Fairley’s Discus Title Highlights Baker’s 2024 Outdoor Debut
BALDWIN CITY, Kan. - The Baker track and field teams opened up their 2024 outdoor campaigns by splitting trips to the USM Distance Festival and the CMU Open this past weekend.
On Friday, the BU distance squad headed to Leavenworth, Kan. to compete in the USM Distance Festival, hosted by Saint Mary. The Wildcats posted three top-five finishes in the 3000m steeplechase with Jana Landreth (12:52.02) and Natalie Kennedy (13:03.10) finishing back-to-back in third and fourth, while Wyatt Allen ran a 10:16.37 and placed fifth on the men's side.
Haley Carter picked up a top-15 outing in the 5K, finishing just over the 19-minute mark (19:05.56) to take 15th in the event. Anthony Davis was the first BU runner across in the men's 5K after he registered a time of 15:40.47 to place 19th overall.
With the rest of the Wildcats competing at the CMU Open, Baker boasted nine top-five finishes on Saturday in Fayette, Mo. with Colbie Fairley taking home an individual title in the women's discus.
Fairley marked a personal-best throw of 39.49 meters to earn first place in the discus and added another top-10 showing by placing seventh in the hammer throw (40.65m).
In the men's javelin, Gage Hiebert had his best distance land at 55.02 meters, which placed him third, and teammate Ryan Jensen followed right behind him in fourth with a throw of 50.62m. Hiebert qualified for the NAIA Outdoor Championships in the javelin last year where he finished 11th overall at the national meet.
Making her first jump since competing at the NAIA Indoor Championships earlier this month, Naomi Kilson placed fifth in the women's long jump on a distance of 5.26 meters. McLane Rawie took third in the event on the men's side with his best mark coming in at 6.80 meters.
Jackson Stoppel took fourth in the men's pole vault after registering his best height at 3.80 meters.
On the track, Trot Wood collected a pair of top-three finishes in the men's sprints after earning runner-up honors in the 100-meter dash (10.91) before going on to add a third-place finish in the 200m with a time of 22.21.
Rylee Lansdown and Jalilah Robinson crossed in back-to-back spots in the women's 400m with Lansdown clocking a 1:05.82 and placing sixth, while Robinson ran a 1:06.09 and took seventh. Alexander Claessens placed eight in the men's 400m after finishing his lap around the track in 53.71 seconds.
Up next, the Wildcats will head to the Bethel Invite on Saturday, March 23 with the one-day meet starting at 10 a.m. with field events and 11 a.m. on the track in Newton, Kan.
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