Bulldogs impressive in day one of MVCs
MEN’S
The Drake men’s track and field team sits in fourth place after day one of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships last Saturday. The Bulldogs received second-place finishes by sophomore Brett Wright in the 400-meter dash preliminaries and junior Dan Karys in the long jump.
Karys finished in second place in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet 10 inches, just one-half inch off from his personal record and three inches short of Indiana State’s Maurice Lyke’s jump of 24 feet 1 inch.
Wright and senior Jon DeGrave advanced to the finals after their second and fifth place finishes, respectively, in the 400-meter dash preliminaries. Wright finished with a time of 49.57 seconds while DeGrave crossed the finish line in 49.76 seconds. DeGrave also finished in fifth place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.23 seconds.
Senior Charlie Lapham qualified for the 800-meter dash finals and finished in fourth place in qualifying with a time of 1 minute, 57.07 seconds.
The one-two punch of sophomores Brogan Austin and Omet Kak snagged top four finishes in the 3,000-meter run. Austin finished in third place with a time of 8:35.05, a hair ahead of fourth-place Kak, who finished in 8:35.09.
The Bulldogs wrapped up their MVC title hunt at the UNI Dome yesterday with the first gun sounding at 9:30 a.m. Details from yesterday’s action will be available in the next issue of The Times-Delphic.
WOMEN’S
The Drake women’s track and field team enjoyed early success on day one of two at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the UNI Dome last Saturday.
Advancing to the 60-meter hurdle finals was junior Marissa Smith, who finished in fifth place in the preliminary heats with a time of 8.70 seconds. Smith’s performance marked the third year in a row that she finished in the top eight at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Also advancing to a final event was senior Kirsten Lake. Lake finished in seventh place in the 800-meter run preliminaries with a time of 2:15.58.
The distance medley team comprised of freshmen Mariel Fulton and Melissa Parks, sophomore Celia Venezia and junior Sarah Yeager finished in sixth place with a time of 12:22.83.
The Bulldogs capped off the MVC Championships yesterday at the UNI Dome. Details from the last day of the event will be available in the next edition of The Times-Delphic.