprinter Tiffani McReynolds is returning in hopes of keeping her name on the list. She is ranked first in the Big 12 for the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.02 seconds. McReynolds also has the second-fastest league time in the 60-meter dash, running the event at 7.38 seconds, and the fifth-best 200-meter mark with a time of 23.82.

“The plan is to go ahead and win the 60 hurdles to defend my title,” McReynolds said. “Since I’m ranked No. 2 in the open 60. I’m going to try to win that too.”

The meet will be delayed one day due to the snowstorm in the Midwest.

In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius starts in the men’s 400-meter semifinal during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs. Reeva Steenkamp, a model who spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women, was shot four times in the predawn hours in the home, in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria, police said.
Associated Press

By Gerald Imray, Jon Gambrell

Associated Press

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter dubbed the Blade Runner, was charged Thursday in the Valentine’s Day slaying of his girlfriend at his upscale home in South Africa, a shocking twist to one of the feel-good stories of last summer’s Olympics.

Pistorius buried his face in the hood of his workout jacket as officers escorted him from a police station after his arrest in the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp, a 30-year-old model.

Police said she was shot four times in the pre-dawn hours at Pistorius’ villa in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria. Officers found a 9 mm pistol inside the home and arrested Pistorius on a murder charge.

What sparked the shooting remained unclear, but police said they had received calls in the past about domestic altercations at the home of the 26-year-old athlete, who has spoken publicly about his love of firearms.

A police spokeswoman, Brigadier Denise Beukes, said the incidents included “allegations of a domestic nature.”

Pistorius made history in the London Games when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympics. He didn’t win a medal, but he did make the semifinals of the 400 meters and became an international star.

On Thursday, companies quickly removed billboards and advertising featuring Pistorius, a national hero in South Africa who also inspired fans worldwide with the image of his high-tech carbon-fiber blades whipping through the air. Kenny Oldwage, Pistorius’ lawyer, told reporters the athlete was “emotional” after his arrest, “but he is keeping up.” Pistorius has had troubles in the past in his personal life, which often featured fast cars, cage fighters and women.

A spokeswoman for Pistorius at Fast Track, an international sports marketing agency in London, said the athlete was assisting with the investigation and there would be no further comment “until matters become clearer.”

The sprinter’s former coach, Andrea Giannini, said he hoped the shooting was “just a tragic accident.”

“No matter how bad the situation was, Oscar always stayed calm and positive,” Giannini told The Associated Press in Italy. “Whenever he was tired or nervous, he was still extremely nice to people. I never saw him violent.”

Firearms captivated Pistorius, the subject of an online Nike advertisement that featured him with the caption: “I am a bullet in the chamber.” In Nov. 2011, he posted a photograph on Twitter of himself at a shooting range, bragging about his score. “Had a 96% headshot over 300m from 50shots! Bam!” he wrote.

Linked to a number of women by the South African media, Pistorius and Steenkamp were first seen together publicly in November. She was named one of the world’s 100 Sexiest Women for two years running by the men’s magazine, FHM.

The leggy blonde with a law degree also appeared in international and South African ads and was a celebrity contestant on “Tropika Island of Treasure,” a South African reality show filmed in Jamaica.

Her tweets also focused on Pistorius, with one of her last messages noting her excitement over Valentine’s Day.

“What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?” she wrote. “It should be a day of love for everyone.”

Police have not publicly named Steenkamp as the victim, saying only that a 30-year-old woman was killed. Steenkamp’s publicist, however, confirmed in a statement that the model had died.

“Everyone is simply devastated,” the publicist, Sarit Tomlinson, said. “She was the kindest, sweetest human being; an angel on earth and will be sorely missed.”

Police arrived at Pistorius’ home after 3 a.m., and paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive Steenkamp, police spokeswoman Lt. Col. Katlego Mogale said.

Officers later took Pistorius to a hospital so doctors could collect samples for DNA testing and check his blood alcohol content.

Pistorius had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday because of a congenital condition, and campaigned for years to be allowed to compete against able-bodied athletes.

He was initially banned because of his carbon fiber blades — which critics said gave him an unfair advantage — before being cleared by sport’s highest court in 2008.

Shock rippled across South Africa, a nation of 50 million where nearly 50 people are killed each day, one of the world’s highest murder rates. U.N. statistics say South Africa also has the second highest rate of shooting deaths in the world, behind only Colombia.

“The question is: Why does this story make the news? Yes, because they are both celebrities, but this is happening on every single day in South Africa,” said Adele Kirsten, a member of Gun Free South Africa.

“We have thousands of people killed annually by gun violence in our country. So the anger is about that it is preventable.”

The Baylor Track and Field Team practices at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex on Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

By Maleesa Johnson
Reporter

Senior sprinter Zwede Hewitt, standing 6 feet 1 inch tall, looks like a typical collegiate track star. However, his past and future prove otherwise.

In 2008, Hewitt arrived where many athletes only dream of being. He was representing his country, Trinidad and Tobago, at the Olympics.

When reviewing this experience, Hewitt describes his trip to Beijing, China, primarily as a learning experience.

“It was amazing to see some of the best athletes in the world,” Hewitt said. “I’ve seen what it takes. I’ve seen how they live, how they eat. I’ve seen the life of the Olympic champion.”

Unfortunately, due to a strained hamstring, Hewitt was not able to run.

This setback, though disappointing, failed to dampen his spirit.

“Injuries are a part of sports,” Hewitt said. “It’s something you have to accept.”

One year later, Hewitt ended up miles from home at Baylor University.

At the time, his father worked for Gill Athletics and had a business partner connected with Baylor.

Through a series of events, Hewitt was recruited and in the fall of 2009, he began competing on the Baylor track team.

In Hewitt’s senior season, he earned All-American Outdoors honors in the 400 meters, the 4×100-meter relay, and the 4×400-meter relay.

He also earned All-American Indoors honors in the 4×400-meter relay.

Hewitt no longer competes for Baylor or is affiliated with the NCAA, but he continues to train alongside the team at the Hart-Patterson Track & Field Complex.

Hewitt practices a minimum of five days a week. In three of these days, he is awake by 7 a.m. to lift weights before class.

His goal is to return to the Olympic scene in 2016 for the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“It is my long-term goal,” Hewitt said. “I do it for the self-satisfaction of knowing that I’ve been one of the best in the world.”

This goal clearly requires large amounts of time and effort.

Hewitt has very little time off and even works out on some Saturdays.

In addition to workouts and practices, he makes an effort to eat healthy and get plenty of sleep. When reflecting upon the schedule of the average student, Hewitt admits he has had to do things differently.

“I am more tired and fatigued every day,” Hewitt said. “I have to have a lot more focused on discipline and have to sleep more.”

Woodrow Randall, Hewitt’s former teammate at Baylor and fellow runner, has complete confidence in Hewitt.

“He has a good chance of making it far,” Randall said. “Zwede has a great work ethic and always takes steps to get faster.”

Like Hewitt, Randall ran track for Baylor, but currently runs professionally as a sprinter for Nike.

Randall said that running professionally is harder than running at the collegiate level. However, he goes into each race with the motivation simply not to lose and to run his best.

He says he is sure it is the same for Hewitt.

“He does what can to better himself,” Randall said. “He is a great athlete as well as a great person.”

As a competing nation, Trinidad and Tobago has won 18 medals in its history, and 14 of them have come in track and field events.