June 12, 2010
Complete Results
EUGENE, Ore. - In front of a sell-out crowd of 12,812, Baylor's track and field team earned All-America honors in three events on the final day of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The Bears earned All-America accolades on Saturday in the women's 4x100-meter relay, men's 4x400-meter relay, and the women's 200 meters from Tiffany Townsend.
In the team races, the Baylor women finished with 13 points to place in a tie for 20th overall, while Texas A&M took the team title with 72 points. For the men, the Bears totaled five points to place in a tie for 45th, while Texas A&M completed the sweep with 55 points.
"We just battled hard all year," head coach Todd Harbour said. "To see Tiffany run the way she did, the women's 4x1, Skylar in the discus, Chris in the 800, and the guys in the 4x400, was great.
The Baylor men's 4x400-meter relay earned the 22nd consecutive All-America honor in the event with a sixth-place finish in a time of 3:04.85. The Bears were without All-Americans Trey Harts and Marcus Boyd, but alternates Thaddeus Gordon and James Gilreath made the most of their opportunities to earn the first All-America honors of their careers. Season-long mainstays Michael Liggins and Zwede Hewitt rounded out the All-America squad. The honor was the second for Liggins and the third for Hewitt, who each ran on Baylor's runner-up indoor squad earlier this season.
Gilreath led off the race for Baylor, putting the Bears in the middle of the pack with a 46.74 carry, before handing off to Zwede Hewitt. The sophomore moved BU into fifth place with a 45.29 split. Gordon took the next split, holding the Bears in position for anchor Liggins with a 46.94 split. Liggins turned in a carry of 45.66 to earn the Bears the All-America honors in sixth place.
"This was an outstanding achievement for this group of guys," Harbour said. "There is a fine line between first and sixth, and these guys put it all out there today."
In the women's 200 meters, Townsend earned her third All-America honor of the meet with a fourth-place finish. Running in Lane 2, the junior sprinted off the sharp curve, then closed down the homestretch to move up into fourth place with a time of 23.35.
The finish marks the third consecutive outdoor season in which Townsend has earned All-America honors in the event, finishing eighth in 2008 and fifth in 2009. It is also gives Townsend eight individual All-America certificates, the most in Baylor history.
The women's 4x100-meter relay continued its late-season charge to finish sixth in the finals and earn All-America honors for the third straight year. The Lady Bears raced the baton around the track in a time of 44.28, their second-fastest time of the season.
Tiffany Townsend and Brittany Bruce have been a member of all three, while Brittany Carr was on the 2008 team and Diamond Richardson will earn her first in the event. Townsend's new total of 13 All-America awards is also a Baylor record, and is four more than the next closest BU career total.
"That was a nice move Coach [Michael] Ford made changing the 4x100 with some injuries that we had at the end of the season," Harbour said. "They did an outstanding job today."
The meet concludes Baylor's outdoor season with 10 Baylor athletes earning All-America honors in six different events, including Townsend's team-best three awards. The weekend also featured an NCAA-record four-day attendance total of 45,847.
2010 All-Americans
MEN
James Gilreath - 4x400-meter relay
Thaddeus Gordon - 4x400-meter relay
Chris Gowell - 800 meters
Zwede Hewitt - 4x400-meter relay
Michael Liggins - 4x400-meter relay
WOMEN
Brittany Bruce - 4x100-meter relay
Brittany Carr - 4x100-meter relay
Diamond Richardson - 4x100-meter relay
Tiffany Townsend - 100 meters, 200 meters, 4x100-meter relay
Skylar White - Discus
