Couts wins National Championship
8/14/2000 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 4, 2000
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Junior quartermiler Brandon Couts brought home another track National Championship today as he won the men's 400 meters in a time of 45.79 at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships.
"This is a big accomplishment for me. My freshman year I lost on time and last year I was injured, so it is about time for my first championship," Couts said.
Running in the second heat, Couts maintained a second place position before taking the lead for good in the last 50 meters.
"I am excited for Brandon. He has had several close calls and he was due. He knows that," head coach Clyde Hart said.
The National Championship is Baylor's ninth indoor title and fifth individually. Couts is the third Bear to win an indoor National Championship title in the 400 meters. Deon Minor won the first in 1992 (46.15) and again in 1995 (46.00).
Another bright spot for Baylor was the third place finish of the women's 4x400 meter realy team. Keisa Brown, Quanta Anderson, Tamara Johnson and Barbara Petrahn clocked a 3:34.53.
"The women have done a phenomenal job considering where they were when the year started. It didn't look like they would even get here," Hart said.
Petrahn finished strong for Baylor, pulling the team from sixth place to third on the final leg.
"I just started to run and suddenly I realized I was in third place. Everyone ran so fast. This team is awesome because we run for each other," Petrahn said.
The team may also have felt some added pressure due to the injury situation that kept the men's relay team from running.
"We wanted to do the best we could because we knew Coach Hart was disappointed about the men and we wanted to make him proud," Brown said.
Jim Autenreith took tenth in the men's pole vault, clearing 17-04.50.
"The first bars came through easy, but as they got higher my technique changed enough that I was not able to clear the higher heights. I know I can vault higher and compete with these guys, it just wans't today," Autenreith said.
The top eight finishers in the vault all cleared 18-00 or higher.
"Jim competed against the best collegiate vaulters I have seen in a long time. He did well for as young as he is. We will work some things out and you will see him in Durham, N.C. for the NCAA outdoor championship," field events coach Danny Branham said.
The men's 4x400 meter relay did not compete due to injuries. Zsolt Szeglet turned his ankle Monday forcing the Bears to use substitute Peter Hauser in his place. However, the team lost Bayano Kamani to a strained hamstring yesterday during the preliminary running of the 400 meters and was not able to field a team.
"Zsolt couldn't run with his ankle injury and I won't put him in a position to do any further damage. That's just not right. You have no control over injuries," Hart said.
The Bears entered the meet with the top time in the nation and had high hopes for winning the national title.
"I'm disappointed. The team is disappointed, but we know these things happen. We know we are the best team, but obviously we would have liked to have settled that on the track. We just have to start preparing for the outdoor season," Hart said.
The men's team finished 15th overall with 10 points, while the women took 30th with seven points.
