KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

DES MOINES, IOWA ? For the second time during the outdoor season, the Indiana State record for the women's 4x400 meter relay team was broken, this time at the Drake Relays where the Sycamores placed ninth in a school record time of 3:41.54.

“They just missed the finals by two hundredths of a second,” John Gartland, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “Kacie (Klem) reinjured her ankle in the distance medley relay earlier in the day so we had to make a quick switch and put Stacia (Weatherford) in to lead off.”

The switch did not keep the Sycamores from recording the fastest time in school history or nearly picking up the win in the opening heat over Ohio State. The Buckeyes won the heat and qualified for Saturday's finals with a time of 3:40.10. Western Michigan was the last team into the finals with a time of 3:41.52. The Sycamore team was composed of Stacia Weatherford, Lauren Martin, Kaci Smith, and Erica Moore.

Klem reinjured her ankle running the opening 1200 meter leg of the distance medley relay.

“She reinjured the ankle but never quit,” Gartland said. “She completed her leg of the race and the others worked even harder to get us back into the chase. However, we were just too far behind to make up all the distance.”

The Sycamore distance medley team of Klem, Leeann Michl, Adriane Wunderlich, and Allison Malone completed the race in 12:19.61 for a 19th place finish.

The Indiana State 4x100 meter relay team of Jaquelle Spencer, Weatherford, Martin, and Violet Nwordu finished 14th with a tie of 46.95 while the 4x800 meter relay team of Michl, Smith, Wunderlich, and Malone finished 11th in 9;16.27.

Sycamore Felisha Johnson had a personal best throw of 46'-11.75” (14.32m) in placing 11th in the women's shot put.

“We really through that Felisha should have made the finals,” Gartland said. “But there were some human errors in the marking. She had a really great effort and a personal best today.”

Two individuals competed for the Indiana State men with Michael Roberts finishing 14th in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.83, and Brandon Pounds placing 17th in the men's shot put with a throw of 51'-4.5” (15.66m).

The Indiana State 4x100 meter relay team of Steven Swinford, Roberts, Justin Baxtron, and Andrew Stull finished 16th overall in 42.48 with the 4x400 meter relay team of Stull, Konstantinos Tzirtziris, Baxtron and Swinford finishing 21st in 3:21.53. The other Sycamore relay for the day had Andrew Lepkowski, Michael Disher, Dustin Betz and Jeremiah Vaughan competing in the 4x1600 meter relay where they finished 12th overall in 17:27.11.

On Thursday, Indiana State junior Michael Disher ran his second fastest 3,000 meter steeplechase of his career, finishing fifth in 9:02.93. Sycamore freshman Dexter Childress competed in the first decathlon of his career, finishing in 17th with a total of 5,957 points. Childress' best finish came today as he placed eighth out of 21 competitors in the pole vault and eighth in the 1,500 meter run, clearing 14'-1.25” (4.30m) in the pole vault and running 4:35.53 in the 1,500. Two other Sycamores competed in the men's 5,000 meter run this evening with senior Eric Schulz placing 14th in 14:48.10, and freshman Albaro Escalera finishing 17th in 15:24.19.

Action at the Drake Relays wraps up on Saturday with two more relays plus some individual competition for Indiana State including Kylie Hutson who returns to pole vault competition after a two week absence and will compete in the Invitational Pole Vault against six other elite pole vaulters.

Kelsey Hanley will go in the women's hammer with Major Clay competing in the men's high jump, Lauren Martin in the women's triple jump, Erica Moore in the women's 400 meter hurdles, Ernest Rollins in the men's triple jump, and Vaughan in the men's 1,500 meters.

Indiana State also has a relay team entered for the men's shuttle hurdle relay an the women's sprint medley relay.

Saturday's competition begins at 9:43 a.m. (ET) and finishes at approximately 7:15 p.m. (ET).

Several other Sycamores will be a little closer to home on Saturday as they compete at the Purdue Outdoor Open. Competition in West Lafayette, Ind., begins at 10 a.m. (ET