Baylor Brew 6/6: Oui Oui!

Former BU Standout Earns Olympic Spot

Author

Baylor Brew Crew
June 06, 2024

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🐻 The Official Daily Newsletter For Baylor Athletics

Happy Thursday Bears. Sometimes in life, you just have to be able to adjust on the fly.

And for a former BU standout, we’re pretty sure she doesn’t mind changing any summer plans that she might have had in mind because she’s now headed to Paris!

We’ll recap that and so much more in today’s Brew! Check it out below!

🇺🇸 Oui Oui!
👟 Three Of A Kind
😎 Future Is Bright
🐻 And much, much more!

🎟 YOU PICK IT!

This week, Baylor Athletics unveiled a new Mini Plan option for the upcoming 2024 Football season.

The new “You Pick It” mini plan offers flexibility and allows fans to build their own mini-plan from three tiers of options to enjoy McLane Stadium this fall.

The Baylor Family can purchase the You Pick It mini plan for $225. Each plan includes the Bears' Homecoming Game on Oct. 26 against Oklahoma State and from there fans can build their plan based on their schedule for the remaining two games. 

📈 STOCK UP

🔺 Oui Oui! Avery Skinner’s summer just got A LOT busier.

The former BU star is headed to her first-ever Olympics after earning a spot on the Team USA squad with her outstanding performance at the Volleyball Nations League.
 
An outside hitter, Skinner made her USA Volleyball senior team debut at the 2022 Pan Am Cup, where she earned the Best Spiker and Best Scorer awards while the team earned bronze. She was also on the 2022 Pan Am Cup Final Six squad that earned silver. Since then, she has played in the Volleyball Nations league with the Red, White and Blue, playing in weeks one and two in 2023 as well as the VNL final, where the team earned fourth.
 
The Texas native played at Kentucky from 2017-20 and spent her fifth year with the Bears in 2021. She was an All-American at both institutions and won the NCAA title with the Wildcats in 2020.
 
The women's indoor volleyball competition at the Paris Games begins July 27 and finishes on August 11. They will be held at the South Paris Arena, located nine miles south of the Olympic village.

🔺 Three Of A Kind. Three seasons. Three All-American honors. Not too shabby.

Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi recorded his third-straight All-America honor in the javelin throw, while his roommate Nathaniel Ezekiel was the only entry on the track to punch his ticket to Friday's final round during the semifinals with an automatic spot in the 400-meter hurdles.

Prosper Nnamdi had his best throw of the day on the first attempt, landing at 246-3 for fourth place in the men's javelin throw. The junior from Nigeria completes his third collegiate season as a three-time All-American in all three attempts.
 
Ezekiel led Heat One of the men's 400-meter hurdles down the stretch with the fourth-fastest time of the day to book his ticket to Friday night’s finals. The 48.93-second race marked the seventh sub-49-second mark of his career and the third of the season.

🔺 Thrice As Nice. Even after playing his final rounds as a Baylor Bear, the record-setting career of Johnny Keefer continues.

This week, Keefer became the program’s first-ever three-time PING All-American.

Between PING and Golfweek honors, he has five All-America selections in his career, which is also a new program record.

The senior left his mark on the program in his final season, re-writing lofty marks in the Baylor history books. Keefer passed PGA Tour member and major champion Jimmy Walker for BU's career stroke-average mark with a 71.45 while establishing the Bears' 54-hole scoring record with a 12-under 198 at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.

🔺 Building Connections. While some Bears were enjoying the first few weeks of summer, a pair recently spent a few days building for their future.

BU equestrian duo Dominika Silvestri and Lauren Stebbins both recently attended the annual NCAA Career In Sports Forum at NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis.

They enjoyed networking with student-athletes, learning more about themselves, & hearing valuable information to help them navigate a future career in sports 

🎙 SIC ‘EM POD: MICHAEL FORD

No better way to get ready for the Bears’ showing
at NCAA Championships than sitting down with the man himself,
Baylor Track & Field Head Coach Michael Ford. 

The Baylor alum, and former 2-time indoor national champion,
has been instrumental over the past 2 decades in Baylor’s
success on the track, mentoring countless All-Americans,
program record holders, and national champions. 

Now, in his 3rd year as Head Coach at his alma mater,
Coach Ford is leading Baylor to nationals, and
is looking forward to an incredible opportunity with
Team USA this summer at the Olympics.

🌎 GOING GLOBAL

Some head to the beach.
Some head to the mountains.

These Bears headed across the ocean as the Baylor volleyball squad is in the midst of an incredible 10-day European tour.
 
Follow BaylorBears.com all week for full updates from the adventure.

🤔 SIC ’EM TRIVIA

Who was the last former BU star to earn a spot on the Team USA indoor volleyball roster?

Got a guess?

Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

🔥 BLACK IN BLACK

This past Thursday, a fourth one entered the mix.

This fall, the Bears are Back in Black.

📬 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!

🗓 ON THE DOCKET

Thursday, June 6th
👟 Track & Field at NCAA Championships (Eugene, Ore.)

Friday, June 7th
👟 Track & Field at NCAA Championships (Eugene, Ore.)

Saturday, June 8th
👟 Track & Field at NCAA Championships (Eugene, Ore.)

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Trick question! Avery is the first and only Bear to earn an Olympic roster spot!

(We know, we know - trick questions shouldn’t be allowed)

🐻 Have a great one, y’all!

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