Track To Open Indoor Season At Oklahoma
12/1/2000 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Dec. 1, 2000
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Bears open season at Oklahoma
Baylor's men's and women's track teams will begin the 2001 indoor season a little early, traveling to Norman, Okla., Saturday for the Oklahoma All-Comers Meet at the Mosier Indoor Facility. Field events will begin at 10 a.m. with the first track races set for 12:30 p.m. The last field even is scheduled for 3 p.m. while the races will conclude at 6 p.m.
Big field welcomes Bears at OU
In all, 21 teams will be competing this weekend in Norman. A total of 16 college and university teams will be attending the meet with three of those teams competing only on the women's side. Also in action will be the Barton Track Club, the LC Express Track Club, the New Era Sprint Club, the Pioneer Track Club and the Oklahoma Alumni team.
Baylor history in Norman
The Bears have established 11 school indoor records in Norman -- four on the men's side and seven on the women's side. Most recently, Rachal Roessler established a school mark in the 20-pound weight throw with a distance of 45 feet, one inch in 1999. In that same season, Nzingah Kamani turned in a time of 7.9 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles for a school record.
From the Hart: Coach's comments about upcoming meet
"This meet traditionally closes out the fall training season. We are not really put an emphasis on preparing for competition with this meet. Instead we will use this as a means to better prepare ourselves for the rest of the season. ... Because we don't have an indoor facility, we use this meet to let our younger people get comfortable with the indoor environment. This gives them an opportunity to see the differences between running on a 200-meter track and a 400-meter track. This will also give us a chance to see where we are from a conditioning standpoint."
Hart begins 38th season at helm
Clyde Hart will begin his 38th season as the head coach of Baylor's track and field program Saturday. In his tenure at BU, Hart has firmly established the Bear program as one of the best in the nation. Since 1985, 16 Baylor athletes have won 51 NCAA Championships, including two last season. An men's assistant coach for Team USA at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Hart has coached eight World Record holders and seven NCAA record holders. In 1996, he was named Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee. That year, he coached Michael Johnson to Gold Medals in the 200 meters and the 400 meters at the Games of the 26th Olympiad in Atlanta, Ga. Hart was also named NCAA Indoor Coach of the Year in 1996 after garnering such honors in 1989. A four-time Southwest Conference Indoor Coach of the Year, Hart has seen 14 of his male athletes finish in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships. He has established Baylor as "Quarter-Mile U." after producing 10 4x400-meter relay national champions and three 400-meter national champions.
A look back at the 2000 season
The Baylor track and field teams added to their already growing number of national titles as the men's 4x400 meter relay team won the outdoor championship in Durham, N.C. Brandon Couts claimed his first individual national championship during the indoor season when he clocked a 45.79 in the 400 meters. Overall, 14 athletes claimed All-America honors during the 2000 season. Karin Ernstrom was outstanding on the track and in the classroom. She was named to two academic all-America teams and was the first Baylor athlete inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Athletically, Ernstrom placed 8th in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In Big 12 Conference action, Couts won four league titles, taking first in the indoor 400 meters and the outdoor 200 meters. He was also part of the 4x400 meter relay teams that swept the indoor and outdoor titles. Bayano Kamani grabbed the outdoor 400 meter intermediate hurdles title, his second in two years. For the women, Barbara Petrahn won the outdoor 400 meters and helped anchor the women's 4x400 meter relay to a second-place finish during both seasons.
