Photo: File Photo
Members of the Drake track and field team continued to register personal-best performances at the Iowa State Classic over the weekend.
Junior Ben Jaskowiak ran a personal-best time in the 3,000-meter run for the second-straight weekend. His personal-best time of 8 minutes, 55.58 seconds was just shy of the leader as he finished in second place.
Junior Jon DeGrave finished in 13th place in the 400-meter dash for the Bulldogs with a time of 48.22 seconds. DeGrave continues to close in on the school record in the event with his time placing him second in Drake history.
“With the training that he has done and his performances, he has put everything in the bank,” head coach Natasha Brown said of DeGrave. “Now, as his coaches, we have to be smart with him to make sure that he is sharp at conference.”
The men’s 4-by-400 squad posted its fastest time on the young season with a 3:17.82. The team was composed of junior Shaun James, sophomore Dan Karys, freshman Ian Wells and freshman Travis Marsh.
“We are still working on what some of our relay teams will be as we have some really good athletes,” Brown said. “We can do a lot of different orders with individuals and it is a good problem to have.”
Freshman Brett Wright ran a solid race in the non-seeded 400-meter dash by finishing in sixth place with a time of 49.22 seconds.
Sophomore Isaac Twombly reached the 50-feet mark for the Bulldogs in the weighted toss. His throw of 53 feet, 1.5 inches placed him in 23rd place at the meet.
Senior Kara McCartney highlighted the action for the women with a second-place finish in the non-seeded 800-meter. McCartney finished only two-tenths of a second behind the leader in a photo finish. She was clocked at 2:14.26.
“It was a big push for her to make a significant improvement from her result from last week,” Brown said.
Senior Tyse Samani’s leap of 5 feet, 5.75 inches put her in third place against the competition in the non-seeded high jump.
Sophomore Marissa Smith made it to the finals in the 60-meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 8.80 seconds. She placed 15th after posting a slightly slower time of 9.02 seconds in the finals. Senior Ari Curtis ran a time of 9.12, and sophomore Sarah Yeager posted a 9.15 in the qualifying stages of the event.
Senior Johanna Sprang propelled herself to a fifth place finish for the Bulldogs in the non-seeded pole vault competition. She registered a final vault of 11 feet, 1.75 inches.
Senior Beth Hamling ran a season-best time of 56.37 seconds in the seeded round of the 400-meter dash. Hamling’s performance placed her in 14th place. Senior Clarissa LaFlora ran a 58.47 in the non-seeded portion of the event.
“Next weekend will be a tune-up for our athletes where we will have some of them just participating in one event, and for some it will be a last-chance effort to make the conference roster,” Brown said.
Both teams will participate at the Iowa Invitational in Iowa City this weekend with action getting under way on Friday.
