April 2, 2010

Complete Results

"We had a good day, especially with our throwers," head coach Todd Harbour said. "I am really proud of our the way our relays ran today. We had some really, really good performances."

Lyons, a junior, broke his own school record of 218-5 on his first throw, then popped in the winning and new school record throw on his second throw of the final round. Lyons, who set the school record at last season's Texas Relays, had three throws better than it this season on a near-perfect night. The mark ranks Lyons second in the NCAA so far this season.

"That's a huge throw," head coach Todd Harbour said. "What a day for Nick. To make a jump like that over his previous personal best is just incredible. Our throwers had a really good day today, with Nick and Skylar (White)."

The sprint medley crew took the lead on solid 200-meter legs from Courtney Thomas and Trey Harts, then extended it with a 46.0 400-meter split from Michael Liggins. The race came down to Baylor's Big 12 800-meter champion James Gilreath and LSU's four-time All-American Richard Jones, who placed fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season. The two battled shoulder-to-shoulder for the final lap, but Jones crossed first to give his team the title and a time of 3:16.01, while Gilreath finished third for a Baylor time of 3:16.44.

Newcomer Skylar White continued her freshman campaign with a personal best in the women's discus with a toss of 168-11. White's mark was the best in Section `B' and placed her fourth overall in the event. The distance was also the second-best in Baylor history, behind only Brittney Devereaux's school record of 178-6.

In the men's 4x100-meter relay, Marcus Boyd got the team off to a fast start, and good handoffs with Whitney Prevost and Thomas put the baton in Harts' hands in second place on the homestretch. Harts, a stride behind TCU's Mark Barnes, made up the gap in a hurry and won his team the heat with a time of 39.99. The mark was the second-fastest qualifying time of the day, behind Texas A&M's 39.80.

The Baylor men also competed in the 4x1,500-meter relay to cap off the night with a seventh place finish. The group of Logan Roberts, Ben Haby, Robbie Knorr, and DJ Dixon combined for a time of 15:41.68, one of the top 10 fastest times in school history. The mark was only six seconds off the Baylor school record.

Baylor's women's 4x400-meter relay team also had a solid showing, narrowly missing the nine-team finals by less than one second with an 11th-place overall finish. The group took first in the heat, kicked off by a solid opening leg from Christina Holland. The freshman handed off to Tiana Hood, and Hood, along with Lizzy Whitney held off a hard-charging Stephen F. Austin team. Then anchor Diamond Richardson created a 20-meter gap in her closing leg for win and a time of 3:43.02.

Holland and Hood each also competed in individual events on the day. Holland placed seventh in her heat of the 100-meter hurdles, and 30th overall, with a time of 14.32. Hood, meanwhile, was sixth in her heat and 37th overall in the women's 100-meter prelims with a time of 12.07.

For the men, Prevost and Thomas each fell just outside of the qualifying times for the 100-meter dash, as they placed 11th and 12th overall, respectively. Prevost was fourth in his heat with a time of 10.53, while Thomas was third in his heat at 10.55.

In other field events, All-American long jumper DeAna Carson placed 12th in the long jump with a leap of 19-1.5, while Dess Meek placed seventh in the high jump, clearing a bar of 5-7.25.

The Bears will close out this year's edition of the Texas Relays on Saturday. Baylor will look to defend 2009 Texas Relay titles in the men's and women's distance medley relays, as well as the men's 4x400-meter relay. Follow live results at www.BaylorBears.com.