Monday Daily Bears Report

Track and Field Sends 13 to Eugene

It's shaping up to be another good postseason for Baylor Track and Field, which is sending 13 athletes to Eugene, Oregon for the national championships. The usual suspects are around: Trayvon Bromell, George Caddick, and Rachel Johnson are among the qualifiers. Felix Obi also made the cut in the triple jump, a significant accomplishment as he continues to recover from offseason surgery. Other individual qualifiers include Annie Rhodes in the pole vault, Cion Hicks in shot put, Olicia Williams in the 800m, Brandon Moore in the 800m, Raena Rhone in the 400m, and Brianna Richardson in the triple jump.

Tiffani McReynolds' successful Baylor career came to an end when she dropped out of the competition due to an injury sustained in the preliminary rounds. McReynolds is one of the most decorated female athletes in Baylor history and would have been an almost guaranteed qualifier in the 100m hurdles.

Karrie Butler, Richard Gary, KD Cannon, Bryce Grace, and Malik Wilson did not advance as individuals but will go to Eugene as part of either the 4x100 or 4x400 relay teams. Baylor has not missed out on nationals in the 4x400 since 1980.

Trayvon Bromell was the most decorated of Baylor's representatives over the weekend with three national bids in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100 relay team.

Camp Season Begins

Baylor's traveling football camps have become a progressively more useful recruiting tool with the growth of the program. That trend appears as if it will continue into the 2015 offseason. Yesterday, McLane Stadium opened its doors to an estimated 550 athletes who came from all over Texas and beyond to improve and showcase their skills, and in some cases work for a Baylor offer.

There were some big names in attendance. I don't have a full list, but I'll include some of the highlights.

Baylor commits Patrick Hudson, JP Urquidez, and Grayland Arnold all made it out. One-time commit and huge target Tren'davian Dickson was also in attendance.

Sachse brought quite a few athletes, chief among them 4* CB Jared Mayden, who made the trip but didn't work out. Another interesting prospect was Anthonie Thomas, an absolutely massive offensive lineman who projects as a guard on the next level. He's raw, but he physically dwarfs Patrick Hudson and has the physical tools to become a battlewagon.

2017 running back Eno Benjamin, who has been hotly pursuing a Baylor offer for a solid year now, looked quick in drills. Reports also say that 2016 cornerback commit Raleigh Texada had a fabulous camp, and none of the receivers he was matched up against in one-on-ones could get the jump on him.

The second camp of the summer is getting under way in Houston as we speak, so tomorrow's report will have more updates. Full credit to the various scouts who were hanging out in Waco yesterday to collect all of this information. In fact, Amy Pagitt went above and beyond and snapped a photo of the new grey alternates in person:

I like 'em. Come to your own conclusions.

The Daily Bear

Today's bear is a new picture of one of my favorite bears, Corporal Wotjek, who has been on the DBR before. Wotjek was befriended by Polish soldiers in Syria in 1942 and accompanied Free Polish forces into combat during the battle of Monte Cassino in World War 2, where he was laden with spare ammunition. Wotjek was famous for drinking beer, smoking and eating cigarettes, and living in tents with his unit. He died in 1963 in Scotland as a decorated veteran of the Polish military. He's the bear that makes Joy and Lady look like chihuahuas.