Men
A school record was shattered and multiple athletes had impressive showings over the weekend for the Drake track and field team at the Iowa State Open.
Sophomore Isaac Twombly’s weight throw of 56 feet, 4.5 inches destroyed the former indoor weight throw record of 45 feet. The throw earned Twombly a fourth place finish in the event.
“It is remarkable for him to pick up the weight throw and to be successful in his first meet of the season,” head coach Natasha Brown said in a Drake athletics press release.
Sophomore Dan Karys finished ahead of the rest of the competition in the triple jump with a distance of 46 feet, 11 inches. Karys finished 14th in the long jump with a leap of 21-11.75.
The Bulldogs had a back-to-back finish in the seeded 3,000-meter race with ninth and tenth place finishes. Sophomore Tim Cornish ran a time of 8 minutes, 33.36 seconds and freshman Brogan Austin finished a second later at 8:34.52.
Sophomore Mike Rodriguez came in third after finishing with a time of 15:50.87 in the non-seeded 5,000-meter race. Junior Ben Jaskowiak ran a time of 15:30.95 in the seeded 5,000-meter, which was good enough for a 21st place finish.
Freshman Travis Marsh ran to a 13th place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.56 seconds.
The Bulldogs will be sending athletes to multiple meets this weekend as the indoor season continues. They will compete in the Jack Jennett Invitational in Cedar Falls and the Kansas Indoor in Lawrence, Kansas. Both meets get under way this Friday.
Women
The Drake women’s track and field team registered 10 top-six finishes over the course of the weekend at the Iowa State Open in Ames.
Senior Ari Curtis was responsible for three of those performances during the busy weekend. Curtis’ leap of 18 feet, 3.75 inches topped the competition in the long jump to bring home the Bulldogs lone first-place finish. Her time of 56.24 seconds placed her second in the 400-meter dash.
The Bulldogs had a dominant showing the 60-meter hurdles with three athletes finishing in the top four.
Sophomore Marissa Smith led the group with a second-place finish of 8.96 seconds. Sophomore Sarah Yeager and Curtis finished in a close third and fourth, respectively.
Senior Johanna Sprang propelled herself to a fourth-place finish in the seeded pole vault competition after clearing a height of 10 feet, 11.75 inches.
Senior Casey McDermott crossed the finish line with a time of 9:59.56 in the seeded 3,000-meter race, which was good enough for fourth.
“For the first time this season, we have our team back in its entirety,” Brown said. “Last week we had our sprinters and jumpers, but we didn’t have our distance runners.”
Senior Tyse Samani cleared a height of 5 feet, 7 inches, in the high jump for a third-place finish.
The Bulldogs had a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash after senior Beth Hamling finished in 25.51 seconds.
Senior Lindsay Smith recorded second in the non-seeded 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:44.45. Senior Meredith Bell ran an 18:18.24 in the seeded 5,000-meter.
The Bulldogs will compete in the Jack Jennett Invitational this weekend.
