Texas Tech Athletics
Texas Relays
Most Takes Pole Vault Title, Clears the 18-foot Mark
April 05, 2003 | Track and Field
April 5, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas - Before a capacity crowd of 20,000 at Mike A. Myers Stadium, Bobby Most laid claim to the men's pole vault title and the men's 1,600-meter relay sped to a 3:06.90 third-place finish bringing the 76th Annual Texas Relays to a successful close.
Freshman pole vaulter Bobby Most (Laredo, Texas) was back in action for the first time since withdrawing from the indoor championships last month.
"This is one of the meets I've been looking forward to all year," noted Most. "I had a lot of family and hometown support, so there was some pressure to succeed. It was my first meet of the outdoor season because I was coming off a groin injury from indoor nationals. We had perfect conditions today and the best competition in the nation was here."
Most's winning elevation of 18-feet, 0.5-inches took first making the transfer just the second Red Raider to win the pole vault at the Texas Relays joining Britt Pursley who won with a mark of 17'-8" in 1993. He beat out the 2003 indoor national champion, Washington's Brad Walker, who also cleared 18'-0.5" but on more misses.
"It might not have been their best day, but it was mine. The key to this victory was taking it easy the last three weeks. I played it smart and didn't overwork or overtrain. I also tried to not let the pressure get to me. This is a big meet and this win shows I've been working hard."
Also back at full strength, for the first time this year, was the 1,600-relay team. Running in lane one of the C. Price relay, Albert Booker (Trent, Texas) turned in a split of 46.8. Julieon Raeburn (Trincity, Trinidad) took the stick from Booker and exploded.
"This was the product of three great weeks of training," commented Raeburn. "I feel like I am at about 80 percent right now and have to work even harder to get the stamina back. I have the strength, now I have to get the endurance. I will run a 44 before the year is over."
Raeburn refused to let anyone get in front of him after the break and led the way to the third exchange with a split time of 45.26. Jason Lovell (Reseada, Calif.) ran the third leg of the race and turned things over to Jonathan Johnson (Abilene, Texas). Johnson held on to second until the final turn when LSU's Kelly Willie moved into second putting the Red Raiders in third.
"We said after outdoors last year we were going to go 3:02. This is just the first race and we still have are best times ahead of us," added Raeburn.
The nation's leading high jumper Chad Pharis (Vernon, Texas) and Mike Beasley (Abilene, Texas) both competed in section 'a' of the high jump Saturday afternoon. Pharis continued to improve, clearing a new personal record (PR) of 7-feet, 1.75-inches as he placed fourth and Beasley turned in his best performance of the 2003 outdoor season as he cleared 6'-10.75 in finishing 10th. With today's performance, Beasley joins Pharis as a NCAA Regional qualifier.
Sophomore Brionne Yosten (Hereford, Texas) raced to a 4:33.49 finish in the 1,500-meter run, placing her 10th. The time was the fastest mark for the distance by a Red Raider this season and a PR.
The women's 1,600-meter relay team ran in the Invitational section where it bettered its season best time by more than 10-seconds posting a time of 3:40.17. The foursome of Rachelle Evans (Dallas, Texas), Latoya Fry (Mansfield, Texas), Karletha Cook (Dallas, Texas) and Licretia Sibley (Fort Worth, Texas) qualify for the regional meet.
The Red Raiders will be back in action next weekend as the team travels to El Paso, Texas, for the UTEP Invitational.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)