Barnes, Woods lead Baylor Track & Field at Baylor Invitational once again
WACO, Texas – On a windy Saturday at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium, several Baylor student-athletes had career-best performances to highlight a successful Baylor Invitational.
“Overall, it was an outstanding meet,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “We got it in. We were worried about the weather, but the weather held. Thank you to North Texas, Incarnate Word, and Abilene Christian. We appreciate those guys all coming. I thought it was maybe one of our best invite meets. It’s hard to put that meet up against the Michael Johnson, but I thought for a March meet, for us, we got some really, really good things done. I thought our athletes competed at a really high level, and I was very excited about how they competed today.”
Alex Madlock soared to the No. 1 spot in the NCAA with a triple jump of 44-0.75 (13.43m), which was also a personal best and gave her the Baylor Invitational victory.
Cole Hardan continued to make his mark in Baylor throws history, setting a new hammer throw school record of 179-6 (54.72m). The freshman moved past Chris Cardwell's record of 174-8 that was set in 2007. Hardan later recorded a PR in the shot put (57-8.25, 17.58m) to win that event as well.
“We had a lot of PBs and a couple marks that moved up nationally,” Harbour said. “Alex Madlock in the triple jump, that was outstanding to see her get a PB like that. Cole broke a school record in the hammer and came back and threw really well in the shot put.”
It was another standout day for the Baylor football/track two-sport athletes, highlighted by Kalon “Boogie” Barnes and JT Woods picking up victories.
Barnes won for the second time in as many weeks, blazing to a time of 10.29 in the 100 meters that ranks as the No. 4 time in the country. Woods recorded his first collegiate victory by running 14.19 in the 110-meter hurdles, tied for 17th in the nation.
“I thought the football guys coming off of practice this morning - what a great job by those guys,” Harbour said. “Kalon in the 100, JT in the hurdles, and Raleigh (Texada) and Mark (Milton) both ran really well. That was a big PB for Mark.”
It was a double win for the Bears in the pole vault as KC Lightfoot and Tuesdi Tidwell recorded victories.
Lightfoot extended his collegiate best and top-ranked NCAA mark to 18-4.75 (5.61m), while Tidwell won with a jump of 13-3 (4.04m).
“KC is KC, and Tuesdi had great vaults. Both of them,” Harbour said. “Dillon (Baker) got a nice PB in the long jump today. I was really excited for him. Across the field I thought we had a really, really solid day. And in the running events, we didn’t slow down any. Our quarters – Victoria (Powell)’s 400, that’s a really big 400 into the wind. Trey (Fields) was impressive as always. The 800, that’s huge for Aaliyah (Miller) and Leti (De Souza) both to run that fast in that kind of wind. It was good for them. Just across the board. Kayla (Windemuller) in the 1500, that was a solid 15 for her by herself in the wind. Overall, we had a lot of good bright spots today. We weren’t at full strength, but I thought we had a lot of really outstanding performances.”
In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Kennedy Bailey clocked a PR of 13.45 to take the title and move to the No. 3 all-time performer spot at Baylor.
In all, Baylor finished its first home meet of the season with 20 wins, including both 4x400-meter relays. Next up for the Bears is the Texas Relays March 27-30.
“We’re excited about Texas Relays as always,” Harbour said. “It’s still early in the season. For our second outdoor meet of the season, I couldn’t be happier with where we’re at and how our athletes competed today.”
For continued updates on the Baylor Track & Field team, follow the team's social media accounts all season long: @BaylorTrack.