By Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
Against the toughest field it has faced all outdoor season, Baylor track and field leaned on two of its biggest stars at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational, as sprinter Tiriah Kelley delivered a nationally ranked 200-meter debut and pole vaulter Molly Haywood returned to the top of the podium.
With the outdoor season entering its final stretch, Baylor made its road trip count, turning in nationally relevant marks, improved relay times and key personal bests against a field featuring 13 women’s teams ranked in the top 25 and 11 men’s teams in the top 25.
“This is like a mini national meet,” head coach Michael Ford said before the meet. “I would say this is probably our biggest and hardest competition on paper going into the season.”
Kelley set the tone early in her outdoor 200-meter debut, clocking 22.64 against some of the nation’s best. The senior All-American finished third in her heat and sixth overall, recording the fourth-fastest time in program history and a mark that ranks among the top 10 nationally this season.
That momentum carried into the field, where Haywood returned to the top of the pole vault podium. After a runner-up finish a week earlier at the Baylor Invitational snapped her outdoor win streak, the junior cleared 14-9 on her second attempt to capture her third event title of the season.
But beyond Baylor’s two headlining performances, the Bears continued to deliver strong finishes in the field. Sophomore Sebastian Berntsen moved up four spots on his final long jump attempt with a personal-best 24-8 1/4 to finish runner-up, while junior Parker Brannon matched him with a second-place finish after clearing a career-best 16-10 3/4 in the pole vault.
Baylor’s distance runners also found success across the country. At the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif., junior Ruth Kimeli placed fourth in the 10,000 meters with a personal-best time of 32:27.43, the third-fastest mark in program history.
On the track, the Bears continued to build depth in the middle distance, where sophomore Rickeisha Simms recorded a personal-best 2:10.74 in the 800 meters, while sophomore Amon Malakwen followed with a season-best 1:48.89 in the elite section, marking the second-fastest time of his career.
In the final turns of the weekend, Baylor found another gear in the relays.
The women’s 4×400 relay of Alyssa Jones, Kelley, Serafima Lucero and Aaryona Kinchen turned in a season-best 3:05.03, shaving more than two seconds off its previous top time. Not long after, the men’s quartet of Aren Spencer, Malik Franklin, Abbas Ali and Tyler Honeyman placed third at 3:05.15, ranking among the top 20 nationally.
Earlier in the meet, the men’s 4×100 relay placed ninth in 39.88, while the women’s 4×100 came just shy of its season best at 44.03.
“I thought the 4x1s were consistent with what they’ve been running,” Ford said. “We’ve just got to clean up some handoffs on that relay to run a little better. Overall, it was a good Tom Jones meet.”
With the regular season nearing its close, Baylor will return to Waco for its final home meet, hosting the Michael Johnson Invitational on April 24–25 at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium.
