T&F Going for Big 12, National Marks at Carolina Classic

Friday, February 6

Columbia, South Carolina

Baylor

Carolina Classic

T&F Going for Big 12, National Marks at Carolina Classic

2/5/2026 3:51:00 PM | Track & Field

Ford, Bears returning favor after Gamecocks' appearance at 2025 MJ Invite

COLUMBIA, S.C. – As assistant coaches, Baylor's Michael Ford and South Carolina's Tim Hall promised to support each other at home meets if they ever became head coaches.

Named the Gamecocks' head coach just a year earlier, Hall brought his team to last year's Michael Johnson Invitational at the Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium. Now, Ford is returning the favor, taking his Baylor team to the Carolina Classic that begins Friday at the Carolina Indoor Track and Field Complex in Columbia.

"The outdoor schedule wasn't going to work out, but I definitely wanted to support him," Ford said of Hall. "Their women are ranked third and the men are 19^th. But this is just an opportunity to go somewhere else, see another part of the country and, honestly, go against some other teams that we haven't seen before."

Going to the smaller 13-team meet that includes just four other Division I programs, Ford is taking a limited roster that's primarily focused on the sprints and jumps.

"It's not as big as I was thinking going into it," Ford said. "But I think what we need right now is to get our triple jumpers to get some marks and then our sprint group to get some conference and national marks. That's a fast track at South Carolina, so I think we have a chance to put up some good times."

Besides Baylor and South Carolina, the meet includes East Carolina, The Citadel, North Carolina A&T, South Carolina State, Allen University, Benedict College, Claflin University, Clayton State, Lenoir-Rhyne, University of Lynchburg and Newberry College.

The Baylor women dropped three spots to 22^nd in the latest USTFCCCA rankings, but pole vaulter Molly Haywood and sprinter Tiriah Kelley in the 200 meters are still in the top two or three in the country in their respective events.

Ford said he is hoping the 4x400-meter relays improve on the season-best times they posted at last week's DeLoss Dodds Invitational in Manhattan, Kan. The men's relay of Malik Franklin, Abbas Ali, Austen Diggs and Tyler Honeyman won in a time of 3:08.25 that ranks second in the Big 12, while the women's relay of Serafima Lucero, Alyssa Jones, Jada Edwards and Kelley were fifth in 3:41.92.

"I was pleased to a point with the ladies' relay. But I think we'll run a lot better this week, because I think we're more like a 3:35 team," Ford said. "I told the guys, I still think we've got about three seconds that we can get. But I thought they ran really well, considering our best time last year was maybe 3:04, 3:05, and that was with Nate (Nathaniel Ezekiel).

"This is going to be more of a committee of runners than just having one big leg at the end to make it up. Like I told them, if you all run 46 (seconds), that's 3:04."

Friday's action begins with the men's and women's triple jump and women's 60-meter hurdles prelims at 3 p.m. CT. On Saturday, the field events will begin at 9:30 a.m. with the high jump, and the running events schedule starts with the women's 300 meters at 11:30 a.m.

Live results for the two-day meet are available at CAROLINA CLASSIC.

For the latest news on Baylor track and field all year long, follow its official Facebook, X and Instagram accounts: @BaylorTrack.

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