T&F: Lightfoot Wins Third Big 12 Championship

Friday, February 28

Ames, IA

All Day

Baylor

Big 12 Indoor Championships

T&F: Lightfoot Wins Third Big 12 Championship

2/28/2020 11:56:00 PM | Track & Field

Friday Results Photo Gallery

Sophomore set the Big 12 indoor meet record with a pole vault of 18-11 (5.77m).

AMES, Iowa – Baylor sophomore KC Lightfoot successfully defended his conference pole vault crown in a battle with Kansas' Zach Bradford to highlight day one of the 2020 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship Friday at the Lied Recreation-Athletic Facility on the campus of Iowa State University.

"Nothing that KC does surprises you," head coach Todd Harbour said. "Probably one of the best vault competitions you'd ever want to watch between some great vaulters. Brandon Bray (Texas Tech), KC and Zach. It was really, really good."

After Lightfoot and Bradford both missed their first two attempts at 18-11 (5.77m), Bradford hit his final attempt to leave Lightfoot one final jump with the title on the line. Lightfoot came through in the clutch, making zero contact with the bar and clearing the mark that would prove to be the winner.

"It's definitely a big deal and an honor to win Big 12s again and to break the (facility) record in the process," Lightfoot said. "I'm glad that it was a good competition with Zach. It definitely kept the crowd and us on edge going back and forth. Now, it's time to work out some issues before NCAAs and get ready to compete hard one more time this indoors."

Neither Lightfoot nor Bradford cleared 19-1, so Lightfoot won the Big 12 Championship by result of an initial Bradford miss at the 18-9.25 mark. They now both hold the Big 12 indoor meet record with their jumps of 18-11 (5.77m). Riley Richards (fifth) and Reese Sarnowski (seventh) joined Lightfoot on the podium with jumps of 16-11.5 (5.17m) and 16-5.5 (5.02m), respectively.

"The pole vaulters on both sides did a great job," Harbour said. "Both Rileys and Reese. Mackenzie (Hayward) has been in a boot for a couple weeks with a stress reaction, so I know she's a little disappointed. But the vaulters did a great job."

Tuesdi Tidwell took home the silver medal in the women's pole vault as the runner-up with a jump of 13-11.25 (4.25m), while Riley Floerke recorded a personal-best jump of 13-3.5 (4.05m) to finish sixth and earn a spot on the podium.

"Tuesdi did a great job," Harbour said. "Again, it was a hard-fought pole vault on the ladies' side. Tuesdi came up just a little bit short, but she'll bounce back for nationals. I know she's hungry and determined. She's going to get her Big 12 title. She wanted to try to win that thing today."

In the men's long jump, Jalen Seals recorded a mark of 24-3.75 (7.41m) to finish sixth and earn a spot on the podium. Caira Pettway finished just short of the women's finals, recording a personal-best long jump of 19-5.25 (5.92m) to take 12th.

"Jalen did a good job in the long jump," Harbour said. "Caira Pettway in the long jump, that was a nice PB for her. She just missed making the finals, so that was a really good day."

Mikayla Deshazer's personal-best weight throw of 55-0.75 (16.78m) gave her a 10th-place finish at her first Big 12 meet.

"Mikayla got a PB in the weight throw," Harbour said. "She's a freshman, and she's going to be much better in time."

The men's distance medley relay team of Ryan Day, Ryan Croson, Cal Johnston and Alec Atteberry wrapped up the Baylor podium spots for the day, finishing in fifth place to earn four points for the Bears.

"Our men's DMR was one of the highlights of the day," Harbour said. "We had a bunch of guys put in there to try to scrap for some points, and they did a pretty good job. Alec Atteberry had a really big leg on it. He ran a really big PB on the 800 leg, so it was really nice to see that."

In Friday first-round races, Kamden Jackson (men's 200 meters), Sydney Washington (women's 200 meters, women's 60 meters), Mariah Ayers (women's 60 meters), Howard Fields III (men's 400 meters), Elijah Gifford (men's 600 yards), Morgan Stewart (women's 600 yards), Isaiah Cunningham (men's 60 meters), Elijah Morris (men's 60-meter hurdles) and Kennedy Bailey (women's 60-meter hurdles) all earned spots in Saturday's finals.

"Overall, it was a good first day," Harbour said. "Any Big 12 meet, you're going to have some highs and you're going to have some lows. I thought we had more highs than we did lows. We had some PBs (personal bests), and everyone that went out there battled hard and fought. We didn't get everybody into the finals that we were hoping to, but we got a couple in that maybe we weren't expecting to get into the finals. It kind of evens itself out."

The Big 12 Indoor Championship concludes Saturday, beginning with the women's high jump, men's triple jump and women's shot put at 12 p.m. CT. The meet will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with live results provided by Prime Time Timing.

For updates throughout the championship, and for continued news on the Baylor Track & Field team, follow the team's social media accounts all season long: @BaylorTrack.