Marshall Track Team Breaks Two School Records At Indiana

5/14/2001

Casey Batey bettered his own school record in the 1,500 meters at Indiana University's Billy Hayes Track Meet.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Marshall junior Casey Batey bettered his own school record in the 1,500 meter and Marshall's men's 4x100-meter relay team finished first in school record fashion to lead the Thundering Herd track and field team this weekend at Indiana University's Billy Hayes Track Meet.


Batey, a native of Milton, W.Va., finished fourth in the highly competitive 1,500-meter run with a school-record and Mid-American Conference season-best time of 3-minutes, and 46.51-seconds. That time is only 1.51 seconds of the NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark. Two weeks ago at the prestigious Penn Relays, Batey, smashed the school-record and the MAC's previous season-best time in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase with a time of 8-minutes, and 46.44 seconds to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships in that event.


Moments before Batey's record-breaking 1,500-meter run, Marshall's 4x100 relay team of Marlon Little, Arthur West, John Ferguson, and Mark Littlejohn established a new Marshall record of 40.99 seconds to capture first in that event, bettering squads from Indiana University, Ball State, and Miami University.


Marshall's women's team was led by sophomore Celeste Simpson. The Knoxville, Tenn., native finished third in the 400-meter run with a personal record of 57.05 seconds.


Indiana University's Billy Hayes Meet featured athletes from more than 20 schools and served as Marshall's final tune-up for this weekend's Mid-American Conference Championships at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.


The Mid-American Conference Championship will begin on Thursday (May 18) and continue through Saturday (May 20).