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Having already loaded up on quarter-milers in the last two recruiting classes, Baylor associate head coach Michael Ford was convinced the 4x400-meter relay teams "were going to be a lot better than last year."
Adding Georgia transfer Arria Minor, who was the top-ranked U18 quarter-miler in the world in 2018, took the Baylor women from a possible NCAA finalist to a medal contender.
"When her club coach called and told me she was interested in Baylor, I knew we had to figure out how to get her here," Ford said, "because she was going to be that difference-maker in taking us from just barely getting into the finals, around 7th or 8th, to maybe now getting into the top four or five."
Minor ran the leadoff leg when the women finished second behind national leader Texas A&M at the Texas Tech Classic with a season-best time of 3:35.79 on Jan. 30. The Bears are second in the Big 12 (behind Texas) and ninth nationally going into the Big 12 Indoor Championships that start Friday at the Texas Tech's Sports Performance Center in Lubbock.
"We still haven't run our best relay yet," Ford said. "With Sydney (Washington) coming back, Mariah (Ayers) was a little banged-up earlier, Kavia (Francis) was banged-up. And when we ran at Lubbock last time, Aaliyah (Miller wasn't there. That's the thing, last year we just knew that if one of those girls went out, we'd have a drop off. This year, we don't have a drop off."
Minor is also ranked third in the conference in the 200 and fifth in the 400 with adjusted times of 23.43 and 54.09, respectively, and is in position to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 200.
"I'm definitely happy with it, especially just seeing how far I've come," said Minor, who competed at Georgia through the 2020 indoor season before entering the transfer portal. "I'm happy with the times I've been running, how my body is feeling and the things that we've been talking about. I'm definitely excited for the next couple years to keep progressing."
A 12-time state champion at Denver East High School, Minor is part of a young corps of Baylor sprinters that includes Ayers, Francis, Lily Williams and Ackera Nugent, who's ranked second in the Big 12 and fifth nationally in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.08.
"I think it's cool having such a young team," Minor said. "It's more fun getting to learn together and not feel pressured to learn fast. It's fun to make mistakes and figure things out together at the same time. That's the nice thing about having a younger team."
Ranked in the top 10 in the league in both the 200 and 400, Francis had some knee and hamstring injuries when she came in, "so we slow-cooked her a little bit early on," Ford said.
"She has real speed," Ford said. "She's quiet at practice, but she has what I a call a quiet confidence about her. I'm looking forward to watching her run this weekend."
A two-time Colorado state champion in the 400, Williams had career-best times of 53.63 in the quarter and 2:09.10 in the 800. Going into the Big 12 meet, she was ranked in the top eight in the league in both the 400 meters and 600 yards.
"The big thing with Lily is she is a very hard worker, she's really coachable, she has a really big heart and she asks a lot of questions," Ford said. "She does everything to the T. Whatever I tell her to do, she tries to do it."
Ranked 15th nationally, Baylor may not have the depth to contend with No. 3 Texas for the Big 12 title the Bears won back in 2017.
"They don't want me to tell them right now we're not the favorite," head coach Todd Harbour said. "And I like that. They want to believe. That's what some of the teams that came before the '17 team were like, they were determined to win. They got second, they got second, and then finally we won it. I like the attitude that they have. The thing that our ladies have is a big senior class. And they're hungry."
That includes Miller, who is ranked first in the Big 12 in both the 800 (2:02.35) and 1,000 meters (2:44.19) and second in the 600 (1:18.85). She also figures to anchor the 4x400 relay.
"The expectation for her is to get another Big 12 title," Harbour said of Miller, who swept the indoor and outdoor Big 12 titles in the 800 meters in 2018. "She's already qualified for nationals and she got her Olympic Trials time out of the way. That was huge, because now we can just train, run to win, and I don't have to try to get her ready to run a fast 2:02. She's going to be ready to run that any meet."
The Big 12 Indoor Championships are being streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Lincoln Rose and Johanna Gretschel calling the action. Live results are available at PrimeTime.
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