T&F: Bears Close Michael Johnson with 4x400 Sweep

Friday, April 24

Waco, Texas

Baylor

Michael Johnson Invitational

T&F: Bears Close Michael Johnson with 4x400 Sweep

4/26/2026 12:55:00 AM | Track & Field

Demario Prince wins 110 hurdles in outdoor season debut

MICHAEL JOHNSON FINAL RESULTS

WACO, Texas – Finishing off the Michael Johnson Invitational in the best way possible, Baylor swept the 4x400-meter relays on Saturday and tallied seven event titles in the two-day meet at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium.

After running a career-best 45.79 open 400 –- second overall and top collegiate time – senior Aren Spencer had a 46.09 split on the opening leg to help the men's 4x400 relay coast to a winning time of 3:05.74. Freshman Success Oyibu, running her first 4x400, had a 54.60 split on the third leg of the women's relay that won with a season-best time of 3:32.58.

"We put Success on there who just ran the 100, never has run a 4x4," Baylor coach Michael Ford said. "She wanted to run, so I was like, 'Hey, let's go ahead.' They ran their season best with her. The guys, I kind of mixed them together. But for them to run 3:05 and 3;)8, that means we're deep."

The Baylor men actually went 1-2 in the closing relay, with the "B" team of Jack Jackson, Laurenz Colbert, Abbas Ali and Austen Diggs finishing second with a time of 3:07.79. The "A" team relay of Spencer, Malik Franklin (46.18), Bailey Hashmi (46.40) and anchor Tyler Honeyman (46.9) all ran sub-47 legs and helped the Bears record their second-best time of the season.

"We always talk about protecting home court. We don't want to get beat at home, essentially," Spencer said. "I'm happy we did a pretty good job. We're consistently around the 3:05 range, so I think it's all going to play for us and we're going to run a pretty fast time by conference."

Long jump winner Janae De Gannes and Oyibu ran career-best times of 11.18 and 11.19 and finished third and fourth, respectively, with the second- and third-best collegiate times in the 100 meters.

Oyibu came back less than an hour later to run third leg on the women's 4x400 relay with Alyssa Jones, Tiriah Kelley and anchor leg Serafima Lucero, knocking more than two seconds off their previous season best.

Baylor's only other win on Day 2 of the meet was All-American Demario Prince capturing the 110-meter hurdles title in his outdoor season debut. After clocking a 13.47-second time in the prelims, Prince held off a fast-charging Anthony Trucks from Houston and won with a 13.56 time.

"I think in the finals, I tried to push, and it just threw me off-balance," said Prince, the indoor bronze medalist in the 60-mter hurdles. "I had to recover, and I guess it messed up the whole race. It's just a learning process."

Freshman Werner Bezuidenhout also advanced to the finals and finished sixth in the 110 hurdles in a career-best time of 13.83.

Running a season best, the Baylor women's 4x100 relay of Kelley, Hannah Lowe, Jada Edwards and Royaltee Brown finished second in 43.39. The men's 4x100 relay of Diggs, Colbert, Ricquan Grahm and Hashmi was the runner-up with a time of 39.59.

In the men's 400 meters, Malik Franklin also ran a career PR, finishing third in 46.0. Baylor assistant coach Aaliyah Miller, a former NCAA champion, ran unattached and won the women's 800 meters in 2:05.11, with the Bears' Rickeisha Simms and Mackenize Browne finishing fourth and sixth, respectively.

Amon Malakwen was the runner-up in the men's 800 meters with a season PR of 1:48.83, just three-hundredths of a second behind him.

In Saturday's field events, freshman Jenna Flynn was second in the javelin with a career-best throw of 144-6, Joshua Johnson placed fourth in the shot put (51-4 ½) and Sydney Smith was fourth in the women's high jump at 5-7.

Baylor will compete in next weekend's Alumni Muster in College Station, Texas, before heading to Tucson, Ariz., for the Big 12 Outdoor Championship. May 14-16.

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

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