Feb. 13, 2010

Complete Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Baylor's relay teams led the way with the top finishes on the final day of action at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. The Baylor men met NCAA provisional standards in the 4x400-meter relay and the distance medley relay.

"Overall it was an outstanding weekend," head coach Todd Harbour said. "We had a lot of quality performances during the two days even though had to overcome a little bit of adversity getting here with travel. I thought we bounced back pretty well today."

In the men's DMR, Gavyn Nero, Drew Seale, James Gilreath and Chris Gowell shaved 11 seconds off the Bears' season best to place second with a school-record time of 9:38.46. The time also marked the fifth fastest in the NCAA this season, and the second school record in as many days for Gowell. The Bears broke the previous school record, set in 2001, by nearly five seconds.

Baylor's men's 4x400-meter relay team of Trey Harts, Marcus Boyd, Michael Liggins, and Zwede Hewitt turned in one of the nation's fastest times at 3:06.77, but was narrowly edged out of first-place for the third consecutive meet. This time it was Florida on the winning end.

The women's DMR team of Leigh Ann Ganzar, Lizzy Whitney, Kathryn Benvegnu and Danielle Bradley rounded out the women's distance crew on the day with a fourth-place finish. The group crossed the line in a time of 11:46.26. The Lady Bears' 4x400-meter relay team placed 15th with a time of 3:41.68. Brittany Bruce, Diamond Richardson, Christina Holland, and Tiana Hood combined to finish just .08 behind their season best.

On the track in individual events, Harts turned in the top finish of the day, placing fifth in the highly-competitive 200 meters. Harts turned in his best performance of the season with a time of 21.00, good for third best in the Big 12 and seventh best in the NCAA.

In the women's field events, triple jumper Jessica Ubanyionwu made an enormous improvement on already impressive career-best. Ubanyionwu added nearly two feet to her personal best with a leap of 43-1.25 to place fourth. Her jump puts her atop the Big 12 by nearly a foot and sits her in seventh in the NCAA. High jumper Dess Meek record her season-best clearance of 5-7 to place second. Meek had zero misses through the first three clearances, allowing her the top tie-breaker at 5-7.

On the women's side, senior All-American Erin Bedell met the provisional standard in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:30.02 to place second. The time also mark's Bedell best in the event this season. In the same race, sophomore Cate Westenhover placed fourth with a career-best time of 9:36.98, and senior Nichole Jones placed ninth with a season-best time of 9:49.45. The sophomore tandem of Sam Patty and Kristen Hanselka each had a solid day in the 5,000 meters. Patty placed seventh with a career-best of 10:03.01, while Hanselka recorded a season-best 10:04.86 to place eighth.

Also on the track, distance runner Brandon Reed shaved 12 seconds off of his previous personal best in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:52.33, to placed fourth in the collegiate division. In the men's field events, Kyle Cash placed eighth in the high jump, clearing a height of 6-6.75.

"Jessica's triple jump was outstanding," Harbour said. "We had some great highlights at the meet with Trey's 200 and especially the two school records with Chris' (Gowell) 800 yesterday and the DMR today. We just have to get a few of them healthy, hopefully we can get everybody well for the Big 12."

Baylor's track and field team will have a weekend off as they prepare for the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa on Feb. 26-27.