For a second straight day, the Baylor track and field team had another school record fall at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays presented by Spectrum at Mike A. Myers Stadium Friday.
Senior Felix Obi bettered his own BU record in the triple jump with a leap of 54-8.25 [16.67m], which was first among collegiates and second overall at the meet. The El Paso, Texas, product’s school best comes just a day after Jenna Pfeiffer established a new BU record in the heptathlon.
Following a foul on his first attempt, Obi produced his best attempt of the day on his next jump. He eclipsed his old school record of 53-9.75 [16.40m] by nearly 11 inches, while notching the world’s seventh-best and the NCAA’s No. 1 triple jump in 2017.
The BU men’s sprint medley relay also had a runner-up finish in 3:16.96, which is the ninth-fastest time in Baylor history. Maxwell Willis (21.15) and Wil London (19.62) each covered 200 meters on the opening two legs and handed off to George Caddick (44.83) to run the 400 meters just behind Texas A&M. However, the Aggies maintained that advantage over the final two legs with Zak Curran (1:51.11) running the final 800 meters for BU.
Establishing a new personal-best time (57.16), junior Kiana Hawn placed third in the 400-meter hurdle finals. Hawn used a strong final curve to move into the lead pack and held off one challenger to snag third. The Forney, Texas, native’s mark is fourth best in school history. That mark is also currently fourth-best in the NCAA for 2017.
To close out the night, the men’s distance medley relay of Matthew Parham, Niko Harrell, Danny Leland and Matt League finished third in 9:57.22. Leland closed strong in his 800-meter leg to bring the Bears up to third and League kept BU there over the final mile.
In morning action, Baylor got two individuals and two relays through to the finals. First, Baylor’s women’s 4x100-meter relay of Kiana Horton, Taylor Bennett, Juanita Mainoo and Jhane’ King carded the sixth-fastest qualifying time to make Saturday’s final. Next, the men’s quartet of Malik Wilson, Wil London, Maxwell Willis and Ian Braxton, produced a time of 40.06 to be the seventh-fastest qualifiers into the finals.
Individually, Taylor Bennett qualified seventh in the 100 meters. She started slow, but closed well to post a time of 11.46. In the 110-meter hurdles, Rhys Phillips burst to the front of his heat and held that advantage throughout the race to win the heat and secure the third-best time at the meet (13.82).
Meanwhile at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, Baylor’s two runners, Jordan West and Sam Sahli, finished fourth and sixth in the 10,000 meters, respectively. West completed the race in 30:43.50, while Sahli crossed the line in 30:51.95.
