Feb. 15, 2008

Results | Photo Gallery

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - In a race featuring five of the fastest teams in the nation, the Baylor men's 4x400-meter relay set a world leading time of 3:06.89 to win the special invitational event on Friday night at the Tyson Invitational.

The Bears, running with their top team for the first time this season clocked their third provisional qualifying time of the season and finished nearly a full second faster than the previous national-leading time of 3:07.72 set two weeks ago by Kentucky.

"Going into the race we knew that we needed a fast time to set us up for NCAAs," said LeJerald Betters. "It was a lot of fun to just run together for the first time this season."

Trey Harts opened up for the Bears with a 46.9 split out of the blocks. He passed off in a tie for first place to Justin Boyd. Two strides behind for the first lap, Boyd made his move in the second 200 meters, widening the gap to more than five meters at the exchange with a split of 46.6 seconds. Betters extended the lead for Baylor, running a 46.2 split to hand off with a comfortable lead. Quentin Iglehart-Summers split 46.8 to give Baylor the win by more than three full seconds.

"We knew that we had to represent Baylor and run a fast time," said Boyd. "When I got the stick I was ready to go. I knew I had to go out and get whoever was in front of me."

The 4x400-meter relay win is the 17th-straight event final win for the Bears against collegiate competition. Baylor has won 19 of its last 20 races against NCAA teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007 indoor season.

"The main thing that we wanted to do was stay healthy," said Iglehart-Summers. "We know what we can do, and we knew that we had a good shot to run a fast time. We just wanted to show everyone that we haven't gone anywhere. We feel like we can run with the best teams in the nation."

Lauren Hagans recorded a time of 4:42.18 to finish fifth in the women's invitational mile.

Betters won his heat and set a provisional qualifying time in his first open 400 meters of the season. Betters clocked 46.83 and qualified for Saturday's event finals as the fifth-seeded runner. Justin Boyd finished 23rd overall at 47.62 and Marcus Boyd placed 46th at 48.30.

Katrina Taylor finished second in her heat and 37th overall in the women's 400 meters with a personal-best time of 55.35. Brittany Bruce took second in her heat and placed 41st overall with a new personal best time of 55.60. Bruce's PR is nearly a full second faster than her previous best 56.40. Bruce has now set a new PR in each of the first four meets this season.

Tiffany Townsend finished 22nd overall in the women's 60 meters with a time of 7.52. Brittany Carr set a new personal best of 7.54 to place 25th overall. Jessica Gregory (7.58) and Carla Grace (7.63) finished 34th and 41st, respectively.

In the men's 60 meters, Harts won his heat and qualified for the event consolation finals with a time of 6.82 to place 16th overall. Later in the evening, Harts clocked 6.83 in the consolation finals to finish fourth. Courtney Thomas also clocked 6.82 to place 18th, while Jeremy Jackson ran 7.38 to finish 79th overall.

Ben Haby finished in a virtual tie for first in his heat of the men's mile run, placing in second by thousandths of a second. His time of 4:15.61 marked a new personal best and was good for 16th overall. Michael Williams placed 31st overall with a time of 4:22.57.

DeAna Carson finished third in her heat and 36th overall in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.72. Jackson took fifth in his heat and placed 27th overall in the men's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.14.

James Gilreath ran 1:53.46 in the men's 800 meters to finish ninth overall.

Carson finished seventh in the women's long jump with a mark of 5.85m (19-02 ½). Whitney Prevost also placed seventh in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.11m (23-04).

Jacob Jones took fifth place in the men's 5,000 meters with a time of 14:51.07, a new personal best indoors.

Brittany Devereaux finished 13th in the women's weight throw with a mark of 16.81m (55-02). Adrian Edmonds took 24th in the men's shot put with a throw of 14.04m (46-00 ¾).

Baylor will return to action on Saturday for the second day of competition at the Tyson Invitational. Running and field events both begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.