Track Announces Fall Signing Class
11/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Nov. 16, 2000
WACO, Texas - Baylor track and field head coach Clyde Hart announced Thursday the signing of nine athletes in the fall signing period. The class is made up of three male athletes and six women athletes.
"We are extremely happy with the athletes we have signed," Hart said. "This is the most we have ever signed in the early period. We were able to fill some areas where we know we will be in need of help. We will look to fill other areas in the spring, but this gives us a good foundation. We will go into the spring recruiting period knowing exactly what we need."
Headlining the class is Japheth Ogamba from Nairobi, Kenya. Ogamba, who was a member of Kenya's 2000 Junior World Championship men's 4x400-relay team, has turned in times of 20.9 seconds in the 200 meters, 45.85 seconds in the 400 meters and 1:47.02 in the 800 meters.
Also joining the men's team will be Dwight Ruff from Camden, N.J., and Darold Williamson from Holmes High School in San Antonio, Texas. Ruff has posted a time of 51.54 in the 400-meter hurdles and finished the 2000 season ranked fourth nationally. Williamson finished ranked seventh nationally in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 46.94.
"It was good to be able to get three athletes of such high quality for our men's team," Hart said. "All are ranked high in their events and will be great additions to our team."
On the women's side, the Bears inked Jessa Vacek from Carroll High School in Southlake, Texas. Vacek won the 2000 state 4A title in the 1,600 meters, she also won the state cross country title and was second at the Foot Locker South Regional last fall. Vacek, who was ranked as one of the 25 top cross country runners in the nation earlier this year by Harrier Magazine, has turned in times of 5:07 and 10:58 in the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters, respectively.
Emilly Bonilla won the Region IV cross country title in 2000 at Carroll High School in Corpus Christi, Texas. She finished seventh in the 5A state championships and was a recipient of a National Merit Hispanic Scholarship. Bonilla has posted times of 5:12 in the 1,600 meters and 11:24 in the 3,200 meters. Holly Moser will come to Baylor from Lewisville High School in Lewisville, Texas, where she was a 10th-place finisher in the 2000 Class 5A cross country state championships. Moser also ran a time of 2:17 in the 800.
Baylor also signed three female athletes from out of state. Headlining that group is Lydia Morris of Mahomet, Illinois, who was named Illinois Track and Field Athlete of the Year as a junior by USATF. Morris competed in the heptathlon, the triple jump and the high jump. She posted jumps of 38 feet in the triple jump and five feet, five inches in the high jump.
Elizabeth Wilborne of Charlottesville, Va., will join the program after a standout career at Western Albemarle High School. There she posted times of 5:13 in the 1,600 meters, 11:22 in the 3,200 meters and 18:57 in the 5,000 meters, and she finished eighth in the state cross country meet as a junior. Danielle Myricks, a native of Willingboro, N.J., was ranked 12th nationally last season with times of 1:01.01 in the 400-meter hurdles and 55.63 in the 400 meters.
"These girls will be able to make an immediate impact on our cross country team," Hart said. "There are some really fine distance runners in that group. Added to that is an outstanding hurdler in Danielle Myricks and the top athlete in Illinois in Lydia Morris."
Baylor will begin its 2000-2001 indoor season Dec. 2 at the Norman Fall Meet hosted by the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. After that, the Bears will not compete again until the Sooner Invitational, also in Norman, Jan. 20. The 2001 outdoor season gets underway March 17 with the College Station Relays at Texas A&M.
