Jan. 19, 2002

HOUSTON, Texas - Scoring eight places deep and only the top two individuals from each school Baylor's men's track team finished second and the women placed third at the Houston Indoor Invitational Saturday. In all, the Bears had five individuals take top honors in their events, while eight other athletes finished in the top three.

Baylor's distance teams saw outstanding performances from both the men's and women's side. Junior Alex Adler won the 5,000-meter crown with a time of 15:13.13, while senior Jon Capron led the 800 meter pack with a 1:54.21 clocking, and junior Ferenc Bekesi won the mile with a 4:11.96 mark. Also turning in an impressive performance was sophomore transfer Kyle King, who posted a PR time of 8:23.66 in the 3,000 to finish third overall.

On the women's side the duo of Debbie Thornhill and Kara Newton finished one, two in the 3,000 meters with times of 10:00.76 and 10:10.40, respectively. Second-place finishes went to senior Lanie Millar, who narrowly missed provisional qualifying standards in the 800, posting a time of 2:10.87, and the women's distance medley relay team that clocked a time of 12:18.43. Baylor's 4x400 team, comprised of Tiffany Wise, Jasmine Esiere, Danielle Myricks, and Chava Demart finished third (3:51.77) to in-state rivals Texas and Rice.

For the men, freshman Darold Williamson won the first individual title of his career, claiming top 400 meter honors with a time of 47.80. Williamson, along with teammates Michael Smith, Robert Quiroga, and Ryan Kedley just missed taking the 4x400 crown, running the race in 3:16.03 to UT-Arlington's 3:15.96.

In the field events senior Charley Donaldson finished second in the pole vault clearing a height of 16-0 ?, while fellow senior Sherman Harness tied with four other athletes for third in the high jump, leaping 6-7.

Baylor track and field will return to action next weekend when it travels to Baton Rouge, La., for the LSU Invitational Sat., Jan. 26.