Middleton, Brown win big for Men's Track and Field at Tyson Invitational
AUSTIN, Texas -- Senior All-Americans Darren Brown and Andrew Middleton made a strong case for the Texas men's track and field distance program, winning the mile run and 5,000-meter run event championships on the first day of competition at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. Competing on the same track as the next group of National Champions will race on at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships from March 9-10, Brown (Spring, Texas) bested the field with a 4:04.74 performance in the mile run championship section. Brown's time almost guaranteed him a chance to return to Arkansas, as it was .74 seconds off the provisional standard in the event. Fellow distance training partner and All-American Andrew Middleton (College Station, Texas) took home the 5,000-meter event championship, finishing in 14:13.15, just three seconds from the provisional mark. The sixth-ranked men's track and field team, led by head coach Bubba Thornton, concluded the day with solid performances from every event area. Four of the combined events student-athletes (Trey Hardee, Donovan Kilmartin, Shawn Schmidt, and Andrew Webb) competed in open events for additional training. In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Trey Hardee (Birmingham, Ala.) registered the seventh-fastest advancing time in the group of 45 competitors, hurdling 7.89 in the preliminary race. He ran 8.00-seconds in the finals for sixth place. Senior Donovan Kilmartin (Eagle, Idaho), who already qualified for nationals in the heptathlon, gained race experience in the 60-meter dash. The multi-time combined events national champion clocked 7.28. He added a mark of 8.35-seconds in the 60-meter hurdle preliminary race. Freshman Shawn Schmidt (Plano, Texas) ran the open 60, finishing in 7.54 and netted a distance of 21-4 (6.50m) in the long jump. Sophomore Andrew Webb (Midland, Texas) cleared the hurdles in 8.30. Other finishes: Senior Trey Griffin (Lockhart, Texas) ran 6.91 in the 60-meter preliminary race... Senior hurdler Hamza Deyaf (Richardson, Texas) competed in the 400-meter run, clocking 49.33, just four-hundredths of a second ahead of senior Alan Bean (Dalhart, Texas) who ran 49.37... In the college mile section, Brian Sullivan (The Woodlands, Texas) finished in 4:20.15 and freshman Chris Harkins (Austin, Texas) posted a 4:21.61 mark... Sophomore Trevor Gerland (Katy, Texas) finished 19th in the 60-meter hurdle preliminary race in 8.13 and 15th in the long jump with a mark of 22-1 (6.73m)... Freshman Will Paine (Houston, Texas) made every height from 4.60-meters to his final height of 5.0-meters in taking ninth place in the Friday's competition. TYSON INVITATIONAL DAY ONE RESULTS 400-meter Preliminaries (A: 46.05/P: 47.25) Mile Run Championship (A: 3:59/ P: 4:04) Mile Run College (A: 3:59/ P: 4:04) 5000-meter Run (A: 13:48/ P: 14:10) 60-meter Hurdles Finals (A: 7.70/P: 7.91) 60-meter Hurdles Preliminaries (A: 7.70/P: 7.91) Long jump Championship (A: 7.85m/P: 7.50m) Long jump College (A: 7.85m/P: 7.50m) Pole Vault (A: 5.50m/P: 5.20m)
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