March 10, 2006
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Baylor senior Jerome Miller (Houston, Texas) earned All-America honors and finished second in the 60-meter hurdles, shattering the school record with a time of 7.66 Friday at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at Tyson Indoor Track Complex.
Miller, who has one season of indoor eligibility left, broke the record of 7.73 set by Jeff Jackson at the 1995 NCAA Indoor Championships in Indianapolis. There was some controversy to the final surrounding eventual champion Aries Merritt of Tennessee and Eric Mitchum of Oregon as there was a restart and a warning was given, but no one was disqualified.
"This is what I expected, having a new coach and a new system," Miller said. "It hurt to get second, because I know I should have won, but I'm humble and I'm not going to keep it in the back of my head. I'm just going to keep working hard. I have a good work ethic and I've been building up each week. That's why my times are always dropping and I was able to break the record."
The women's distance medley relay of sophomore Lauren Hagans (Little Rock, Ark.), senior Angel Perkins (Cerritos, Calif.), junior Ruth Waller (Manchester, England) and freshman Erin Bedell (Plano, Texas) earned All-America honors by finishing fifth with a time of 11:15.47
Freshman Jacob Norman (Temple, Texas) also broke his own school record in the 60-meter dash, clocking a 6.56 in the preliminary heat. He bested his mark of 6.58 at the Big 12 Championships and posted the fastest qualifying time.
Junior Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) earned All-America honors in the 200 meters by finishing sixth and blazing to a season-best 20. 71. His time is the second-fastest all-time at Baylor, behind the school record 20.59 set by the legendary Michael Johnson at the 1989 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Freshman Quentin Iglehart-Summers (San Antonio, Texas) finished 12th in the 400 meters with a time of 47.56 and did not qualify for the final. Junior Kandace Tucker (Irving, Texas) ran 23.70 to finish 12th in the 200 meters and also did not qualify for the final.
The men's team currently stands in seventh overall with 11 points with Norman and the 4x400-meter relay competing in the finals tomorrow, while the women are tied for 24th with four points with only the 4x400-meter relay left.
The championships conclude Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. Baylor will compete in each of the last two events, the men's 4x400-meter relay at 8:05 p.m. and the women's 4x400-meter relay at 8:20 p.m.
