March 10, 2007

Complete Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Baylor men's 4x400 meter relay team clocked the fastest time in the world this year to claim its seventh indoor national championship in the mile relay at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday night at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

The Bears had a national champion for the second straight season, as Jacob Norman (Temple, Texas) won the 60 meters at the 2006 indoor meet. The relay national championship is the first for Baylor since 2004 and the first during Todd Harbour's tenure as head coach.

Baylor's 4x400 meter relay team has now earned All-America honors for the 28th straight year. The Bears claimed their 15th overall mile relay national championship, and finished in the top-three for the 22nd time.

The Baylor men's team finished the meet in a tie for tenth place with 21 points, marking the second straight top-ten finish for the team. Baylor earned an eighth-place finish (21 points) at the 2006 championships. The Lady Bears tied for 50th overall with four team points.

For the meet, Baylor earned 12 All-America honors and one national champion. All nine Baylor athletes that competed in the meet earned at least one All-American citation, with Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.), LeJerald Betters (Waco, Texas), and Quentin Iglehart-Summers (San Antonio, Texas) each receiving two All-America records.

"I am extremely proud of these guys, and glad that we ended on a good note," said Harbour. "This is a great way to end the indoor season and gives us good momentum going into the outdoor season."

Baylor recorded a winning time of 3:04.24, the fastest time of the season, and just one-quarter of a second off the collegiate record of 3:03.96 set by the Bears during their 2004 national championship victory.

"It was great that we were able to lead the race from end-to-end," said Witherspoon. "Coach [Clyde] Hart has been working with us to get us comfortable running by ourselves, so we were able to come out and execute. We still have a lot of potential with this team; there is a lot more to come from our relay team."

Witherspoon led off for Baylor, getting out of the blocks quickly to clock a split of 45.8. The senior held the lead as the runners broke to the inside, and was in first place at the first exchange. Betters, already an All-American in the open 400 meters, held the lead during the first lap before opening a 15-meter cushion during his second lap to record a 45.7 split.

Senior Kevin Mutai (Round Rock, Texas) ran a 46.7 split, extending the lead to as many as 20 meters during the second lap. Iglehart-Summers, who had already run in the finals of the open 400 meters earlier in the evening, cruised to victory in 46 seconds, winning the title by a two second margin.

"We knew that we would have to run out in front to do our best tonight," said Iglehart-Summers. "Reggie [Witherspoon] got a good lead, and then LeJerald [Betters] and [Kevin] Mutai opened it up, so I was just trying to hold the lead. I love running the anchor leg on the relay. I feel good running out in front, and I know I can chase another runner down if I need to. I am just glad that they trusted me and had faith in me."

Iglehart-Summers won his finals heat, and finished third overall, in the 400 meters with a personal-best time of 46.07, earning another All-America citation. The time is the sixth-fastest in the nation this season, and is the fastest for the Bears this season on a 200 meter track. Iglehart-Summers was quick out of the starting blocks in lane six, and extended his lead to more than ten meters coming off the first turn and into the break to the inside. The sophomore held his lead through the backstretch and powered through the last straightaway to win the heat.

Combined with LeJerald Betters' (Waco, Texas) All-American performance in the preliminaries, Baylor earned two indoor All-American citations in the open 400 meters for the first time since 2004 when Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson took first and fourth, respectively.

Sophomore Erin Bedell (Plano, Texas) finished 17th in the finals of the women's 3,000 meters with a time of 9:33.02.

Baylor returns to action in two weeks as the Bears kick off their outdoor season by hosting the Dr Pepper Invitational at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex.