DES MOINES, Iowa ? While the weather was warm and sunny in Terre Haute on Friday afternoon, the conditions at the 99th annual Drake Relays were not as favorable. Despite the extremely windy conditions and cold temperatures throughout the day, several members of the Indiana State men's and women's track & field teams posted strong showings, including one team that set a new school record on the Jim Duncan Track in Drake Stadium.
Indiana State head men's coach John McNichols, who accompanied the team to Des Moines, was pleased with efforts of all of his athletes in the adverse conditions.
“In my 25 years as head coach at Indiana State, I don't think I've ever seen such windy conditions,” said McNichols. “The winds were swirling as intensely as I've ever seen and it affected everybody out there today. Despite the conditions, I felt we were still very competitive in most of the events, including a great performance in the 4x800 relay.”
The men's 4x800 meter relay team stood out as the highlight of the day for the Sycamores on the men's side. The team, which was comprised of Kurt Heimann, Drake Sterling, Sean Bowman and John Lambertus, finished seventh overall in the race with a time of 7:36.98 which broke the school record in the event. In other relay action, the team of Logan Edwards, Bryant Kent, Heimann and Sean Wright placed 15th in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:13.48.
The ISU women's team was more active than their male teammates on Friday, with three individuals posting regional qualifying efforts. On the track, Erica Moore competed in the 800 meter for the first time outdoors this season and ran a very fast time of 2:09.31 to finish in third place overall. With that time, Moore provisionally qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional next month in the event. In the field, Kylie Hutson faced off against some tough competition in the pole vault and placed sixth overall with a height of 12'07.50”, which is also a regional qualifying effort. Finally, in preliminary action, Jeanne Middleton finished second in her heat and advanced to tomorrow's final in the 100 meter dash with a regional qualifying time of 11.71.
The women's team also had a couple of relay teams in action on the day. In the 4x800 meter relay finals, the team of Adriane Wunderlich, Heather Stembridge, Katie Weber and Allison Malone combined to run a time of 9:17.16 to finish in 14th place overall. Then, in preliminary action, the 4x400 meter relay team of Lauren Martin, Mary Kate Conway, Samantha McClendon and Moore ran a time of 3:50.54 to finish 21st overall, which was not enough to advance to Saturday's final.
“I thought the women's team really shined today,” said McNichols. “Erica ran an extremely fast race against some strong competition and against the conditions to regionally qualify in the 800 and Jeanne was strong in the 100 to advance to the finals tomorrow. Kylie also had a great performance and it took great concentration to just clear the bar in those winds. Overall, it was strong day and I look forward to seeing what both teams can do tomorrow.”
IN OTHER ACTION:
Former Sycamore great Aubrey Herring was in action at the Penn Relays and along with his teammates had a historic day. Herring and company set a NEW WORLD RECORD in the shuttle hurdle relay at the prestigous event with a time of 53.31 seconds. Herring, who is hoping to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, ran the second leg of the relay in 13.3 seconds. In addition, senior Antonio McDaniel was in action for the Sycamores at the Hillsdale College Gina Relays on Friday as well. McDaniel finished 10th in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 32:14 in the race.
