May 15, 2010
Complete Results | Championship Central
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Freshman Skylar White continued her breakout season for the Baylor track and field team, collecting a second-place finish in the discus at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Columbia, Mo.
The second day of competition tested the student-athletes with windy and rainy conditions in which the high temperature barely cracked 50 degrees.
"The conditions were no big thing, that's the way this whole season has been," head coach Todd Harbour said. "It was a typical day at the Big 12 meet with a lot of highs and lows, but we had a lot of people that really stepped up big to qualify for finals."
None stepped up bigger than White, who popped her second-best discus toss of 168 feet, five inches on her first throw of the day. White held the lead through the next four rounds until Oklahoma's Brittany Borman recorded a mark of 174-5 on the second to last throw. But White, who also earned all-Big 12 honors in the indoor shot put, collected her second all-Big 12 honor with the runner-up finish.
Also in the finals of the field events, Dess Meek narrowly missed a top-three finish, placing sixth overall after tiebreakers on misses were calculated. Meek cleared 5-7 on her third attempt, while four other athletes she tied with cleared on their first or second try.
"Skylar (White) was a big highlight on the day for us," Harbour said. "She did an outstanding job of competing today. Coach Brabham has done a great job with her. Dess (Meek) did a great job in the high jump and was so close on a day that the national leader in the event didn't even clear her opening height."
On the track, the Baylor sprinters put together a solid day of prelims, qualifying athletes in each sprint race for both men and women. In the 100, Tiffany Townsend and Brittany Carr each qualified for the women with time of 11.47 and 11.77, while Trey Harts qualified for the men at 10.61.
In the 200, Townsend cruised to a time of 23.13 to qualify for the women, while three men qualified, led by Harts. Harts posted the second-best time of 20.64, while Whitney Prevost was fifth at 20.73 and Courtney Thomas qualified eighth at 20.91.
The 400 featured two qualifiers for the men in Michael Liggins and Zwede Hewitt who each won their heats to earn automatic qualifications. Liggins posted a time of 46.41, while Hewitt crossed in 46.66. Diamond Richardson qualified for the women at 54.81.
Meanwhile, two Baylor newcomers in the 400-meter hurdles put the Bears in the finals in both the men's and women's race. For the men, Chance Casey, also a Baylor football player, qualified sixth overall at 51.72, while Christina Holland posted a time of 1:01.14 to qualify for the women.
In the 800 meters, senior All-American Chris Gowell posted the fastest preliminary time of 1:50.13 to qualify, while Big 12 indoor champ James Gilreath qualified in the eighth spot with a time of 1:51.56. On the women's side, Lauren Simpson battled the elements to crush her previous personal best by three seconds to qualify for the final with a time of 2:10.25.
"On the track, I thought we had two special results today with Lauren Simpson and Brittany Carr," Harbour said. "They were both ranked 15th and 17th in their events entering the meet, and for them to come in and qualify in the top eight is just outstanding."
The Bears will be back on the track tomorrow for the final day of competition at the Big 12 Championships. Field events are set to begin at 2 p.m., while action on the track will start at 3 p.m.
