Nov. 2, 2002
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Senior Debbie Thornhill, a transfer from North Texas who won three Sun Belt Conference titles, lead the Bears with a fourth place finish at the Big 12 Conference Championships today in Columbia, Mo. She recorded a time of 20:54.44 in the 6,000-meter race, finishing just shy of three runners from Colorado.
Thornhill lead the Baylor women's squad to a fifth place finish. They accumulated a total of 136 points. With a total of 148 points, the men's squad took sixth place.
Freshman Angela Marvin, who earned Big 12 Runner of the Week honors earlier this season, also recorded a Top 20 finish for the Bears. She took 16th place with a time of 21:31.77. Senior Leah Marbach (22:03.44) and sophomore Jessa Vacek (22:04.16) finished 31st and 32nd, respectively. Rounding out the scoring for Baylor was senior Stephanie Bennett who took 55th place with a time of 22:57.38. Ana Kaczmarek (63rd; 23:23.77), Megan McCoin (68th; 23:36.85), Katherine Duncan (70th; 23:42.02) and Emily Bonilla (77th; 24:10.46) also ran for the Bears.
Leading the way for the men was junior Kyle King. With a time of 24:42.84 on the 8,000-meter course, King took 17th place. Finishing seconds behind was junior Matt Chance. He finished 21st overall with a time of 24:49.11. Freshman Rob Morrow finished 30th with a time of 24:57.57. Fellow newcomer Bo Price recorded a time of 25:10.66 to take 38th place. Also scoring for the Bears was sophomore Sam Bernal. With a time of 25:21.89, he took 44th place. Nick Davenport (51st; 25:29.15) and Cody Wells (73rd; 26:17.45) also competed for Baylor.
Colorado swept the team titles scoring just 25 points in the men's race and 34 points in the women's race. Texas (90), Texas A&M (114), Oklahoma State (132) and Iowa State (141) rounded out the top five in the men's race. On the women's side, Colorado was followed by Missouri (107), Texas (109) and Texas A&M (125).
The Bears will have two weeks to prepare to host the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas.
