Track and Field Set for NCAA Outdoor Championships
6/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 1, 2007
WACO, Texas -
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The Baylor track and field team will compete at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 6-9, at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif.
The Bears, ranked seventh in the final USTFCCCA Division I Men's poll, enter the meet following an impressive showing last week at the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. The Bears recorded two championships, including an individual title by Quentin Iglehart-Summers (San Antonio, Texas) and a relay title by the men's 4x400-meter relay.
Baylor earned five automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships and then received six at-large bids from the NCAA on Tuesday.
The men's 4x400-meter relay won the Midwest Region Championship for the fifth straight year, setting a new regional meet record of 3:01.66. The time is the fastest in the NCAA this season, the third fastest in the United States, and the fifth-fastest in the world.
Baylor ran sub-3:02 in the 4x400-meter relay for the 73rd time in NCAA history. The Bears are responsible for 30 of those 73 times (41.1%), with Arizona State ranking second with six such occurrences. The time also marks the 202nd time in NCAA history that a 4x400-meter relay ran under 3:03. Baylor owns 65 of the 202 times (32.2%), with LSU in second place with 13 occurrences.
Iglehart-Summers won the 400 meters with a season-best time of 45.62, while freshman teammate and Big 12 Champion LeJerald Betters (Waco, Texas) took second in 45.77. For Iglehart-Summers, the time marked the third race under 46 seconds on the season, while Betters recorded his fourth time under 46 seconds.
Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.), ranked second in the nation in the 200 meters, took second at the Midwest Regional in a time of 20.76. The race was the fourth straight that Witherspoon clocked a sub-21 second time. Before the Big 12 Championships, the senior had never dropped below 21 seconds, with a personal best of 21.02.
Lauren Hagans (Little Rock, Ark.) earned an automatic qualifying spot with her fifth-place finish in the women's 800 meters. Hagans ran a personal best time of 2:05.69, setting a new Baylor record in the event.
Baylor will travel with nine men and 11 women to the NCAA Championships. Receiving at-large bids to the outdoor meet are J.T. Scheuerman (Littleton, Colo.) who placed sixth in the 400 meters at the Midwest Regional and holds a season-best time of 46.63, Carla Grace (San Antonio, Texas) a ninth-place finisher at the region meet and a top time of 23.19, and Nichole Jones (Spring, Texas) who took sixth place in the women's 800 meters with a personal-best time of 2:05.70 after being edged at the line by Hagans for the last automatic qualifying spot and the school record. Jones, the 2007 Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year, set the previous school record of 2:05.89 at the Big 12 Championships.
Baylor also received at-large berths for its men's and women's 4x100-meter teams and its women's 4x400-meter relay.The women's 4x400-meter relay set a season-best time of 3:34.31 to finish fifth at the Midwest Regional. The Lady Bears also hold a season-best time of 44.89 in the sprint relay. The men's 4x100-meter relay won the Big 12 Championship in 39.65, but battled injury at the regional meet and failed to earn an automatic spot in the championships. The Bears hold a season-best time of 39.63 at the Drake Relays.
Live results for the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be available online at www.ncaasports.com and www.hornetsports.com.
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