The Baylor women’s track and field team wrapped up action in the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships Saturday at Hayward Field.
For the meet the women’s squad scored six team points on the strength of Annie Rhodes’ third-place finish in the pole vault on Thursday. Those six points helped BU tie for 38th in the team standings. The Baylor women have now scored at the meet in 24 of the last 29 years.
In the triple jump on Saturday, Baylor two entries, Brianna Richardson and Rachel Toliver, missed out on making the event’s finals finishing 11th and 17th respectively.
Richardson and Toliver both recorded jumps of 41-7.75 [12.69m] to open the competition, which placed them 11th after one round of jumps.
Richardson then fouled on her next attempt and headed into her final jump in 19th place. The senior from Heath, Texas, saved her best for last as she carded a leap of 43-1.75 [13.15m] to move to the ninth and final qualifying spot for the finals. However moments later, Richardson was bumped to 10th and ended up 11th.
Toliver followed up her opening attempt by tallying her best mark at 42-10.25 [13.06m], which moved her to eighth at that point in the competition. Sitting in 12th going into the last round, Toliver fouled on her final attempt to miss out on the final.
Senior Jenna Pfeiffer closed out the heptathlon Saturday by competing in the long jump, javelin and 800 meters. The senior Bear racked up a total of 5,303 points over two days of competition to finish 13th overall. After being 20th after the opening day, Pfeiffer jumped up the standings with strong performances in her final two events.
In the long jump, Pfeiffer recorded her top attempt on her first jump by going 17-10.25 [5.44m]. That mark was the 17th-best in the field, garnered her 683 points and moved her up to 19th overall with 3,669 points.
Next, Pfeiffer had her best event of the competition by throwing the eight-best javelin mark in school history - 149-1 [45.45m]. That was the third-best attempt of any athlete on the day and netted the senior 772 points. Heading into the final event, Pfeiffer had moved up to 16th with a total of 4,441 points.
In the final event, Pfeiffer ran 2:17.18 in the 200 meters to secure 862 points and produce the fifth-best time of the day, which gave her the final point tally.
TOP QUOTE #1
“Overall, it was not the weekend we had hoped for. Obviously, we had some disappointments. Just a little bit off, not much, but just a little off. Up here, that’s all it takes. There’s national champions and collegiate record-holders that don’t make the finals up here, so it’s a rough meet. You’ve got to be on. And we weren’t far off on a few, but we had hoped to do a little better. I am proud of Annie (Rhodes), proud of Wil (London) for getting in there and battling. And all of our seniors, they’ve had amazing careers at Baylor, and my hat’s off to all of them. I can’t say how much we appreciate them and all that they’ve done. We came up here with a good group, we hoped to do a little better team-wise, but it just didn’t happen. So, we will go back, reload, we’ll bring a bunch of young ones hopefully back up here next year and be ready to go.” - head coach Todd Harbour on the meet
WHAT'S NEXT
Saturday’s action closed out Baylor’s collegiate season. Select athletes will compete at the USATF Outdoor Championships, June 22-25, in Sacramento, Calif.
COMPLETE BAYLOR RESULTS
Triple Jump
Women
11. Brianna Richardson (SR) - 43-1.75 [13.15m]
17. Rachel Toliver (SR) - 42-10.25 [13.06m]
Heptathlon #5 - Long Jump
17. Jenna Pfeiffer (SR) - 17-10.25 [5.44m]
Heptathlon #6 - Javelin Throw
3. Jenna Pfeiffer (SR) - 149-1 [45.45m] (tied for 8th-best in school history)
Heptathlon #7 - 800 Meters
5. Jenna Pfeiffer (SR) - 2:17.18
Heptathlon Final Standings
13. Jenna Pfeiffer (SR) - 5,303 pts.
