Baylor
NCAA Championships
4x400 Relays End NCAA Championships on Good Note
6/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 10, 2006
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Baylor men's 4x400-meter relay of freshman Quentin Iglehart-Summers (San Antonio, Texas), juniors Mark Teter (San Antonio, Texas), Kevin Mutai (Round Rock, Texas) and Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) ran a season-best 3:02.93 to finish third, the 27th straight year the Bears have earned All-America honors in the event and the 21st time in that span they have finished in the top three, in the final event of the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Saturday at Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.
The Bears were near the front the entire way after a strong opening leg from Iglehart-Summers and a solid second leg from Teter. Mutai moved the Bears into a dead heat for second with TCU as he handed the stick to Witherspoon. In the last 100 meters, Witherspoon was tripped up just enough when TCU's anchor cut in front of him coming off the curve and couldn't regain enough momentum to move up any more. A yellow flag was raised by the official on the curve, but no disqualification was issued. LSU won the event with a time of 3:01.58, while TCU took second in 3:02.12.
Witherspoon, who prior to warming up Saturday didn't know exactly how much he had left in the tank after running in the prelims of the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x400-meter relay and two rounds of the open 400 meters was not pleased with the outcome.
"I had a lot left," said Witherspoon, who was making a strong push to catch LSU on the final curve. "We worked hard all year, and to have one little thing happen to throw us off is disappointing."
Mutai shared Witherspoon's feelings, but said the Bears can walk away with a positive feeling about the effort.
"All year we didn't really run as a team," Mutai said. "The prelims here were the first time we ran as a team and realized just how good we can be. Other than the setbacks, that was a pretty good race. We came in always getting a good effort from some and not the others, but Coach (Clyde) Hart did a good job of putting everyone where they needed to be so we could run our best."
The women's 4x400-meter relay of freshman Katrina Taylor (Baton Rouge, La.), junior Kandace Tucker (Irving, Texas), sophomore Carla Grace (San Antonio, Texas) and senior Angel Perkins (Cerritos, Calif.) ran the second-fastest time in school history at 3:29.30 to finish fifth and earn the Bears' 10th All-America honor in the event and first since 2002.
The time ranks just behind the school record of 3:29.11 set by Angelique Banket, Aaliyah Cooper, Yulanda Nelson and Jennifer Jordan in 1998.
Senior Wil Fitts (DeSoto, Texas) earned his second straight All-America honors in the 800 meters, finishing eighth with a time of 1:48.10.
"We ended the meet on a great note with both the relays," first-year head coach Todd Harbour said. "It was unfortunate for the guys, but each relay dropped two seconds from their season bests, so we can't be disappointed.
"I was proud of Wil, because he went for broke and did what he needed to do to try to win it. He knew it was a gamble, but he laid it all out there. Not having two of our top guys, Jerome (Miller) and Jacob (Norman), at their best, we were a little off, but there were a lot of good things from the meet that we can take into next year."
The men scored 13 points to tie for 20th in the team standings, while the women scored four to tie for 47th. In addition to the two relays and Fitts, senior Chris Gillis (Pennsauken, N.J.) earned All-America honors with a third-place finish in the long jump and Perkins earned All-America honors with her ninth-place finish in the 400 meters.
Players Mentioned
