WACO, TX — Baylor track & field is home for the first time this year as the Bears host the Baylor Invitational Saturday at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium.
“It’s always nice to be at home,” head coach Todd Harbour said. “We’re looking forward to hopefully getting the weather to cooperate. We have some athletes that will be making their outdoor debut, and they are excited and ready to go. We’re looking forward to another great opportunity to continue to improve and get better.”
Baylor has one outdoor meet under its belt thus far, and the Bears are ranked preseason No. 13 in the men’s USTFCCCA Track & Field Rating Index and No. 31 in the women’s rankings.
Last Saturday at the USC Trojan Invitational, eight Baylor student-athletes won event titles including Kalon Barnes, Isaiah Cunningham, Leti De Souza, Howard Fields III, KC Lightfoot, Megan SaxvanderWeyden, Jalen Seals, and Sarah Yocum.
Lightfoot holds the number one pole vault in the nation by over a foot as he set the Cromwell Field & Loker Track Stadium record, tied for second on the all-time Baylor outdoor performer list, and tied for the No. 6 all-time Baylor performance with a jump of 18-5.25.
Fields won the 400 meters at USC with the No. 2-ranked time in America, 46.49. He and the Bears will run their first 4x400-meter relay of the outdoor season this weekend.
Barnes, a freshman defensive back for the Baylor football team, clocked 10.43 in the 100 meters to make his collegiate debut at No. 6 in the country.
De Souza blazed to the second-best time in America (2:08.13) to win the 800 meters at USC. She and her teammates will run the 4x400-meter relay for the first time this outdoor season on Saturday.
SaxvanderWeyden ranks No. 6 in the nation after an impressive throw of 164-09 (50.21m) that gave her the win at USC by more than 19 feet. She now holds the No. 2 all-time performance in school history, just shy of her school record (166-4).
“Our goal is to improve and get better,” Harbour said. “We’re still kind of getting into the outdoor season. We’ve got a big one next week - Texas Relays - so you pace yourself a little bit this time of year. You always want to continue to make improvement.”
Action kicks off Saturday with the women’s javelin, men’s hammer throw, and men’s high jump at 10 a.m. CT. Running events will begin at 2 p.m. CT with the women’s 2000-meter steeplechase.
