The Drake track and field teams capped a strong showing at the Iowa State Classic last Saturday at the Lied Recreation Center in Ames.
Led by sophomore Omet Kak, who won the unseeded 3,000-meter run and finished 10th in the mile, the Bulldogs finished in the top eight in eight events.
Coming off a win in the unseeded mile last week at Nebraska, this is the second week in the row that Kak has won an event. Kak crossed the line in 8 minutes, 25.01 seconds in the unseeded 3,000 at Iowa State.
With only the Iowa Invitational left before the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship, Kak expressed his goals for the rest of the season.
“I would really like to get in a fast race that would give me a chance to break the school record in the mile, which is 4:04,” Kak said. “I feel that I am in good enough shape to accomplish that feat given the right competition. My other goal is to hopefully win the mile at conference and do well in the (3000-meter) as well.”
Junior Isaac Twombly reached two milestones while finishing third in the weight throw. Twombly’s toss of 60 feet, 1 inch broke his own school record, and he became the first thrower in Drake history to break the 60-feet barrier in this event.
“It is great for him to break through the 60-feet barrier,” throwing coach Mark Kostek said in a Drake Athletics press release. “Now he can focus on bigger things in the near future.”
Junior Marissa Smith finished in fourth place in the 60-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 8.74 seconds.
Dan Karys, a junior from Bartlett, Ill., had a pair of fourth-place finishes in the long and triple jumps. Karys leaped 23 feet, 6 inches in the long jump and 45 feet, 6 1/4 inches in the triple jump.
Sophomore Brett Wright racked up a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.04 seconds while senior Jon DeGrave mustered an eighth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.08 seconds.
The distance medley team consisting of seniors Matt Jurysta and Charlie Lapham, and sophomores Ian Wells and Doug Brady finished in fourth place with a time of 9:58.13
The team is gearing up for its final meet this Friday before the State Farm MVC Indoor Championship on Feb. 25 and 26.
