Track Set for Midwest Regional

Track & Field 5/27/2009 12:00:00 AM

May 27, 2009

WACO, Texas -

BAYLOR TRACK SET FOR NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL
The Baylor men's and women's track and field teams hit the road this weekend as the Bears travel to Norman, Okla. for the 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional at John Jacobs Field. Baylor is coming off a solid performance two weeks ago at the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Lubbock, Texas. The Bears won three conference titles, including a sweep of the 4x400-meter relays. Live results for the 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional can be found online at www.SoonerSports.com. Complete meet recaps can be found at the conclusion of each day of competition at www.BaylorBears.com.

LAST TIME AT THE NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL
The Baylor men's and women's track teams swept the 4x400-meter relay titles, and Baylor won four regional championships on the second day of competition at the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships. The Baylor men won their 28th-straight race with a time of 3:03.19 to close the meet. The Bears have not lost a race to an NCAA team since the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships and have since won three-straight national championships (2007 indoor and outdoor, 2008 indoor). Baylor also wins its sixth-straight Midwest Regional title, winning every championship since the regional format was introduced in 2003. The Lady Bears followed its strong showing at the Big 12 Championships with another win on Saturday. Baylor won in a time of 3:33.71, nearly two full seconds ahead of Oklahoma. LeJerald Betters won the Midwest Regional title in the men's 400 meters with a time of 45.04, the second-straight meet that he has run 45.0 in the open 400 meters. At the Big 12 Championships, Betters clocked 45.01 to win his third-straight 400 meter title. Robert Griffin clocked 49.53 in the 400-meter hurdles to set a new Midwest Regional record. Griffin got out quickly, making up the stagger on the backstretch. He finished strong holding off Nick Robinson of Texas A&M and teammate Justin Boyd, duplicating the same 1-2-3 finish as the Big 12 Championships.

LAST TIME OUT
Erin Bedell won the women's 1,500 meters and Baylor swept the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays on the final day of competition at the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Terry and Linda Fuller Track. The men's team finished seventh overall with 54 team points, while the women's squad took fourth with 84 points. The women's finish ties for the third-highest place in Big 12 Championship history. The Lady Bears finished second in 1999 and third in 1998, and recorded fourth-place finishes in 2005 and 2002. The men's 4x400-meter relay won the Big 12 outdoor title for the 12th-straight year with a time of 3:04.93. The Bears run their streak of Big 12 titles to 24 straight including indoor and outdoor meets. Baylor also extended its 4x400-meter relay winning streak to 41 straight wins over collegiate competition. The women's 4x400-meter relay defended its Big 12 title from 2008, clocking a time of 3:33.66, just seven-hundredths off its season-best time from Texas Relays. Bedell won the women's 1,500 meters with a time of 4:22.03 to finish two full seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Bedell claims her second individual Big 12 title after winning the indoor 3,000 meters during the 2006 season. Trey Harts and Tiffany Townsend led the Bears with four All-Big 12 honors apiece. Both ran legs on the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays as well as the 100 and 200 meters. Harts took second in the 100 meters with Townsend finishing third overall. Townsend finished second to Texas A&M's Porsha Lucas in the 200 meters by one-hundredth of a second, while Harts took third overall in the 200 meters. The women's 4x100-meter relay finished second to Texas A&M with a time of 43.85, the third-fastest time in school history. The men's squad also finished second behind the Aggies with a time of 39.56. DeAna Carson, who finished second in the long jump on Saturday afternoon, clocked a time of 13.72 in the women's 100-meter hurdles to finish third overall. Nick Lyons finished second overall in the men's javelin with a best throw of 62.55m (205-02). Lyons needed a throw of 197 feet on his third throw to make the event finals, and was sitting in seventh position heading into the last round before his final throw moved him into second place. Danielle Bradley finished second to Olympian Jenny Barringer in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:29.37. Katrina Taylor took third in the women's 400 meters with a personal-best time of 52.75. Diamond Richardson took fifth in 53.84, while Brittany Bruce finished seventh in 55.10.

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