March 14, 2003
FAYETTEVILLE, Ar. - Junior Kenneth Baxter earned All-America recognition after clocking a blistering time of 20.78 seconds in the 200-meter dash Friday night at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Baxter's mark also broke the school record of 20.85, which he recorded at the New York Armory Invitational in February.
Baxter placed fourth out of eight runners in the 200. Kansas' Leo Bookman finished well ahead of field, scoring a time of 20.53, while Mississippi State's Marquis Davis (20.70) and Alabama's Latonel Williams (20.71) just edged the Boilermaker out for silver-medal honors.
The New York City native qualified for the finals of the 200 after finishing with a time 20.86 in the preliminaries.
Pole vaulter Hence "Pooh" Williams placed 10th after reaching a height of 5.18 meters (17-feet). The 2003 Big Ten Champion has reached the 17-foot plateau or higher in five meets this season.
Washington's Brad Walker took home top-honors in the pole vault with height of 5.80 (19- 1/4), which was .22 meters (8- 1/4) higher than Nebraska's runner-up Eric Eshbach (5.58, 18-3 3/4)
The host Arkansas Razorbacks lead the team standings after one day of competition with 19 points; Auburn (14), Kansas (10), South Carolina (10) and Texas (10) round out the top five. Purdue is currently tied for 23rd with Georgia, Cal State-Fullerton, Florida, Iona and LSU
Competition resumes for the two remaining Boilermakers on Saturday afternoon with senior Shaun Guice competing first in the high jump at 3:45 p.m. Sophomore Nedzad Mulabegovic will attempt to break his school record of 64-1 in the shot put at 4:30 p.m.
Complete results of all events can be found at www.trackshark.com or through Arkansas' athletic web site, www.hogwired.com.