Baylor’s track and field team collected 11 event titles, earned several top NCAA rankings and broke a few school records this past weekend during its second outdoor meet of the season at the Parks West Athletic Complex last weekened in San Antonio.
The meet spanned a total of three days as decathletes opened on Thursday with sophomore Hunter Powell and junior Chase Hood finishing third and fourth, respectively.
The two carried on to Friday and switched places as Powell ranked up 5,882 points and Hood with 5,893 points.
Field events began Friday as junior Cion Hicks and senior Desmine Hilliard placed third and eighth, respectively, in shot put.
Hicks’ throw of 53-1.25 earned the 10th-place ranking currently in the NCAA.
On Saturday, field events continued with Hicks finishing second is discus with a throw of 53-1.75 and Hilliard finishing second while earning the ninth-best ranking for the NCAA and the third-best throw in school history (185-7).
“We had good performances across the field events,” Head Coach Todd Harbour said at the meet. “Annie’s (Rhodes) big jump was outstanding. I thought Desmine in the discus had a great day. We had a lot of big marks.”
Junior Annie Rhodes broke her own school record in pole vault with a jump of 14-7.25, qualifying her for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials and taking the second-best mark in the NCAA.
Junior Rachel Toliver also earned mentions by taking the triple jump title.
Baylor continues to shine through running events. Freshmen Taylor Bennett highlighted the day by capturing the top NCAA ranking in the 200-meters while also winning the event with a time of 23.23 seconds. Freshmen Kiana Horton also took the 100-meter title with a time of 11.31, currently third-best in the NCAA.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay of Bennett, Horton Kiana Hawn and Olicia Williams earned the NCAA’s current fifth-best time of 3:37.97. Hawn also captured the 400-meterstitle while Williams placed second in the 800-meters.
The women’s 4×100-meter relay of Horton, Bennett, Juanita Mainoo and Justise Dayries also earned mentions by placing second.
“Kiana’s 100-meter race was impressive and Taylor’s time in the 200 was great,” Harbour said. “Our sprint crew overall had a big day.”
In distance, junior Maggie Montoya took the event title in the 1,500-meters while setting a stadium record with a time of 4:29.09. Junior Madie Zimmerman took the title in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, clocking in at 7:01.93.
On the men’s side, Richard Hansen opened Saturday by claiming the javelin title with a throw of 207-0.
In running, Caleb Dickson claimed the 400-meter title with a time of 47.78 while Brandon Moore claimed the 800-meter title clocking in at 1:52.06.
The 4×400 meters relay of Richard Gary, Wil London, Moore and Dickson placed second with a time of 3:05.23 that currently ranks second-best in the NCAA.
All-Big 12 performers Bryce Grace (110-meter hurdles) and George Caddick (400-meter) both ended up with injuries during their respective races.
The majority of the team will travel to Austin this weekend for Texas Relays while a few will travel to compete in the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif.
