Senior Wil London won his second consecutive 400-meter race, and junior TJ Sugg took the top spot in the mile to highlight Baylor track & field’s first day at the Tyson Invitational.
London made it look easy in the men’s 400 meters fastest section, leading the whole way and clocking in at 45.93 to take first place.
TJ Sugg improved his season-best mile time by five seconds, finishing at 4:16.35 to get his first win of the year.
“We had two wins on the men’s side, so I was happy with that,” associate men’s head coach Michael Ford said. “TJ Sugg did a great job in the mile. I think he probably had his breakthrough. Also Wil London. He currently still has the No. 1 time in the country. For him not really having anyone to race in his heat - to run 45.93 basically by himself - I thought he did well.”
In the women’s mile, freshman Celia Holmes used a strong push at the end to finish as the runner-up with a career-best time of 4:58.78.
“On the women’s side, everybody stayed consistent,” associate women’s head coach Stacey Smith said. “We kind of maintained and did what we’ve been doing all year. We have to go back tomorrow, start it over again and get ready to go.”
It was a strong performance for the Bears in the men’s 400 meters as freshman Matthew Moorer and sophomore Jayson Baldridge both recorded top-four finishes.
Moorer set a personal best with a time of 47.46 to earn a second-place finish, while Baldridge had his best run of the season at 47.56 to place fourth.
“We performed up to our level that we’ve been doing,” Ford said. “There were no big highs or big lows. We maintained where we’ve been. I think the training that we’ve done the last 10 days has helped big time, and we’ll benefit from it at conference. No one got hurt, so we have to keep everybody healthy and get ready for tomorrow.”
The Bears are back at it Saturday morning at the Randal Tyson Track Center, and Baylor will also see its first action tomorrow at the Iowa State Classic. Alison Andrews-Paul, Aaliyah Miller and Kayla Windemuller will compete in the women’s 800 meters, while Danny Leland and Jake Merrell will run the men’s 800 in Ames.
“In a couple weeks we’re going to head to conference,” Smith added. “Right now we’re just maintaining. Everybody came out healthy, so we’re just going to move to tomorrow and see what happens.”
Live results can be found at http://pttiming.com/events/87931143 [pttiming.com] for the Iowa State Classic and at http://www.flashresults.com/2019_Meets/Indoor/02-08_Tyson/ [flashresults.com] for the Tyson Invitational.
