April 18, 2006

WACO, Texas - The Baylor track and field team has added distance runners Renae Van Whye, Ben Haby and Tyler Barnes to its 2006 signing class, bringing the total to 13 new Bears in the fall, head track and field and cross country coach Todd Harbour announced Tuesday.

Van Whye is from Collierville High School in Collierville, Tenn., where she is coached by Robbie Simmons, who ran for the Bears under director of track and field Clyde Hart and graduated from Baylor in 1985. Van Whye was the 2005 state champion in the 3,200 meters as well as the state runner-up in cross country. She has broken the Tennessee state record on three occasions, lowering the mark to 10:42 and has a personal best of 5:02 in the mile.

"Renae has shown tremendous improvement over the last year," Harbour said. "She joins an outstanding group of young ladies that signed in the fall."

The women's early class included Loren Hodges (Paradise, Texas), who recently won the 1,600 meters at Texas Relays, Danielle Bradley (West Palm Beach, Fla.), DeAna Carson (Long Beach, Calif.), Natalie Neill (Ft. Worth, Texas), Jessica Gregory (Richmond, Texas) and Katie Stoever (Tulsa, Okla.).

Haby ran on the 2005 state championship team at King High School in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was recently crowned the 3,200-meter champion in his district and ran in the top position on his team that competed at the Nike National Championships. Haby has personal bests of 4:19 in the 1,600 meters and 9:42 in the 3,200 meters.

Barnes is from Boerne High School in Boerne, Texas, where he was the 2005 district cross country champion and finished 11th at the state meet. On the track, he has captured eight district and one regional title and set the Region IV 4A record in the 800 meters. Barnes has the second-fastest time in the state in the 800 meters at 1:53.4 and runs on the nation's third-ranked 4x400-meter relay.

"Tyler has great range from 400 to cross country and will be a valuable addition to our team," Harbour said. "Ben has competed for one of the top cross country programs in the state over his high school career. He brings with him leadership and a blue-collar work ethic that will be huge assets to our program."

Haby and Barnes add to what is has been hailed as one of the top men's collegiate signing classes in the country. LaGerald Betters (Waco, Texas) won the 400 meters at the Nike National Championships and recently won four events at the district championships, while J.T. Scheuerman (Littleton, Colo.) has the second-fastest 400-meter time in the nation at 46.24. Trey Harts (Lake Charles, La.) and David Gettis (Los Angeles, Calif.) are two accomplished sprinters that round out the class.

2006 BAYLOR TRACK & FIELD SIGNEES
Name              Event(s)            Hometown (High School)
Tyler Barnes      Distances           Boerne, Texas (Boerne)
LaGerald Betters  400                 Waco, Texas (Waco)
Danielle Bradley  800                 West Palm Beach, Fla. (King's Academy)
DeAna Carson      Sprints/Hurdles/LJ  Long Beach, Calif. (Wilson)
David Gettis      400                 Los Angeles, Calif. (Dorsey)
Jessica Gregory   Sprints             Richmond, Texas (Foster)
Ben Haby          Distances           Corpus Christi, Texas (King)
Trey Harts        Sprints             Lake Charles, La. (Barbe)
Loren Hodges      Distances           Paradise, Texas (Paradise)
Natalie Neill     Distances           Ft. Worth, Texas (Lake Country Christian)
J.T. Scheuerman   400                 Littleton, Colo. (Littleton)
Katie Stoever     Pole Vault          Tulsa, Okla. (Bishop Kelley)
Renae Van Whye    Distances           Collierville, Tenn. (Collierville)