By Marquis Cooley | Reporter
Baylor track & field opened the outdoor season Saturday at the Longhorn Invitational at the University of Texas in Austin. The Bears finished the meet with several personal bests and three runner-up finishes.
“It was a really good, solid opener for everyone,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “It was good to get them all back out there for the first time. It was a good start for the group we had down there with all of the PBs. We’re excited to get the outdoor season started for everyone in a couple weeks.”
Junior Cole Hardan secured a first place finish for the Bears by taking the victory in the men’s shot put with a combined season-best throw of 55-4.25 (16.87m). Hardan also finished seventh in the hammer throw with 160-0 (48.76m).
In the 100-meter, senior Isaiah Cunningham took second place with a personal-best of 10.44 with senior Maxwell Willis finishing closely behind with a third place finish of 10.55. Cunningham also finished as runner-up in the 200 meter with a personal-best time of 20.93. Senior Ryan Croson recorded a personal-best time of 21.03 to take fifth in the event.
Croson took sixth place in the 400 meter as well, with a time of 47.84, while freshmen Dillon Bedell finished fifth with 47.42.
In the women’s 1,500 meter senior Destiny Collins had a seventh place finish with a time of 4:39.45.
In the field events, senior Tiffani Peacock and junior Chris Stoudt were able to finish third in their events. Peacock recorded a pole vault of 11-3.75 (3.45m), while in the men’s javelin, Stoudt recorded a throw of 153-6 (46.79).
Senior Samone Turner finished as the runner-up in the women’s hammer throw and moved to No. 3 in Baylor history with a personal-best throw of 162-10 (49.63m).
In her outdoor debut, sophomore Mikayla Deshazer entered the Baylor all-time performers list in three events after a third place finish in discus and a pair of sixth place finishes in hammer throw and shot put. Deshazer is now fourth in school history in both the discus (168-5, 51.33m) and the shot put (48-0.5, 14.64m) while holding the No. 5 spot in the hammer throw (154-2, 46.99m).
Following next week’s NCAA Indoor Championships, the Bears will get the outdoor season rolling in full gear with the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational March 19-20 in San Antonio, Texas.
