MEN
Led by the arm of sophomore Andy Curtis, the Drake men’s track and field team had a strong showing in the Arkansas Spring Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., this past weekend.
Curtis took first in the hammer throw with a throw of 164 feet 9 inches, shattering his previous personal record of 153 feet 7 inches.
“I’m thrilled to see Andy get nearly a 15-foot personal best,” said throwing coach Mark Kostek in a Drake athletics press release. “He has improved greatly, and I’m encouraged that he can advance even more technically.”
Just three feet short of his teammate in the hammer throw was junior Isaac Twombly with a throw of 161 feet 10 inches. Twombly finished in second place.
Sophomore Phillip Beeler finished in fourth place in the javelin throw to be the third Drake thrower to place in the top six. Beeler finished with a throw of 202 feet 2 inches.
Senior Charlie Lapham rallied for second place in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:53.88.
The team will next travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford invitational this Saturday.
WOMEN
Senior Kirsten Lake led the women’s track and field squad at the Arkansas Spring Invitational last Saturday. Lake took home the unseeded 800-meter race with a personal-best finish of 2 minutes,12:28 seconds.
Junior Marissa Smith finished with a personal-best time of 14.11 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, good enough for fifth place. Smith also finished 23rd in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.21 seconds.
Other notable finishes included junior Whitney Westrum and Senior Ari Curtis. Westrum finished 24th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.23 seconds. Curtis finished ninth in the 400-hurdles in 1:01:34. This was the first time that Curtis competed in this event in a year.
The 4-by-100-meter squad of Westrum, Smith, junior Sarah Yeager and sophomore Tiara Winston finished in seventh place with a time of 46.93 seconds.
Up next for the Bulldogs is the Stanford Invitational this Saturday.
