Track and Field Opens 2009 Season
1/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Jan. 15, 2009
WACO, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
TRACK AND FIELD OPENS AT WES KITTLEY INVITATIONAL
The Baylor men's and women's track and field teams are set to open the 2009 indoor season at the Wes Kittley Invitational on Friday and Saturday, January 16-17 at the Athletic Training Center in Lubbock, Texas. The Bears are making their first trip to Lubbock since the 2005 indoor season when Baylor competed in the Red Raider Invitational. Baylor will return to Lubbock during the outdoor season for the Big 12 Outdoor Championships May 15-17. Live results for the Wes Kittley Invitational can be found at www.TexasTech.com. Complete meet recaps can be found at the end of each day at www.BaylorBears.com.
LAST YEAR AT THE WES KITTLEY INVITATIONAL
Baylor did not compete at the Wes Kittley Invitational, but instead opened at the Arkansas Invitational. The Baylor men's and women's track and field teams claimed seven event victories at the Arkansas Invitational. The Bears took the top two spots in the 400 meters and the Lady Bears finished first and second in the 800 meters in the opening meet of the indoor season. Courtney Thomas started the Bears off with a victory in the 200 meters with a time of 21.65. Quentin Iglehart-Summers led the Bears to a 1-2 finish in the 400 meters with a provisional qualifying time of 47.02. Justin Boyd clocked 47.47 for second place, while Marcus Boyd ran 48.09 to finish sixth. Trey Harts won the men's 200 meter championship final with an NCAA provisional time of 21.21. Danielle Bradley won the women's championship mile with a time of 4:51.79. Lauren Hagans won the women's 800 meter championship final, barely edging Nichole Jones on the final straightaway. Hagans recorded a provisional qualifying time of 2:08.69 while Jones clocked 2:09.03 to miss a provisional time by three-hundredths of a second. Jones came back 35 minutes later to win the women's 3,000 meter championship final in a time of 9:45.22. The men's 4x400-meter relay won with a provisional qualifying time of 3:09.70.
LAST TIME OUT
The Baylor men's 4x400-meter relay won its fourth straight national title and the Bears added four individual and one relay All-America performance on the final day of competition at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium. Baylor clocked a season-best time of 3:00.22 dropping more than two seconds off its previous season best of 3:02.38 at the Texas Relays. The time ranks as the second-fastest in Baylor history and the fifth-fastest in NCAA history. Last year Baylor ran 3:00.04 at the outdoor championship meet to set a school record with the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history. The time also breaks the Drake Stadium record of 3:00.78 set by Southern Illinois in 1984. Baylor has now won four-straight 4x400-meter relay titles, claiming both the indoor and outdoor championships in 2007 and 2008. That streak ranks second in NCAA history for consecutive victories in the 4x400-meter relay. Baylor also holds the NCAA record, winning five straight relay titles from the 1990 indoor championships through the 1992 indoor title. The victory in the 4x400-meter relay is the 29th-straight victory against collegiate, dating back to the beginning of the 2007 indoor season. Baylor last lost to an NCAA team in the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships when the Bears finished third overall. The Baylor men scored 27 points to tie for seventh overall in the team competition. The Bears earn their highest finish since 2004 when the Bears placed seventh with 27 team points. The Lady Bears finished in a tie for 15th overall with 14 team points. The women's team ties its second-highest finish in school history as the Lady Bears took 15th with 14 points in 2000. LeJerald Betters finished third in the men's 400 meters with a personal-best time of 44.83, edging Jordan Boase of Washington by three one-thousandths of a second. Betters becomes the 10th Baylor runner in school history to break 45 seconds in the 400 meters. He is the first Baylor quartermiler to run a 44-second 400 meters since Darold Williamson clocked 44.27 at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships. His time ranks 10th on the Baylor all-time list and is the sixth-fastest time in the United States this year. The women's 4x400-meter relay clocked 3:32.67 to finish fourth overall in the event finals. The fourth-place finish is the highest for Baylor since 1998 when the Lady Bears finished second overall. Fourth place is the second-highest finish ever for Baylor at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Lauren Hagans bettered her school record in the 1,500 meters, clocking 4:15.43 to finish seventh overall. Trey Harts finished seventh in the men's 200 meters to earn his second All-America honor in the event this year. Tiffany Townsend placed eighth in the women's 200 meters to earn her second 200 meter All-America honor of the year.
Players Mentioned
