April 19, 2003
Complete Results
WACO, Texas - On a windy day at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex, the Baylor Bears closed out the home portion of their schedule with a strong showing at the annual Michael Johnson Classic.
The meet ended in traditional fashion, with the Bears winning the men's 4x400 relay. Darold Williamson ran the anchor leg, taking the baton in second place before powering past and outlasting the final runner from Seton Hall. Baylor clocked a 3:06.91 to defeat Seton Hall (3:07.94). The second Baylor relay team also recorded a regional-qualifying mark, taking third with a time of 3:11.26.
Williamson also was one of many Bears to run well in the open 400. He came from behind to defeat former teammate Zsolt Szeglet (46.36) in the invitational heat with a time of 46.17. In the university division finals, Joel Martin clocked a 47.65 to take the title. In the women's 400, the Bears swept the top two places. Jasmine Opusunju won the invitational race (55.55) followed by Tiffany Wise (55.57).
Lakadron Ivery had another stellar meet. She recorded the fastest preliminary times in both the 100 (11.41) and 200 (23.25) before winning the finals in both events (11:43; 23.70). She also ran on the women's 4x400 relay, which finished second with a time of 3:42.66. Men's sprinter Jamen Saziru also recorded a sprint victory, taking the 200 with a time of 21.38.
The 400 hurdles continued to be a strong event for the Bears. In the women's invitational race, Danielle Myricks took the title with a time of 59.67. Seth Billy took the men's invitational crown, finishing the race in 51.73. Jordan Lewis had a career day in the university division of the event. He was one of Baylor's two new regional qualifiers, clocking a season-best 51.90 in the prelims. He followed that up with his second personal best of the day, winning the finals with a 51.90. The other new regional qualifier was Matt Linn. He recorded a leap of 24-2 ? to finish third in the long jump.
All-American April Holliness claimed the only field event victory for the Bears. She won the long jump with a leap of 21-2 ?. Senior Ron Beauford also highlighted the field events for the men. With a season-best throw of 190-10, he took second in the javelin.
Other top finishes for the Baylor team included Janelle Mulkey (2nd; 13.99) and Jordan Willmann (3rd; 14.21) in the 100 hurdles, Korey Wright (2nd; 1:55.23) in the university division of the 800, Saziru (3rd; 10.70) in the 100, Debbie Thornhill (2nd; 4:32.34) and Matt Chance (3rd; 3:56.41) in the 1,500, Anna Kaczmarek (3rd; 18:22.72) in the 5,000, Mary Pearce (3rd; 2:15.16) in the 800, Wil Fitts (2nd; 1:51.12) in the invitational heat of the 800 and Sam Bernal (2nd; 15:20.39) in the 5,000.
The Bears will face a plethora of tough competitors when they travel to the 94th annual Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa Thursday through Saturday, April 24-26.
