June 7, 2005
2005 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Wednesday-Saturday, June 8-11
Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex - Sacramento, Calif.
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Baylor will compete at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Sacramento State University at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. The stadium was also the host site for the 2004 United States Olympic Trials, where Darold Williamson and Jeremy Wariner punched their tickets to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
The Bears will send 15 athletes, nine women and six men in 11 events, seeking to continue the program's long tradition of NCAA champions. Baylor captured a pair of titles at last year's championships in Austin, Texas, with Wariner taking the 400-meter crown, then helping lead the Bears to a title in the 4x400-meter relay.
The 4x400-meter relay has a 24-year streak outdoors of earning All-America status by finishing in the top eight. Williamson, now a senior, comes in with the nation's fastest collegiate time in the 400 meters at 44.76 and has been an All-American outdoors every year.
The championships will be broadcast nationally on tape delay Saturday, June 18 at 2:30 p.m. CDT on CBS affiliates (Ch.10 in Waco).
BAYLOR NOTES
Collecting the Hardware
Baylor track & field athletes and coaches have garnered many honors this season. Senior Darold Williamson was named Mondo Midwest Region Male Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track Coaches Association this week and earlier this year was named Big 12 Conference Athlete of the Week (April 26). Sophomore Brittany Brockman was the only underclassman named to the CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI First Team and is now eligible for Academic All-America honors, and a total of nine members of the squad were named to the Academic All-Big 12 Conference Teams, including six first-teamers. Head coach Clyde Hart was named USOC Coach of the Year and assistant coach Michael Ford was named Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year for women's sprints/hurdles by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association.
Coming in on Top
Senior Darold Williamson will have the bullseye on his back coming into the championships with the nation's fastest time in the 400 meters at 44.76. Williamson was also an Olympic gold medalist as the anchor on the U.S. 4x400-meter relay team and will anchor the Bears' 4x400 once again as they attempt to defend their NCAA title in the event.
Women's Sprinters Look to Make Point(s)
The Baylor women's sprinting corps will look to earn the bulk of the Bears' scoring this week, competing in four events. Seniors Lakadron Ivery and Elizabeth Wilson and freshman Carla Grace have each qualified for the 100 meters, while Ivery and Wilson have qualified in the 200. The women's 4x100-meter relay will look to follow up its school-record setting performance at the Midwest Regional with a high finish, while the 4x400-meter relay also comes in with one of the nation's top times. The Bears can also score with senior April Holliness and Ivery competing in the long jump, sophomore Brittany Brockman in the 10,000 meters and freshman school-record holder Brittany Devereaux in the discus.
