Feb. 27, 2004

Results

LINCOLN, Neb. - Senior Kyle King made up ground and held off the competition to lead Baylor's distance medley relay squad to its second straight title on the first day of competition at the 2004 Big 12 Indoor Championships Friday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track. The other members of the relay were freshman Bo Price, junior Korey Wright and senior Robert Quiroga, who helped turn in a time of 9:49.40.

Freshman Dominique Zeigler took second and junior Chris Gillis finished seventh in the long jump, while senior pentathlete Jordan Willmann and junior long jumper April Holliness each finished third in their events as all four earned All-Big 12 honors.

Zeigler had the best meet of his young career, holding the lead in the long jump going into the finals. The Killeen native, who is also a wide receiver on the football team had a season-best mark of 7.48 (24-6 ?), only 3 ? inches short of the champion, Nebraska's Arturs Abolins. Gillis also had a season-best leap of 7.23 (23-8 ?).

Willmann's total of 3,952 points in the pentathlon tops her own school record and is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Willmann finished 91 points behind the champion, Kansas State's JaNelle Wright, and 53 points behind Nebraska's Ashley Selig. Holliness recorded a mark of 20-1 ?, five inches shorter than her season best, which would have placed her second.

In the men's 400 meters, sophomore Jeremy Wariner (46.77) and junior Darold Williamson (47.38) each cruised to victory in their heats, while freshman Mark Teter (48.22) pushed ahead right at the end to take his heat. All three will move into Saturday's final.

In preliminary action, junior Lakadron Ivery missed an NCAA automatic qualifying time by one-hundredth of a second by running a 7.31 in the semifinals of the 60 meters. Ivery, who broke her own school record, first in the prelims (7.33) then again in the semifinals, qualified for Saturday's final with the fourth-fastest time. Ivery also posted a season-best time of 23.68 in the 200 meters. Sophomores Elizabeth Wilson (24.24), Marquisha Sefas (24.29) and Janelle Mulkey (25.25) each ran season bests. Wilson matched her season best at 7.52 in the prelims of the 60 meters.

In the women's 600 yards, sophomore Mary Pearce made a great comeback on the final stretch to record a season-best time of 1:23.48 to win her heat and advance to Saturday's final. Sophomore Jasmine Opusunju also won her heat with a time of 1:24.32 and will compete in tomorrow's final.

Freshman Rena Napolean also had a come-from-behind victory in the final few meters of the 400 to win her heat with a season-best time of 55.03, which was the second-fastest time of the meet. Freshman Danielle Myricks also qualified for the finals with her season-best time of 55.60.

Mulkey ran a season-best 8.54 in the 60-meter hurdles, while sophomore Candace Carroll ran her personal best at 9.05. Mulkey's time is the fourth-fastest in school history and the fastest by someone other than the record holder, Nzingah Kamani. Senior Katherine Duncan ran a season-best 3:00.81 in the 1,000.

On the men's side, freshman Kevin Mutai won his heat in the 600 yards with a time of 1:11.32 to qualify with the fourth-fastest time for Saturday's final. Junior Will Fitts qualified for the final in the 800 with the third-fastest time at 1:52.95.

In the 200 meters, sophomore Jamen Saziru qualified for the final by winning his heat with a season-best time of 21.34, while freshman Braelon Davis ran a season-best 21.89. In the men's 60 meters, Davis narrowly missed the final by running a season-best 6.83, while Saziru ran a season-best 6.92 in the prelims. Freshman Blake Havran's mark of 12.64 meters (41-5 ?) in the weight throw set a new school record.

After six events the women are in seventh place, while the men are in third. The championships conclude tomorrow with the field events beginning at 1:30 p.m. and finishing with the men's 4x400 relay at 6:45 p.m.