Tori Jackson
Reporter
Freshman Trayvon Bromell was awarded the honor of Most Outstanding Performer of the 2014 Texas Relays at the 87th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
Bromell is the third Baylor athlete to be awarded with such honors. He joins Gay Kafer (1972) and Michael Johnson (1990).
“Trayvon was amazing,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “He ran so fast and made it look so easy. To come out and run that fast this early is very, very impressive. Coach (Michael) Ford has done a great job with him. I expected him to run fast down here, because you always see great times at the Texas Relays, but to open up with that kind of effort is huge.”
The freshman sprinter won the 100-meter dash event with a personal record of .01 seconds. Bromell was clocked at 10.01 on the final day of competition to set a new Baylor record.
Bromell now holds the Baylor record, the Texas Relays record and joins three others for the Junior Record. Bromell is tied with Trinidad’s Darrel Brown, US’s Jeff Demps and Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu.
“Basically, I just wanted to get my name out there to let people know that I can run with the big dogs,” Bromell said. “The coaches that I’ve had throughout the years of track have always told me to set for the perfect race, go as strong as you can in every race and I just needed to execute that and it all came together.”
Joining Bromell on the first place podium was Baylor’s women’s 4×800-meter relay and the women’s distance medley relay.
The women’s 4×800-meter relay was timed at 8:46.85. The team of Mariah Kelly, Maggie Montoya, Kristina Brown and Olicia Williams finished the race for Baylor’s ninth fastest time in school history.
Baylor’s women’s distance medley relay finished with a time of 11:22.50 to secure a first place finish. The team of Montoya, Raena Rhone, Brown and Kelly finished with the eighth best time in Baylor history.
“It was a great effort from the ladies,” Harbour said. “They did a super job. Maggie did a great job leading off and that makes it easy on everyone else. I am proud of them.”
The Baylor Bears finished the Texas Relays with a total of three event wins and seven top-10 event finishes.
“Overall, it was a good weekend for us,” Harbour said. “It was not the way that we wanted to finish it. Our women did a nice job in the 4×4. That is our best time of the year, so you have to be pleased with that. It is a good starting place for them, but for the guys (4×4) it was tough. We were trying to put a good one together and then Richard (Gary) went down. That is not the way we wanted to end it.”
The Bears will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the Florida Relays on Friday and Saturday.
