Track Sends 14 Athletes to NCAA Outdoor Championships
5/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
May 28, 2001
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NCAA Outdoor Championships
Hayward Field * Eugene, Ore.
Wednesday: 1 p.m. PDT - 7:50 p.m. PDT
Thursday: Noon PDT - 7:50 p.m. PDT
Friday: 2 p.m. PDT - 8 p.m. PDT
Saturday: 2 p.m. PDT - 7:40 p.m. PDT
Note: For a complete meet schedule and qualifier lists, please visit the University of Oregon website at www.GoDucks.com.
2000 Champions: Stanford (men), Louisiana State (women).
Results: Available online at www.GoDucks.com (Oregon) or at www.ncaachampionships.com (NCAA).
Baylor to send 14 athletes to NCAA Outdoor Championships
Baylor's men's and women's track and field teams will return to action May 30 through June 2 at the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by the University of Oregon at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The Bears will send 14 athletes to the championships, seven on the men's side and seven on the women's side. The men will compete in six events -- the 200 meters, the 400 meters, the 800 meters, the 400-meter hurdlers (two athletes), the 4x400-meter relay and the pole vault. Baylor's women will also compete in six events -- the 200 meters, the 400 meters, the 400-meter hurdles, the 4x100-meter relay, the 4x400-meter relay and the heptathlon. Competition will begin May 30 with the first five events of the men's decathlon at 1 p.m., preliminary rounds in selected running events will also begin that day with the semifinals of the women's 4x100-meter relay at 5 p.m. For a complete meet schedule and live updated results, visit the University of Oregon athletics website at www.GoDucks.com, or the NCAA Championships website at www.ncaachampionships.com.
Baylor in 38th season under Hart
2001 Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Clyde Hart is in his 38th season as the head coach of Baylor's track and field program. In his tenure at BU, Hart has firmly established the Bear program as one of the best in the nation. Since 1985, 16 Baylor athletes have won 51 NCAA Championships, including two last season. An men's assistant coach for Team USA at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Hart has coached eight World Record holders and seven NCAA record holders. In 1996, he was named Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee. That year, he coached Michael Johnson to Gold Medals in the 200 meters and the 400 meters at the Games of the 26th Olympiad in Atlanta, Ga. Hart was also named NCAA Indoor Coach of the Year in 1996 after garnering such honors in 1989. A four-time Southwest Conference Indoor Coach of the Year, Hart has seen 14 of his male athletes finish in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships. He has established Baylor as "Quarter-Mile U." after producing 10 4x400-meter relay national champions and three 400-meter national champions.
Athletes to compete at the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Championships
Women: Keisa Brown (4x100, 4x400), Chava Demart (400 hurdles, 4x100, 4x400), Tamara Johnson (4x100, 4x400), Ssereta Lafayette (200, 4x100), Kerry O'Bric (heptathlon), Barbara Petrahn (400, 4x100, 4x400), Tiffany Wise (4x400).
Men: Jim Autenreith (pole vault), Brandon Couts (200, 400, 4x400), Bayano Kamani (400 hurdles, 4x400), Joel Martin (4x400), Michael Smith (400 hurdles, 4x400), Zsolt Szeglet (400, 4x400), Floyd Thompson (800, 4x400).
Last year at the NCAA Outdoor Championships
Baylor finished ninth on the men's side with 24 points and 15th on the women's side with 14 points. The men's team enjoyed its highest finish since eight in 1995 and its sixth top-10 finish since 1985. The women's finish was the third-best finish in school history and the third consecutive year in which Baylor has finished 15th or better. On the men's side, Baylor claimed its fifth men's 4x400-meter relay title since 1990 and its sixth all-time, Bayano Kamani, Zsolt Szeglet, Floyd Thompson and Brandon Couts combined for a winning time of 3:01.46. Couts finished fourth in the 400 meters, running 45.09 seconds. In the 400-meter hurdles, Kamani ran a school-record time of 48.43 seconds, but was clipped at the finish line by Felix Sanchez in a meet-record time of 48.41. Michael Smith finished eighth at 41.14 seconds. On the women's side, Barbara Petrahn was fourth in the 400 meters with a mark of 52.37 seconds. In the preliminaries, Petrahn ran a then-career-best mark of 52.17 seconds. Kerry O'Bric claimed her first-career all-America honors with a sixth-place and school-record total of 5,464 points in the heptathlon. Meanwhile, Ssereta Lafayette, Tamara Johnson, Keisa Brown and Petrahn combined for a sixth-place mark of 44.45 seconds in the 4x100-meter relay. Brown, Chava Demart, Johnson and Petrahn ran 3:32.05 in both the preliminaries and the finals of the 4x400-meter relay and placed sixth.
Baylor's men's history at the NCAA Outdoor Championships
Since 1984, the Bears have finished 21st or better at 16 of 17 championships. Baylor's best finish on the men's side was a third-place showing with 37 points in 1985, the 1990 team equalled the third-place finish with 34 points. The Bears have finished 10th or better six times, including a ninth-place tally of 24 points last year. In 1965, Baylor's sprint medley relay team of Wayne Brandt, Pat Rogers, Dick Bourland and Rex Garvin earned the first track all-America honors in school history, being so honored by the Amateur Athletics Union (AAU). Baylor athletes have earned NCAA all-America honors 79 times since Kevin DeLorey earned the first such honor in 1975. The Baylor men received 20 all-America accolades either from the AAU, from the Track and Field Association of the USA (TFA-USA) or from the United States Track and Field Federation (USTFF). Current track and field assistant and cross country head coach Todd Harbour was a three-time NCAA all-American in the 1,500 meters and was also honored once by the TFA-USA.
Baylor's women's history at the NCAA Outdoor Championships
Baylor's women's team made its first NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance at the 1989 meet, Lisa Stone finished eighth in the 5,000 meters. The following year, Baylor was 25th with eight points on Stone's second-place finish in the 10,000 meters. Baylor jumped to 17th in 1991 with 12 points, Stone was third in the 10,000 meters and Natalie Nalepa finished third in the 5,000 meters. The women's team finished 43rd in 1992, 29th in 1994, 42nd in 1995, 43rd in 1996 and tied for 30th in 1997. In 1998, the Bears exploded for their best finish in school history, racking up 25 points for 10th place. Baylor had three second-place finishes: Yulanda Nelson in the 400 meters, Stacey Bowers in the triple jump, and Angelique Banket, Alayah Cooper, Jennifer Jordan and Nelson in the 4x400-meter relay. Karin Ernstrom was eighth in the 5,000 meters. In 1999, Baylor again finished 10th with 20 points, thanks to Bowers' leap of 45-10 in the triple jump for the school's first and only women's individual national title. The Baylor women have earned NCAA all-America honors 26 times, including such honors in four events last year.
Top Baylor individuals at the NCAA Championships
On the men's side, the Bears have claimed individual national titles nine times. Along with the six titles claimed by the 4x400-meter relay team, Baylor has claimed three individual national titles since the beginning of the NCAA meet in 1983. Raymond Pierre gave BU its first individual title by winning the 400 meters in 44.59 seconds at the 1989 championships. Michael Johnson claimed the 200-meter title the following year with a time of 20.31 seconds. Bayano Kamani won the 400-meter hurdles title at the 1999 championships, running a then-meet-record time of 48.68 seconds. Six Baylor athletes -- Johnson, Daniel Fredericks, Raoul Howard, current assistant coach Michael Ford, Corey Williams and Kamani -- are the only Bears to ever be a part of two national titles. Fredericks, Howard, Ford and Williams were each on national title relay teams twice. As for the women, Stacey Bower's 1999 triple jump title remains the only women's individual title in school history.
Baylor's 4x400-meter relay dominance at NCAA Champions
Baylor's men's 4x400-meter relay team claimed its sixth NCAA national title at the 2000 championships hosted by Duke University in Durham, N.C. That was the fifth title in the event since 1990 for the Bears. The first title came in 1985 with Darnell Chase, Derwin Graham, Johnny Thomas and Willie Caldwell clocking a time of 3:00.84, a meet record at the time and still the sixth-fastest mark in school history. Baylor also had back-to-back outdoor 4x400-meter titles in 1990 and 1991, and again in 1995 and 1996. The Bears also have won the indoor 4x400-meter relay title four times, all coming since 1990. Baylor swept the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter titles in 1990 and in 1991. A third straight indoor title in 1992 gave Baylor first place in five consecutive 4x400-meter relay races at NCAA Championships. Since 1985, Baylor's men have finished first six times, second three times and third four times. In fact, the Bears have finished third or better every year since 1985 save a DNF in 1988 and a fifth-place showing in 1998. At the 1998 indoor meet, Baylor won both the men's 4x400 and the women's 4x400 to become the first -- and still only -- school to sweep the 4x400 titles at any NCAA Championship meet.
Hall, O'Bric selected to Verizon Academic all-District VI teams
Sophomore Barrett Hall and senior Kerry O'Bric both were named to the 2001 Verizon Academic all-District VI spring at-large teams, announced May 22 by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Hall, who carries a 3.96 grade point average in business administration, placed eighth in the 800 meters at the Big 12 Conference Indoor Championships. He ran the ninth-fastest preliminaries time in the 800 at the conference outdoor meet, but failed to advance to the finals because he did not finish first or second in his heat. O'Bric sports a 3.75 grade point average in chemistry. Her sixth-place total of 5,481 points in the heptathlon at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships was a school record, eclipsing her own record of 5,464 points established at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships. O'Bric is currently ranked 14th nationally in the heptathlon. Both Hall and O'Bric were first-team Academic all-Big 12 selections.
Bears place 13 on Big 12 Academic all-conference teams
Baylor placed 13 student athletes on the 2001 Track and Field Academic all-Big 12 teams. Seven Baylor female athletes and three Baylor male athletes earned first-team honors, while two female athletes and one male athlete were selected to the second team. First-team honorees on the women's team were Kara Newton (history), Leah Marbach (child and family studies), Kerry O'Bric (chemistry), Stephanie Bennett (biology), Cynthia Benson (biology), Sonja denDulk (human performance) and Lanie Millar. Cecilia Jeverstam (marketing) and Udi Deja Opusunju (health science studies) earned second-team honors. On the men's side, first-team honorees were Zsolt Szeglet (pre-engineering), Barrett Hall (business administration) and Jeff Dacunha (mathematics). Alex Adler (history) was selected to the second team.
Baylor dominates Big 12 weekly honors during outdoor season
Baylor athletes were named Big 12 Conference Track and Field Athlete of Week seven times during the outdoor season, five times on the men's side and twice on the women's side. Bayano Kamani led the way, being honored three times. Floyd Thompson, Brandon Couts, Barbara Petrahn and Lanie Millar were each honored once. From April 2 through May 14, the final week of the honor, at least one Baylor athlete was so honored every week except one -- April 16, following an off-week for the Bears. April 30, Baylor swept the weekly accolade as Kamani earned co-athlete of the week honors on the men's side and Millar earned the honor outright on the women's side. Baylor received Big 12 Male Athlete of the Week honors three times during the indoor season, Couts and Kamani were honored individually once each, while the 4x400-meter relay team was also honored once.
