Men's Sprint Medley Runs World Leading Mark
April 07, 2003 | Track and Field
April 7, 2003
Lubbock, Texas - In winning the sprint medley relay at the 76th Annual Texas Relays over the weekend, the Red Raiders successfully defended the title won a year ago at Mike A. Myers Stadium and posted the world leading mark for the multi-distance relay.
USA Track & Field verified Monday morning that the 3-minute, 14.09-second finish is the top mark in the world this year for the relay, which is made up of two 200-meter legs, a 400M leg and an 800M leg.
"I am shocked," commented Matt Stewart (Odessa, Texas) who posted a 21.3 split in the opening leg. "That was my first time to run in the sprint medley so I had no idea what a good time was. In fact, I just found out [Sunday] the time was a school record."
The first two legs of the race were run by sophomore Stewart and junior Julieon Raeburn (Trincity, Trinidad), while the 400 was run by sophomore Albert Booker (Trent, Texas) and the 800 was run by sophomore Jonathan Johnson (Abilene, Texas).
The 3:14.09 was not only a new school record, but is also the fastest finish at the Texas Relays since Baylor's 3:13.00 in 1989 and the fifth fastest ever run at the meet. By repeating as champions, Tech became just the first school to repeat since the 1999 and 2000 Arkansas teams.
"This really gives us a lot of confidence for the rest of the year," added Raeburn. "With this being my senior year, I wanted to do my best. I have not been able to contribute very much to the team all year because of injuries, so this was kind of my way to go out a champion."