April 20, 2002

Final Stats

WACO, Texas - Youth reigned supreme for the Baylor track and field team in the final day of competition at the Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Invitational Saturday, as the freshmen duo of April Holliness and Darold Williamson both automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the long jump and the 400 meters, respectively.

Matching her feat from the indoor season, Holliness set a new school record and was just one inch shy of the Hart/Patterson Stadium record with her leap of 21-4 ? in the long jump. Her mark demolished the previous record of 20-10 ? set by Brandi Harris in 1997 and was a personal best distance by four inches. A workhorse for the Bears, Holliness also picked up a first-place finish in the triple jump competition with a PR distance of 42-1 ? to provisionally qualify for the national championships. With her jump of 42-1 ?, Holliness now sits behind only current Baylor assistant coach Stacey Bowers (46-1) on the school's all-time outdoor individuals list in the triple jump.

Darold Williamson defeated former collegiate record holder and NCAA national champion Brandon Couts to win the men's 400-meter invitational race. Williamson's PR time of 45.28 was over a full second fastest then his nearest competitor (Couts, 46.44) and currently ranks as the second fastest collegiate time in the nation this year. Williamson then went on to anchor the men's mile relay team to a meet championship and provisional mark of 3:06.48. Senior Michael Smith, freshman Dwight Ruff and sophomore Robert Quiroga joined in the Bears' first-place effort.

Seven other Baylor athletes claimed gold at the Michael Johnson Invitational as well. Topping the list was senior Jim Autenreith in the pole vault competition. The Houston native recorded his best clearance since the 2000 season topping 18-0 ? in Saturday's event. Autenreith became just the eighth athlete in Baylor history to reach the 18-0 ? plateau.

Other championship performances for the Baylor men came from junior Ferenc Bekesi in the invitational 1,500 meters (3:49.97), sophomore Kyle King in the 5,000 meters (15:03.72), Smith in the invitational 400-meter hurdles (50.47) and junior Jordan Lewis in the collegiate 400-meter hurdles (54.65).

Senior Barbara Petrahn did a little bit of everything for the Lady Bears, winning the invitational 400 with a season-best and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 52.73, while also anchoring the mile relay and 4x100-meter relay teams to first- and second-place finishes, respectively. Sophomore Tiffany Wise, senior Chava Demart and freshman Danielle Myricks teamed with Petrahn on the meet-winning mile relay effort. Demart and Myricks also swept the top-two spots in the women's invitational 400-meter hurdles with provisional times of 58.27 and 58.56.

In addition to event winners, Baylor had several athletes earn runner-up accolades amongst stiff competition, including junior Stephanie Bennett in the 1,500 (4:45.45) and seniors Lanie Millar in the invitational 800 (2:08.74), Alisha Hooker in the 100-meter hurdles (13.79) and Eboni Hammond in the discus (148-2).

The Baylor track and field team will return to action next weekend, April 25-27, at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.