April 27, 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa -
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The Baylor men's track and field team won the 4x200-meter relay, and the women's team set a new school record in the distance medley relay and the 4x800-meter relay on the second day of competition at the Drake Relays on Friday at the Jim Duncan Track and Johnny Bright Field.
Baylor won the 4x200-meter relay with a season-best time of 1:21.65, just one-half second off the school record. Courtney Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) led off and immediately started making up ground on the stagger. LeJerald Betters (Waco, Texas) took the baton and maintained the lead through the quarter-mile. Trey Harts (Lake Charles, La.) widened the gap, and Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) extended the lead for Baylor through the finish.
The relay win was Baylor's 42nd overall at the Drake Relays, ranking third all-time at the event. Only Illinois (71) and Kansas (45) have recorded more relay championships in the history of Drake Relays.
"I am really proud of our team today," said head coach Todd Harbour. "We had a big day on both the men's and women's side. We had a super effort today by a lot of people. It would be tough to try and name every person; it was a total team effort."
The women's distance medley relay set a new Baylor record with a time of 11:08.88 to finish second in the event. The previous record of 11:15.32 was set at last season's Drake Relays. Ruth Waller (Manchester, England) led off for the Bears, passing the baton in second place after the 1,200-meter leg. Carla Grace (San Antonio, Texas) split the 400-meter leg in 52.9, making up ground on race-leading Iowa. Danielle Bradley (West Palm Beach, Fla.) took over first place during the 800-meter leg, giving Nichole Jones (Spring, Texas) a cushion for the 1,600-meter leg. Jones led for the majority of the race, but was edged down the homestretch by Minnesota to finish in second place.
Baylor set its second school record of the night, placing second in the women's 4x800-meter relay in 8:28.48. That time was more than 13 seconds faster than the previous school record set at this year's Texas Relays, and was the second-fastest time in the world this year.
Bradley led off the first leg, holding the lead for the first lap and a half. She then fell to fourth on the second lap, before kicking at the end to pass the baton in second place with a 2:06.9 split. On the second leg, Waller went out quickly with Minnesota, hanging right behind the leaders for the first 700 meters. Waller then outran the Golden Gopher on the homestretch to finish with a split of 2:08.1. Minnesota's third leg got out quickly, and held the lead over Lauren Hagans (Little Rock, Ark.), until the junior pulled level at the exchange for a 2:06.3 split. Jones ran anchor leg for Baylor against 2006 NCAA Indoor National Champion Heather Dorniden of Minnesota. Jones started her kick at the 650-meter mark and split 2:06 flat, but was unable to overtake the Minnesota runner.
"Our girls ran incredibly in both races," said Harbour. "Three of our girls had already come back from setting a school record in the DMR (distance medley relay) and then set a school record in the 4x800. To be the second race of the day and still break the school record, the Drake Relays record, and be second-fastest in the world is pretty impressive."
The Baylor women's 4x100-meter relay team started off the day with a win in the preliminary rounds. The Lady Bears posted a season-best time of 45.14, the third-fastest of the preliminaries. Jessica Gregory (Richmond, Texas) passed the baton to Grace who quickly made up ground on the backstretch. Tiana Hood (Long Beach, Calif.) attacked the curve to give Baylor the lead, and Katrina Taylor (Baton Rouge, La.) pulled away from the competition to give Baylor its fourth regional qualifying time of the season.
The men's sprint relay team also won its preliminary heat with a time of 39.71, the fastest time in the men's prelims. R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.) led off the relay, seeing his first action on the 4x100-meter squad this season. Witherspoon opened a lead for the Bears on the second leg, and passed to Thomas, who widened the gap with an aggressive run of the curve. Freshman sprinter Harts cruised the last one hundred meters unchallenged to give Baylor the win, and its sixth regional time of the season.
"I thought R.J. (Anderson) did a great job filling in on the sprint relay," said Harbour. J.T. (Scheuerman) is sick and wasn't able to travel this weekend, and we put one of our quarter-milers in the leadoff leg and he did a great job."
Both 4x100-meter relay teams qualified for the event finals, which will be run on Saturday at 4:27 p.m. (women) and 4:32 p.m. (men).
In the 100 meters, Gregory recorded a season-best 11.84 to win her heat. The freshman posted the fourth-fastest time overall to advance to the event finals. On the men's side, Thomas finished second in his heat in 10.42 and Harts placed second in his heat with a time of 10.55. Thomas qualified for the event finals with the fourth-fastest time of the preliminaries, but Harts finished ninth-overall missing the finals by three-one thousandths of a second.
The event finals for the 100 meter dash will take place on Saturday at 2:50 p.m. (women) and 3:00 p.m. (men).
The women's 4x400-meter relay ran its fastest time of the season, winning its heat in 3:36.01. Lauren Tillman (Lawrenceville, Ga.) got out to a slow start on the leadoff leg, before Grace made up a 15 meter deficit running a 52 flat split. Rena Napolean (Colorado Springs, Colo.) held the lead, with pressure coming from Mississippi, and Taylor broke free from the Lady Rebels at the 200 meter mark to lead the Lady Bears to victory. Baylor had the second-fastest time of the preliminaries and qualified for the event finals tomorrow.
"You can't say enough about Rena Napolean," said Harbour. "A couple of months ago she had a blot clot and a mild stroke, and she battled back and is running really well for us."
The men's mile relay team won its heat in a regional qualifying time of 3:05.95, the fastest time of the prelims. Anderson led of the relay for the Bears, capturing the lead at the first exchange. Mark Teter (San Antonio, Texas) took the baton and held off Nebraska through the second leg, with both teams level at the second handoff. Betters blazed through the third leg, giving Baylor a comfortable lead for anchor-leg Quentin Iglehart-Summers (San Antonio, Texas). Nebraska made a charge on the backstretch, but Iglehart-Summers kicked through the second curve and down the backstretch to give Baylor the win.
Both mile relay teams qualified for the event finals that take place on Saturday evening at 5:51 p.m. (women) and 6:00 p.m. (men)
In other track and field action, four Baylor student-athletes competed in the 2007 Rice Twilight meet on Thursday evening. Chris Cardwell (Abilene, Texas) finished first in the men's hammer throw, setting a new school record of 53.25m (174-08). The distance broke his old school record by nearly five feet. In the women's pole vault, Kaleigh Teel (Friendswood, Texas) cleared a height of 3.70m (12-01.50) to tie the Baylor record. In 2000, Kendra Phelps also vaulted the same height. Ashley Korol (Wheaton, Ill.) vaulted 3.60m (11-09.75), while Katie Stoever (Tulsa, Okla.) cleared 3.50m (11-05.75).
Baylor will return to action on Saturday in the final day of the Drake Relays, held at Drake Stadium and the Jim Duncan Track and Johnny Bright Field.
