April 14, 2007

Complete Results

DENTON, Texas - Despite a mid-April artic wind chill, the Baylor men's and women's track and field teams competed at the North Texas Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Bears and Lady Bears recorded five regional qualifying marks on the day.

The highlight of the day came during Baylor's signature race, the meet-ending 4x400-meter relay. The Bears, ranked No. 1 in the nation in the event, and the 2007 NCAA Indoor National Champions, met their toughest competition of the season in the Waco All-Stars relay squad with former Baylor All-Americans and Olympic gold medalists Darold Williamson and Jeremy Wariner.

Baylor entered the meet undefeated against all collegiate competition this season, with its only second-place showing coming against the USA National Team at the Tyson Invitational during the indoor season. Baylor's team of R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.), Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.), David Gettis (Los Angeles, Calif.), and Kevin Mutai (Round Rock, Texas) led the race by nearly ten meters entering the anchor leg, but Wariner, the world's No. 1 runner in the open 400 meters, made up the difference to lead the Waco All-Stars to victory in 3:13.28, just ahead of Baylor's time of 3:13.60.

The men's team set three regional qualifying marks, led by Courtney Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) who clocked a 20.86 in the men's 200 meter dash. The race was the fastest for a Bear during the outdoor season, and marked the first time this year that a Baylor runner ran under 21 seconds. Witherspoon also recorded a regional qualifying time in 21.16 in his first 200 meter race of the outdoor season. Gettis, who has battled mononucleosis over the past month, dropped his season-best time in the event to 21.52.

The men's 4x100-meter relay squad recorded a time of 40.60 to set another regional qualifying time in the event.

Carla Grace (San Antonio, Texas) ran the fastest time of the season to win the women's 200 meters, clocking 23.79 and a regional qualifying mark. Jessica Gregory clocked 26.25 in the event to finish in 15th place.

Stasia Kelly-Taylor (Atlanta, Ga.) set a regional mark in the women's triple jump with a leap of 12.39m (40-07.75) to finish in second place.

Grace finished third in the 100 meters in 11.87, while Gregory clocked 12.16 to finish ninth in the event.

Rena Napolean (Colorado Springs, Colo.) finished sixth in the women's 400 meters with a time of 57.83. Janet Jones (Houston, Texas) took 12th in the event with a time of 1:04.82.

Kathryn Benvegnu (Kingwood, Texas) was third in the women's 800 meters with a clocking of 2:16.99. Jessi Barnes (Bentonville, Ark.) won the women's 1,500 meters with a time of 4:47.36, while Brittany McGuire (Humble, Texas) finished second in the women's 3,000 meters in 11:01.67.

Lauren Tillman (Lawrenceville, Ga.) took second in the women's 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.37, while Katrina Taylor (Baton Rouge, La.) was third with a time of 1:05.54. Rachael Long (Houston, Texas) finished sixth in the event in 1:08.47, while Rachel Glandorf (Peoria, Ariz.) clocked 1:15.17 to finish ninth.

In the women's pole vault, Kaleigh Teel (Friendswood, Texas) took first with a clearance of 3.65m (11-11.75), while Katie Stoever (Tulsa, Okla.) finished in third with a height of 3.35m (10-11.75).

The women's 4x100-meter relay team finished in third place with a time of 46.33, while the 4x400-meter relay team clocked 3:49.34 to win the event.

Trey Harts (Lake Charles, La.) took ninth in the men's 100 meters with a time of 10.69. Sterling Farmer (Houston, Texas) finished seventh in the men's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.40.

The Bears took four of the top five spots in the open 400 meters as LeJerald Betters (Waco, Texas) won in 48.06. J.T. Scheuerman (Littleton, Colo.) finished second with a time of 48.62. Anderson was fourth in 48.96 and Quentin Iglehart-Summers (San Antonio, Texas) was fifth with a time of 49.11. Mark Teter (San Antonio, Texas) ran 49.81 to place ninth.

John Wenhold (Corpus Christi, Texas) placed third in the men's 3,000 meters with a time of 8:51.44, while Jordan Hiller (Yoakum, Texas) finished fifth in 9:05.86. Jacob Jones took sixth in the race with a time of 9:08.12.

Jeremy Taylor (Carrollton, Texas) placed sixth in the men's high jump with a height of 1.90m (6-02.75). Josh Camp (Baytown, Texas) finished fourth in the men's triple jump with a leap of 13.62m (44-08.25). Chris Cardwell won the men's hammer throw with a toss of 51.59m (169-03).

Wenhold placed third in the men's 1,500 meters with a time of 4:05.73, while Hiller placed seventh in 4:08.46. Jones took tenth with a time of 4:14.54, and Mutai placed 16th in 4:19.85 in his first 1,500 meter race of the season.

Baylor returns to action next Saturday as the Bears host the Michael Johnson Classic at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex.