June 7, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Baylor senior Chris Gillis (Pennsauken, N.J.) popped a jump of 7.83 meters (25-8 ¼) on his first attempt and was happy enough with that mark to pass on his two other jumps as he moved on to the long jump finals on the first day of the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Wednesday at Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.

Gillis' mark held up as the third-best of the qualifying round, easily moving on to Thursday night's finals at 6:30 p.m. PDT. He stands behind Florida's Mike Morrison at 7.91 meters (25-11 ½) and Louisville's Tony Belt at 7.85 meters (25-9 ¼).

"That was my best opener ever, so I'm looking forward to a big day tomorrow," Gillis said. "By passing on my other jumps, it's a big advantage because I don't have to stand around out here and jump. Some of the other guys also have to compete in other events, but I'm able to focus on this. I'm right where I need to be. I expected to jump far, but I didn't expect that. It wasn't even an all-out jump, I just came out here relaxed and was able to put up a good jump."

The Bears made a good showing in both the men's and women's 400 meters as junior Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) and senior Angel Perkins (Cerritos, Calif.) both advanced to the semifinals. Witherspoon finished second in his heat and posted the ninth-fastest qualifying time with a time of 45.97, while Perkins also finished second in her heat to automatically advance to the semifinals with the eighth-fastest time at 52.80. Following Friday's semifinal, the top nine of the remaining 16 advance to Saturday's finals.

Senior Wil Fitts (DeSoto, Texas) advanced to Thursday's semifinal in the 800 meters with the 14th-best time of 1:48.45. The 800 semifinals will be run at 5:05 p.m. PDT.

Senior Jerome Miller (Houston, Texas) advanced to the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.81, but ran 14.03 in the semifinals to finish 15th overall.

Junior Monique Ortega (El Paso, Texas) ran a season-best 10:33.73 to finish 24th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Sophomore Brittany Devereaux (Denton, Texas) failed to get off a legal throw and did not place in the discus.

The men's 4x100-meter relay of Miller, Witherspoon and freshmen Queito Teasley (Katy, Texas) and Jacob Norman (Temple, Texas) narrowly missed the final by seven hundredths of a second, finishing ninth in 39.59. The women's 4x100-meter relay of senior Marquisha Sefas (Ft. Worth, Texas), Tucker, Perkins and sophomore Carla Grace (San Antonio, Texas) finished 15th in 44.61.

The Bears will have a lighter day Thursday, in addition to Gillis and Fitts, freshman Erin Bedell (Plano, Texas) will run in the 1,500-meter semifinals at 6 p.m., the women's 4x400-meter relay semifinals run at 6:30 p.m. PDT and the men's 4x400-meter relay semifinals run at 6:55 p.m. PDT.