Baylor Track & Field Closes Indoor Season with Ezekiel & Brown Earning All-America Honors
BOSTON – Baylor track and field closed the 2024 indoor season with the NCAA DI Indoor Track and Field Championships at the TRACK at New Balance on Friday and Saturday.
Closing the day one for the Bears, Alexis Brown jumped to her first All-America honor in the long jump after Nathaniel Ezekiel qualified to Saturday’s 400-meter men’s final.
With only one athlete competing on day two, junior Nathaniel Ezekiel earned an All-American finish in the men’s quarter mile, his second-straight year on the indoor NCAA podium in that event.
Day 1 Rundown
Brown pocked the first All-America honor of her career on Friday evening, taking fifth in the long jump competition. With another jump over 21 feet, Brown landed a 21-3¼ attempt that marks as the second-best in program history. The event was won by fellow Big 12 competitor from Iowa State, Sydney Willits.
The first athlete competing in the national championship for BU, junior Ezekiel claimed the very last qualifying spot to the national finals in a preliminary round that took the top-8 runners across four heights. Starting in the back of the pack, Ezekiel turned it on in the final 100 meters to overtake ASU’s Justin Robinson and finish right with Texas Tech’s Shaemar Uter. His 46.14 was good enough for a lane in Saturday afternoon’s final, scheduled for 3:20 p.m. CT.
In the men’s 60-meter hurdles that was delayed by a mechanical malfunction with the banked track, Demario Prince, the program record holder and lone freshman in the high hurdles, was the first man out of Saturday’s final with a 7.71-second race. His ninth-place mark was just behind Houston’s De’Vion Wilson who crossed in 7.70 seconds.
Molly Haywood and Alencia Lentz finished back-to-back again in the national championship pole vault competition, taking ninth and 10th, respectively. Haywood tied her personal best 14-5¼ to end just one spot away from the NCAA podium, and Lentz was one bar behind 14-1¼.
Finishing 15th and 16th, Demar Francis and Laurenz Colbert finished back-to-back in the men’s 200-meter preliminaries. Entering the race as the ninth and 12th seed, respectively, the two leaders of BU’s No. 1 200-meter event squad closed their indoor seasons on Friday.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Michael Ford
On Day One of the NCAA Championships…
“I am definitely proud of Nate (Ezekiel) for making his second 400 final. I look forward to watching him compete on Saturday. The 200 guys just didn’t execute like we talked about and planned, but we will get back and get ready for the outdoor season. I am really proud of the two pole vaulters. They weren’t top eight, but Molly [Haywood] tied a PR and Alencia [Lentz] had a great year being the Big 12 champion. I am looking forward to watching them compete outdoors. Alexis [Brown] has done an awesome job all year, so it’s great to see it all come together like that.”
Day 2 Rundown
Ezekiel was the lone competitor for Baylor on Saturday afternoon, finishing eighth place in the men’s 400-meter dash. He won his second-straight indoor All-America honor in the 400 meters and his sixth overall in just 2 ½ years of collegiate competition after improving on his seed placement that entered him in the meet at No. 9.
In the team standings, the Baylor women scored four team points from Alexis Brown’s fifth-place finish on Friday, while the men only scored one point off Ezekiel’s 400 meters.
UP NEXT
The Bears turn to the outdoor season on March 16th, competing at the TCU Alumni Invitational in Fort Worth.