March 5, 2002

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

NCAA Indoor Championships

Randal Tyson Track Center * Fayetteville, Ark.

Friday

Field Events: noon - 6 p.m.

Running Events: 4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Saturday

Field Events: 2:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.

Running Events: 6:05 p.m. - 8:10 p.m.

Bears head to Arkansas for NCAA Indoor Championships

Baylor's track team will head to Fayetteville, Ark. this weekend for the NCAA Indoor Championships, hosted by the University of Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Track Center. This will be Baylor's second trip to the Fayetteville this season as the Bears ran at the Tyson Invitational, Feb. 1-2. On the men's side Baylor athletes slated to compete are senior Jim Autenreith in the pole vault and freshman Darold Williamson in the 400 meters. Williamson will join teammates Zsolt Szeglet, Joel Martin and Michael Smith in the 4x400 relay competition. On the women's side freshman April Holliness will represent Baylor in the long jump and senior Lanie Millar will run in the 800 meters.

Baylor's NCAA Indoor Championship History

This will be the Baylor men's 20th-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Indoor Championships and the women's ninth appearance in the last 10 years... Last season, Baylor's men's team tied for 14th with 14 points at the indoor national championships... BU finished second in the 4x400 meter relay and Bayano Kamani placed third in the 400 meters... The Bears highest indoor finish in school history was a third place showing in 1985... BU has finished in the top-10 nine times, most recently at the 1998 championships were the Bears placed seventh overall... Baylor has lay claim to indoor individual event national titles 10 times, including four 4x400 meter relay titles... Willie Caldwell gave Baylor its first national title in 1985 winning the 500 meters... The Bears last indoor national champion was Brandon Couts, who won the 400 meters in 2000 with a then-NCAA record time of 45.33.

Hart begins 39th season at the helm

Clyde Hart is in his 39th 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. Hart has coached athletes to 23 national championships (11 individual/12 relay) and 429 All-American awards (143 individual/286 relay). Named the men's assistant coach for Team USA at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Hart has coached athletes to ten world record performances. In 1996, he was named the 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 the 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 established Baylor as "Quarter Mile University," after producing 14 4x400 relay national champions and four 400 meter national champions.

Lady Bears watch school records fall

During the 2002 indoor season Baylor's women's team has seen four of its school records fall by the wayside. Senior Rachal Roessler started off the year breaking her own school record mark in the weight throw recording a distance of 52-9 1/2 at the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational. Her distance was nearly a full foot better then the previous mark (51-9 3/4) she set at the 2001 Big 12 Championships. Sophomore Katherine Duncan then went on to set a school record in the 1,000 meters at this year's indoor conference meet. Duncan's time of 2:54.96 was over a second faster then the previous mark (2:55.99) set by Janet Dollins in 1992. Last weekend in Ames, Iowa two more records were broken as senior Lanie Millar shattered the indoor 800 meter record and freshman April Holliness topped the long jump mark. Millar's time of 2:06.34 in the 800 earned her an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships and broke the previous school record mark (2:07.42) held by Jill Chertudi since 1994. Holliness' jump of 20-6 3/4 bested the previous distance of 20-5 set by Yulanda Nelson in 1997.

Baylor 4x400 relays included in "Dandy Dozen"

Both Baylor's men's and women's 4x400 relay teams are listed among the nation's top-12 according to this week's Trackwire "Dandy Dozen" rankings. At the Iowa State-hosted Last Chance Meet last weekend both the men and women turned in season-best performances. The men's team comprised of Joel Martin, Zsolt Szeglet, Michael Smith and Darold Williamson turned in an automatic mark of 3:05.77 to take top honors in the event, while the women's team of Jasmine Opusunja, Danielle Myricks, Chava Demart and Barbara Petrahn posted a provisional time of 3:37.52 to place third overall.

Bears looking for fifth 4x400-meter relay national title

The Baylor men will be striving for it's fifth indoor national title in the 4x400-meter relay this weekend. Seniors Zsolt Szeglet and Michael Smith, sophomore Joel Martin and freshman Darold Williamson will get the nod for Baylor in the event this year. The Bears currently own the third fastest time in the nation in the event after clocking a time of 3:05.77 last weekend in Ames, Iowa. The quartet combined to win BU's fifth consecutive 4x400 indoor conference title two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships (3:08.15).

Youth, who needs it? Baylor does!

Baylor has seen tremendous success from its freshman athletes during the 2002 indoor season. Leading the way is sprinter Darold Williamson. A San Antonio, Texas native, Williamson has already emerged as the Bears top 400 meter runner finishing no lower then third in any 400 meter race this season. He won the Big 12 title (47.01) two weeks ago in Lincoln, Neb. and just last weekend posted a season-best mark of 46.46 at the Last Chance Meet in Ames, Iowa. In all, Williamson has won three meets this season (Big 12 Championships, LSU Purple Tiger Invitational, Houston Invitational), placed second in three races (Tyson Invitational, Last Chance Meet, Oklahoma All-Comers) and recorded a lone third place finish at the Southwest Classic in Houston. A Duncanville, Texas native, Holliness has set the stage for a tremendous career having already set a school record in the long jump in just her freshman campaign. Holliness' distance of 20-6 3/4 a week ago in Ames, Iowa eclipsed the school record mark by nearly two inches and was her best effort of the season by nine inches. Holliness finished seventh in the long jump at the Big 12 Championships (18-11 1/4) and recorded her only win of the season at the Southwest Classic, jumping a distance of 19-9 3/4).

Women's 4x400 relay just misses trip to Fayetteville

The women's 4x400 relay team missed a trip to the NCAA Championships by the smallest of margins, .01 seconds. The foursome of Jasmine Opusunja, Danielle Myricks, Chava Demart and Barbara Petrahn turned in a season-best, provisional mark of 3:37.52 at the Last Chance Meet on March 1. The cutoff for the national meet turned out to be 3:37.51.

Petrahn ties Baylor conference title record

Winning both the 200 meters and the 600 yards two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships, senior Barbara Petrahn is now tied with three other Baylor athletes for the women's school record for most overall conference titles (5). Four of Petrahn's conference titles have come in individual events (200 meters - 2002, 400 meters - 2000, 2001, 600 yards - 200 meters), while the fifth came as as a member of the 2000 4x400 meter relay team. Her four individual event conference titles tie her with two former BU athletes (current Baylor assistant coach Stacey Bowers and Lisa Stone) for second all-time on Baylor's individual event conference titles list.