🐻The Official Daily Newsletter For Baylor Athletics

TGIF Baylor Fam. As we head into an extended weekend, there’s no better time to learn about some new faces that will be joining the Bears next season!

Learn about that and much more in today’s Brew! Check it out below!

🏀 Italian Stallion
⛳️ Another Puzzle Piece
🎥 Baylor+: Taking Flight
🐻 And much, much more!

🎥 BAYLOR+: TAKING FLIGHT

For Alexis Brown, every jump tells a story.

Of sacrifice, faith, strength, and the quiet moments few ever see. After winning
the NCAA Indoor Championship in long jump, her senior season isn’t just
about medals — it’s about finishing what she started.

As she prepares for one final push toward the Outdoor World Championship, this
is a portrait of a young woman leaping beyond limits, and chasing a dream that
has been years in the making. This is more than a season. It’s the
culmination of a legacy.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Power Pair. For the first time in program history and just the fifth time in conference history (since 1997), one school swept the Big 12 Track & Field Outdoor Performer of the Year honors.

That school? Baylor.

Alexis Brown and Nathaniel Ezekiel both captured the accolades to earn history for the Bears.
 
Brown, defending her 2024 outdoor award, is the first Baylor woman to earn Performer of the Year in back-to-back years. Ezekiel, having already won the honor in the indoor season, is the first Baylor man to earn Performer of the Year for the outdoor season since Trayvon Bromell in 2015 and the first male athlete since 2019 to earn Performer of the Year in both the indoor and outdoor season.
 
With Brown claiming both the Performer of the Year and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, she becomes the first Baylor woman to win Scholar-Athlete of the Year since the voting began in 2013. Additionally, the graduate is only the second female in the Big 12 to win both Performer of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

👟 More On The Award-Winning Duo

🔼 Italian Stallion. The new faces continue to roll in for the Baylor men’s hoops program, as the Bears announced the addition of Italian forward Maikcol Perez.
 
A native of Bassano del Grappa, Italy, Perez comes to Waco with no shortage of success on the international level, competing with Orange1 Bassano before signing with the Bears.

Perez displayed his skills last year for Italy in the 2024 U17 FIBA World Cup, where he averaged 14.6 points on 58.6% shooting, adding 8.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists in seven games. His high-water mark came in the round of 16 against Australia, where he poured in 18 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and dished out nine assists. In the final against Team USA, he added 18 more points, along with eight rebounds and eight assists, clinching a spot on the all-tournament team.

🏀 More On The New Bear

🔼 Puzzle Piece. Fresh off yet another appearance at NCAA Championships, the Baylor women’s golf team is already building up for another run next year.

On Thursday, the Bears announced the signing of Illinois transfer Yurang Li.
 
A native of Fullerton, Calif., she played two seasons in Champaign, carding 51 rounds across 17 tournaments over the last two seasons.

Li was a mainstay in Illinois' lineup a season ago, finishing second on the team with a stroke average of 73.64 across 33 rounds. Her sophomore season was highlighted by a career-best tie for ninth at the Boilermaker Spring Classic last month, helping the Illini claim the team title by a shot.

Last summer, she claimed the 110^th Canadian Women's Amateur Championship. Entering the final round in third place, she used a final-round 69 to overtake Momo Sugiyama and Ashley Zozlowski to win by a shot at Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, British Columbia.

🔼 Welcome To Waco. Rounding out the trio of programs adding new faces this week was the Baylor men’s tennis program, who added a big time pickup in Old Dominion transfer Connor Van Schalkwyk.
 
Van Schalkwyk comes to Waco from Norfolk after completing his first two years with the Monarchs with multiple honors. The Windhoek, Namibia, native helped guide ODU to 2025 Sun Belt Regular Season and Conference Champions for the third straight year. Van Schalkwyk has earned as high as No. 6 ranking in doubles and earned a qualifying bid to Waco this past year in the NCAA Individual Championships in singles and doubles.

In his sophomore season, Van Schalkwyk posted 17-11 singles record and 20-7 doubles record, playing primarily on Court 1 for both.

🎾 More On Van Schalkwyk

🎥 BAYLOR+: COMING SOON….

🤔 SIC ’EM TRIVIA

We are 9️⃣8️⃣ days away from kickoff of the 2025 Baylor football season, the exact number of career rushes for QB Sawyer Robertson.

How many of those career rushes have resulted in TDs for Robertson?

Got a guess?

Scroll to the bottom to see the answer!

📅 ON THE DOCKET

Wednesday, May 28th
👟 Track & Field at NCAA West Preliminary Round (College Station, Texas)

Thursday, May 29th
👟 Track & Field at NCAA West Preliminary Round (College Station, Texas)

Friday, May 30th
👟 Track & Field at NCAA West Preliminary Round (College Station, Texas)

Saturday, May 31st
👟 Track & Field at NCAA West Preliminary Round (College Station, Texas)

📬 SHARE THE BREW

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Simply forward them this email and they can sign up to receive the brew by clicking the link below to subscribe. The Brew is sent every weekday and is completely free!

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Five.

🐻 Have a great weekend, y’all!

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