DES MOINES, Iowa ? The Indiana State track and field team had another outstanding day at the 98th Drake Relays on Saturday with eight top ten finishes.
The top finish of the day was provided by the men's 4x110 shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Carlton Hoyles, Paladin Jordan, Anthony Bertoli and Brian Jackson finished second in the preliminaries this morning (59.75) and ran even faster in the finals this afternoon in finishing third (59.00).
“Wisconsin just nipped us in the finals,” said John McNichols, ISU men's track and field coach. “Iowa State has an outstanding hurdler who ran the final leg for them and just took over the race. It was a pretty even race between the three teams.”
McNichols was encouraged by the performance of the Sycamores at this prestigious meet.
“We have a lot of talent and depth,” McNichols said. “I think we represented our university well in such a big meet. The Saturday event was sold out for the 42nd straight year (18,000 in attendance). It was such a great experience to compete with the class of athletes that were at this meet and know that we were right there.”
Erica Moore was the highlight of the day for the women's team, taking fifth in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 59.04. Also for the women, Janae Bridges finished ninth in the long jump at 19-feet-4-inches (5.89 meters), and the 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay team finished eighth in 60.21. That team was comprised of Jeanne Roberts, Bridges, Mary Kate Conway, and Moore.
“Erica ran in one of the early sections of the 400 hurdles and was leading the field until the final race,” McNichols said. “It took a world leading performance in the final section to knock her down to fifth.”
For the men's team, Corey Dowden finished seventh in the triple jump (50-feet-4), Sean Bowman eighth in the 1500 meters (3:49.28), Curt Sutherland eighth in the high jump (6-feet-8.75), Paladin Jordan 11th in the 400 hurdles (51.88), Jason Carruthers finished 15th in the hammer (192-feet-2) and 18th in the discus (159-feet-4), and Kyle Walsh was 14th in the 3000 steeplechase (9:24.09) while falling twice in the final two jumps.
“If we can just keep him from falling, he will have a fast enough time to make the regionals,” McNichols said. “Bowman ran a lifetime best in the 1500 and is now second behind Jordan Fife on the all-time list.”
The Indiana State 1600 spring medley team of Gary Ogbrun, Antinoice Surry, Logan Edwards and Kurt Heimann finished eighth (3:21.03) while the men's distance medley team of Pandy Placencia, Bryant Kent, James Twitchell and Scott Koressel finished 12th (10:11.99).
