April 21, 2002

WACO, Texas - What looked to be a meet where the sprinters would dominate, redshirt freshman Jason Young stole the show by setting a new personal and school record as well as automatically qualifying for the NCAA National Meet with a toss of 200 feet-1 inch in the discus at the Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Invitational Saturday afternoon in Waco, Texas.

"I am very proud of him," commented Tech throws coach Cliff Felkins who called the wind a "lefthanded wind." "This is a tremendous throw under these conditions." Tremendous it was, the Dallas native's fling was just a one-foot four-inches off the track record set in 1965 by U.S. Olympian Randy Matson.

The women's 4x100 relay lived up to its billing as the Big 12's second fastest team, Texas Tech, edged out Baylor, the Big 12's third fastest team, by .38 seconds. Rachelle' Evans ran the opening leg and kept up with the pace set by the six-school field and made the first exchange with Tiffany Green. The sophomore then blasted past the field in such a way as to make the crowd of 1,236 at Hart-Patterson Track Complex collectively gasp with excitement. A clean second handoff to Ashley Mitchell followed by a battle of wills between senior Monique Wright-Cruse and Baylor's Barbara Petrahn ended with Tech taking home the title in a time of 44.85. Mitchell also took first in the 200 with a time of 24.11.

"I am very pleased with the time we turned in under this windy of a condition," stated Tech track coach Wes Kittley.

The two 4x440 relays turned out to be as billed. The men's team led off with Albert Booker who ran a split time of 47.79 and made the first exchange with Ivory McCann in a virtual tie for first with Baylor and Seton Hall. McCann raced to 46.56 split and was tied with Baylor for first after two legs. Junior Julieon Raeburn opened up a five-meter lead between the second and third turns before turning the race over to Jonathan Johnson. Johnson ran the fastest of the four splits, 45.95, but was even with Baylor's anchor at the third turn and coming out of the fourth turn was back by five-meters giving Tech a second place finish with a time of 3:07.05.

"We've been trying to get this thing in order all year," noted Kittley. "And right now I am very encouraged by our performance."

The women's 4x440 was equally as exciting pitting the Big 12's second and third fastest teams, Tech and Baylor. Evans took the lead leg and sprinted out to a 10-meter lead at the first change. LaDonna Begelton kept Tech in front of the competition as she handed the baton off to senior Melonie Barrow.

"We competed," said Barrow. "We had hoped to come out with a win tonight and we didn't, but we competed."

Barrow turned the race over to anchor Licretia Sibley with a five-meter lead. Entering the third turn the freshman managed to hold off Baylor's Barbara Petrahn's charge through the third turn, but the teams were tied coming out of the fourth turn and Tech would finish second posting a NCAA qualifying time of 3:37.73.

"I am extremely proud of the way that we competed," said Kittley.

In what was the most tightly contested event of the meet, Wright-Cruse and Green turned in identical times of 11.57 in the finals of the 100-meter dash to place second and third, respectively. Wright-Cruse turned in the second fastest preliminary time of the day at 11.59 while Green was the last person to make the field posting an 11.76 mark. The top eight prelim times were separated by just .19 seconds and the final race was decided by just .32 seconds between first and eighth.

Several Red Raiders competed in the premier invitational races including freshman Booker. Booker took home his second fastest collegiate time in the 400 sprinting to a 46.94 finish while freshman Johnson continued to outrace the competition in the 800 as he turned in his second fastest time of the outdoor season, 1:47.99.

Texas Tech got a first place finish from Bridget Tidwell in the 5K as she outlasted the competition with a time of 17:41.71 and Barrow claimed third in the 400 with a time of 55.56 in the finals after qualifying fifth, with a preliminary time of 56.19 earlier in the day.

Tech finished 1-2 in the in the high jump as sophomore Mike Beasley took second behind freshman Chad Pharis. Both athletes cleared 6-08.75, but by judges decision Pharis was declared the winner based on total misses. D'Andrea Brigham claimed second in the 400-meter hurdles as she was .10 seconds off her preliminary time.

In women's field events, transfer Shaya Orendorff took second in the javelin throw with a toss of 126-8 while junior Geralda Dukuly placed fifth in the triple jump as she soared a season-best 38-6.75. Megan Schuessler took first in the discus with a throw of 148-9.00 and turned in a sixth-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 44-04.00.

"I wasn't happy with the shot," said Schuessler. "I feel like I redeemed myself with my throw in the discus."

Other notables include Mike Lozano and Nichole Gillham both placed third in the college/open division of the 800 with times of 1:55.71 and 2:18.68 while Adam Lawless turned in a sixth-place time of 4:12.82 in the 1,500-meter run. Ken Wilson tied for sixth in the pole vault as he cleared 16-6.75.

"I felt really good today," stated Lozano. "I just went out there looking to have fun and that is when I run my best. I compete with [Jonathan] Johnson at practice so if I keep pushing him to get better I get better."

Friday night, freshman Young took first place in the hammer throw with a toss of 185-4 inches. Young's winning toss was almost 20-feet further than his nearest competitor (168-8) while freshman Olivia Clardy placed third in the hammer throw with a distance of 132-1.

Senior Reggie Hill normally the lead leg on the 4x100 relay pulled up 30-meters into the 100-meter dash grabbing his right leg. His status will be unknown until he is evaluated next week.

Both track teams will head to Philadelphia, Pa., next week to compete in the prestigious Penn Relays.