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June 14, 2003

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The 2003 NCAA Track and Field Championships concluded Saturday night at Sacramento State University's A.G. Spanos Sports Complex. In the final race of the four-day meet, the men's 4x400 relay team finished fifth to earn its 23rd -consecutive All-America honor. The Baylor men have placed among the top relays every year since 1981.

Freshman Jeremy Wariner ran the leadoff leg keeping the Bears virtually even with the rest of the field entering the first handoff, and freshman Jamen Saziru took the lead on the second leg. Brian McDonald had a rough third leg before an unsteady handoff to Darold Williamson put the Bears behind the pack. Williamson made a move on the backstretch, but it was not enough as the Bears finished fifth with a time of 3:03.70.

LSU won the race with a time of 3:02.01 followed by Minnesota (3:02.33), South Carolina (3:02.86) and Texas (3:03.63).

"We finished fifth and we didn't run terrible, but a relay has to have four solid legs, and one didn't run up to par," head coach Clyde Hart said. "It wasn't a lack of effort, we just didn't get the performance we would have liked."

Williamson earned his second outdoor relay All-America honor. It was the first for Wariner, Saziru and McDonald.

Three women earned All-America honors. Senior Debbie Thornhill started the Bears off with an eighth-place finish in the 10,000-meter run to earn her first All-America honor. Indoor long jump All-American April Holliness earned outdoor accolades for the first time with a fifth-place finish in the event. In her first NCAA Championships appearance, Jordan Willmann took fifth in the heptathlon to be the third women's honoree.

The women's team finished the meet with nine points, their highest total since accumulating 13 points to tie for 21st in 2001. They tied for 29th place. With a team total of four points, the men tied for 52nd.

Several Baylor track and field athletes will compete at the USA Championships next week in Palo Alto, Calif.