Feb. 23, 2007

Complete Results

AMES, Iowa - The Baylor men's 400 meter runners won four of the five preliminary heats and recorded three of the four fastest times of the competition during the first day at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Lady Bears are currently in ninth place after the first day of competition with 13 team points. The men's team sits in tenth place with three team points.

Looking ahead to Saturday, the Lady Bears qualified for seven spots during Friday's preliminary heats. The Bears qualified for 11 event final spots, the most qualifiers in the Big 12. The two teams combine for 18 preliminary qualifiers, the second-most combined total in the conference.

"I really think that our men's team had an outstanding day," said head coach Todd Harbour. "We did what we needed to do, and had a lot of guys qualify for the finals tomorrow. We had a few ups and downs over the course of the day, but in the end we had some guys step up and put ourselves in a good position."

Reggie Witherspoon (46.63), LeJerald Betters (46.67), and Quentin Inglehart-Summers (47.08) each ran their fastest times of the season in the 400 meters, while freshman J.T. Scheuerman won his preliminary heat by more than one second. Freshman David Gettis finished fourth in his preliminary heat with a time of 50.04.

The Lady Bears took third place in the women's distance medley relay with a time of 11:25.04. Lauren Hagans led off for Baylor in the 1,200 meters, followed by Carla Grace running the 400 meter leg, Danielle Bradley in 800 meters, and Nichole Jones anchored with the 1,600 meter leg to earn All-Big 12 honors.

The men's DMR placed sixth with a final time of 9:47.06 to score three team points. Mitch Sanders led off for the Bears, followed by Mark Teter, John Robertson, and Bo Price in an All-Big 12 effort.

Brittany Dervereaux scored Baylor's first team points of the competition with her eighth-place finish in the women's weight throw. The junior from Denton, Texas earned her first indoor All-Big 12 citation, her third career all-conference honor. Devereaux's throw of 17.91 meters (58-09.25) was her career-best, breaking her own school record by more than a foot.

Lynsy Bedell earned her second straight All-Big 12 honor, fourth overall all-conference citation, with a third place finish in the women's 5,000 meters. Bedell, who already owns a provisional qualifying time this season, finished in 16:46.71 to give the Lady Bears six more team points.

"Our women's team didn't get everything accomplished that we set out to do," said Harbour. "For the most part we ran well, and we got a lot of people qualified, but we were hoping to get some more into the finals. We ran well and had a lot of girls set personal records. I thought that Lynsy Bedell had an outstanding race in the 5,000 (meters), and we had several other girls that had great performances."

Kim Brown finished tenth in the women's pentathlon competition with 3,211 points. After a stumble in the 60 meter hurdles, the first event of the competition, the sophomore recovered with a second place showing in the long jump at 5.64 meters (18-06).

Sophomore Erin Bedell finished fourth in her preliminary heat, and qualified for the finals, in the women's mile run with a time of 4:53.49. Freshman Ben Haby finished eighth in his heat, and 14th overall, in the men's mile run with a season-best time of 4:16.12.

Jeremy Jackson placed fourth in the 60 meter hurdles preliminary heat in a season-best 7.96. Jackson recorded the sixth-best time overall to qualify for the event finals. Rachael Long finished sixth in her 60 meter hurdles heat in 8.91 to finish 12th overall.

Tiana Hood was fourth in her 60 meters heat with a season-best time of 7.56. Jessica Gregory (7.62) and Grace (7.64) finished their 60 meters heat in third and fourth, respectively. Hood finished in ninth place overall, missing a spot in the event finals by two-hundredths of a second.

In the men's 60 meters, Jacob Norman finished third in his heat with a time of 6.78, while Jackson placed 6th in 7.00. Courtney Thomas (6.83) and Trey Harts (6.84) finished third and fourth, respectively, in their preliminary heat. Norman (5th) and Thomas (8th) each made the event finals, while Harts' ninth-place finish left him one-hundredth short of the final heat.

Katrina Taylor earned third place in her 600 yards preliminary heat with 1:23.29, while Lauren Tillman was on her heels to finish fourth in 1:23.39. Taylor earned a birth in the event finals in eighth place, while Tillman just missed the finals with a ninth-place finish.

In the men's 600 yards, Kevin Mutai won his preliminary heat in a personal-best 1:09.47, with R.J Anderson finishing third in the same heat and also recording a personal-best with a time of 1:10.14. Mark Teter earned fifth-place in his heat with 1:12.60. Mutai (4th) and Anderson (6th) each qualified for the 600 yard final heat.

Hagans and Jones each finished second in their 1,000 meter preliminary heats. Charity Williams earned a seventh-place finish in her preliminary heat with a time of 2:58.83. Jones recorded the third overall time with 2:52.83, while Hagans was fourth in 2:53.87.

Erin Bedell and Danielle Bradley finished one-two in the second women's 800 meter preliminary heat, with Bedell's time of 2:13.37 edging Bradley by one-hundredth of a second. Kathryn Benvegnu finished fifth in her preliminary heat in a season-best 2:13.40. All three Lady Bears qualified for the event finals

DeAna Carson placed 12th overall in the women's long jump with a leap of 5.75m (18-10.50).

Chris Cardwell earned a 16th-place finish in the men's weight throw with a toss of 16.55m (54-03.75).

Kaleigh Teel earned a 12th-place finish in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.60m (11-09.75), while Ashley Korol finished tied for 13th with a season-best vault of 3.50m (11-05.75).

Hood and Grace earned second place finishes in their 200 meter preliminary heats. Hood ran a season-best 24.19 to place ninth, while Grace finished in 24.28 to earn tenth. Long finished her heat in 25.84 for fifth place, 20th overall, while Gregory was fifth in her heat, 21st overall, in 26.69.

Witherspoon and Harts both won their 200 meter preliminary heats with the top two times. Harts broke the 21-second barrier for the first time with a mark of 20.98, while Witherspoon cruised to victory in 20.93. Courtney Thomas finished third in his heat, 11th overall, with a time of 21.57.

Baylor returns to action on Saturday morning for the second day of competition at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships.