May 19, 2002
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Baylor's track and field team brought home three individual event titles from the Big 12 Outdoor Championships Sunday, but it wasn't enough to propel them into the top of the team standings as the women finished fourth with 92 team points and the men placed 10th (53 points) overall. Kansas State edged out Texas for the women's team title, while Nebraska took the men's championships.
"The women had an outstanding meet," said head coach Clyde Hart. "The men had some bright spots, but we are disappointed we finished where we did. We knew we didn't have the depth on the men's side and it showed."
Despite the low team placing the men still brought home three individual event championships. For the fifth consecutive year the men's 4x400-meter relay claimed Big 12 gold, winning the race in 3:07.53. The foursome of Dwight Ruff, Joel Martin, Michael Smith and Darold Williamson combined to hold off runner-up Texas Tech by nearly two seconds (3:09.16).
Senior Michael Smith won the first individual Big 12 championship of his career, nipping Colorado's Reggie DePass at the line in the 400-meter hurdles by .01 seconds. Smith's time of 50.12 is his fastest of the year and just shy of the NCAA automatic standard of 50.10. Freshman Dwight Ruff and junior Jordan Lewis also earned all-Big 12 accolades in the event, finishing fourth and seventh, respectively, with times of 51.34 and 52.55.
Darold Williamson won the Bears other conference crown, taking home top honors in the 400 meters with a time of 45.88.
Senior Barbara Petrahn had an outstanding day for the women's team, earning all-Big 12 accolades in the both the 200 and 400 meter races. Petrahn finished second in the 400 meters (53.12) and third in the 200 (23.41). Petrahn went on to anchor both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays to all-conference honors as well. The 4x400 team of Tiffany Wise, Chava Demart, Danielle Myricks and Petrahn finished second to Texas with an NCAA provisional mark of 3:34.95, while Lakadron Ivery, Demart, Elizabeth Wilson and Petrahn combined for the bronze in the 4x100-meter relay.
Freshman Danielle Myricks turned in the second-best time in school history (57.31) in the 400-meter hurdles to finish second in the event and earn individual all-Big 12 honors for the first time in her career. Senior Chava Demart finished behind Myricks in third with a time of 57.31.
Junior Stephanie Bennett demolished the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase finishing third overall with a time of 10:36.20. Bennett's mark was nearly 15 seconds faster then the previous school record mark (10:50.43) set by Jessa Vacek earlier this season. For her efforts Bennett earned all-Big 12 honors along with teammate Leah Marbach, who placed fourth with a season-best time of 10:53.02.
Other Lady Bears scoring points and earning all-conference accolades for Baylor included Lanie Millar in the 800 (4th, 2:08.53) and Lakadron Ivery in the 100 meters (7th, 11.84).
Additional point scorers on the men's side included junior Ferenc Bekesi in the 1,500 meters (5th, 3:50.87) and Joel Martin in the 400 (6th, 46.99)
The Baylor track team will conclude the 2002 season two weeks from now at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the Baton Rouge, La., May 29-June 1.
