Feb. 25, 2010
Championship Notes
Championship Central
Live Results
WACO, Texas - Baylor's track and field team will compete in the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27 at the Lied Recreation-Athletic Facility.
The 2010 version of the Baylor track and field teams enter the Big 12 Indoor Championships with two NCAA €ˆautomatic qualifiers and 13 NCAA provisional qualifiers, giving them a great shot to improve on last season's fourth-place Big 12 indoor finishes. Both the men's and women's teams feature talented sprint and middle distance crews.
For the men, a trio of sprinters hold some of the top times in the Big 12 at 60 and 200 meters. Senior Trey Harts enters the conference meet as the defending champ in both short sprints. He is currently ranked third in the 200 and fourth in the 60 entering the weekend. Sophomore Whitney Prevost has had a breakout season, especially in the 200, where is BU's only individual automatic qualifier. Prevost is ranked second in the Big 12 in the 200 and sixth in the 60. The third piece of the men's sprint crew is Courtney Thomas.
Also for the men, senior Chris Gowell has established himself as one of the best middle distance runners in the country. Gowell is currently ranked first in the Big 12 in both the 800 and 1,000 meters, while also having a leg on the Baylor's Big 12 leading distance medley relay team. Also in the relays, Baylor's 4x400-meter relay squad will look to defend its Big 12 and NCAA €ˆtitle, but is ranked second in the league and nation behind Texas A&M.
For the women, 10-time All-American Tiffany Townsend is ranked in the top five in the 60 and 200 meters, while middle distance specialist and five-time Big 12 champion Nichole Jones will look to defend her three-time 1,000 meter conference title streak. Baylor freshmen Stephanie Morgan is ranked second in the 800 meters in the Big 12, while the sophomore duo of Diamond Richardson (4th, 400m) and Cate Westenhover (3rd, 1000m) are each ranked in the top four in their respective events.
In the women's field events, triple jumper Jessica Ubanyionwu piled nearly two feet onto her personal best at the Tyson Invitational with leap of 43-1.75. That mark is the tops in the Big 12 this season.
The Baylor women's relays are each ranked in the top four in the conference with the distance medley relay sitting second and the 4x400-meter relay ranked fourth.
Action is set to begin with the heptathlon and pentathlon at 10 a.m. on Friday. The running events will start at 2 p.m. and the field events will begin at 3 p.m. On Saturday, the final events of the heptathlon, as well as the running events, will start at 11 a.m., while the field events will begin at noon.
