The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- March 15, 1999

Reid anchors Texas' run to women's indoor championship

Suziann Reid's family drove 14 hours to watch her and her Texas teammates participate in the Division I Women's Indoor Track Championships. It took her less than two minutes to make sure the ride home would be a pleasant one.

Reid won the 400-meter dash for the second straight year and anchored the Longhorns' title-clinching 1,600-meter relay unit, and Texas repeated as team champion March 5-6 in Indianapolis.

Texas and LSU entered the 1,600 relay -- the meet's final event -- tied for the lead. The Tigers led for the first half of the race, but Reid rallied to give the Longhorns a margin of nine-hundredths of a second over runner-up Florida and 1.21 seconds over third-place LSU.

Joining Reid on the winning relay were Angel Patterson, Aminah Haddad and Tanya Jarrett. The quartet combined to cover the distance in a meet-record time of 3:31.55.

Reid pulled away from Baylor's Yulana Nelson down the backstretch to win the 400 in 51.68, nearly a second faster than her winning time last year.

Reid had special motivation as she ran at the RCA Dome with members of her family in the stands.

"They came all the way from Maryland. I had to put on a show," she said. "I felt comfortable, confident and relaxed. My top goal was to defend my title in my last indoor championship and I was really happy to be able to do it in front of my parents."

Texas finished with 61 points and LSU, which had its streak of five straight championships snapped by the Longhorns last year, was second with 57. Southern Methodist was a distant third with 25 points.

"This year was a déjà vu to last year's outdoor championships," said Texas head coach Bev Kearney. The Longhorns also captured the 1998 outdoor crown by winning the 1,600 relay. "I'm very pleased we were able to bring the title home again."

Florida's Hazel Clark successfully defended her championship in the 800-meter run, covering the distance in a meet-record 2:01.77. Amy Wickus of Wisconsin set the former mark of 2:02.05 in 1994.

Trecia Smith of Pittsburgh captured the long jump for the third consecutive year with a leap of 21 feet, 5 1/4 inches. Texas' Erin Aldrich in the high jump and Fresno State's Melissa Price in the pole vault also successfully defended titles.

The only other meet record was recorded by LSU's Peta-Gaye Dowdie with a mark of 22.83 seconds in the 200-meter dash.