May 28, 2008
WACO, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
BAYLOR SET FOR NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Baylor men's and women's track and field teams are set to travel to the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on Friday and Saturday, May 30-31 at Ed Weir Stadium in Lincoln, Neb. The meet will mark Baylor's third trip to Lincoln this season. The Bears also competed at the Husker Invitational during the indoor season, and Nebraska hosted the 2008 Big 12 Indoor Championships. Following competition at the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, the Bears will travel to Des Moines, Iowa for the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on June 11-14. Live results can be found at Nebraska's official athletics website www.Huskers.com. Complete meet recaps will be available each evening at www.BaylorBears.com.
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Quentin Iglehart-Summers won the open 400 meters, and the men's 4x400-meter relay dropped the nation's fastest time at the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional meet on Saturday at Drake Stadium. Lauren Hagans set a new school record in the 800 meters to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. Baylor ran 3:01.66 in the 4x400-meter relay, the fastest time in the nation this season. Earlier last season, Baylor ran 3:02.00, the previous nation-leading time, on the same track during the Drake Relays. The Bears win the 4x400-meter relay for the fifth-straight year at the NCAA Midwest Regional, each year since the NCAA began regional meets. The time ranks as the fifth-fastest in the world, and the third-fastest in the United States. The Bears also set the Midwest Regional record, breaking the old mark of 3:02.65, set by Baylor in 2005. Iglehart-Summers clocked a time of 45.62, a new season-best time to claim the regional championship. Hagans automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships by finishing fifth in the 800 meters with a school-record time of 3:05.69
LAST TIME OUT
The Baylor men's and women's track and field teams claimed five conference championships on the third day of competition at the 2008 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Potts Field. The men's team placed sixth overall with 72 points, while the women finished in a tie for seventh with 59 points. Colorado won the men's championship with 138 points, while Texas A&M claimed the women's title with 157 points. Along with its five Big 12 titles, the Bears also had 21 athletes claim 22 All-Big 12 honors, including a team high four all-conference performances from Trey Harts. The men's and women's teams swept the 4x400-meter relays to end the meet. The women posted a season-best time, while the men used two substitutes to claim their Big 12 title. Baylor's time of 3:32.28 is the fastest time of the year for the Lady Bears, improving on their previous season-best time by almost four full seconds. Baylor clocked a time of 3:36.02 at Texas Relays to finish in fourth place behind Texas A&M. Baylor wins its third outdoor 4x400-meter relay title, also winning in 1998 and 2006. The Lady Bears now have seven total conference titles in the 4x400-meter relay including indoor and outdoor championships. The men's 4x400-meter relay won its 27th-straight race, with a winning time of 3:03.82. Baylor won its 11th-consecutive outdoor Big 12 Championship, and has now won 22 straight conference titles counting indoor and outdoor Big 12 meets. LeJerald Betters won his third-straight title in the men's 400 meters. Betters won the outdoor championship last year on the way to being named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, and defended his title with a conference championship during the indoor season. His time of 45.01 is a new personal best, and ranks as the 10th-best in Baylor history. Betters is the eighth-straight Baylor runner to win the 400 meter title. The Bears have also won 10 of the last 12 Big 12 championships in the 400 meters. Lauren Hagans won her first individual Big 12 title, clocking 2:05.32 in the women's 800 meters. The time is a personal-best for Hagans and ranks as the second-fastest time in Baylor history. With Nichole Jones' victory in the 800 meters last season, Baylor joins Texas (Liz Diaz, 1998-99) as the only school in Big 12 history to produce back-to-back champions in the 800 meters. Robert Griffin clocked a personal-best time of 49.22 to win the men's 400-meter hurdles. Griffin, who graduated a year early from high school, was competing in just his fourth race of the season, following the completion of spring football practice. The time ranks as the third-fastest in Baylor history, and is the fourth-fastest time in the nation this year Baylor wins its first championship in the 400-meter hurdles since the Bears won five straight titles between 1999 and 2003.
Click here for live streaming video coverage of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
