KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
DES MOINES, IOWA ? Indiana State sophomore Robert Webb sits in ninth place overall (the sixth collegian) in the Decathlon despite an outstanding day of competition for the young Sycamore as the 2011 Drake Relays opened Wednesday. Freshman Kelly Steffen finished the first day of the Heptathlon in fifth (the third collegian) and fellow freshman Rachael Johnson is eighth (the sixth collegian).
“They all had a pretty good day,” Angie Martin, Indiana State women's track & field head coach and coach of the multi-events, said. “Webb is doing a tremendous job and established personal bests in each of the events today. Steffen is also doing a nice job as is Johnson. Both are looking forward to tomorrow with a chance of a little better weather. These three are very focused and are ready for the competition tomorrow.”
Webb has scored 3,527 points through five events. The sophomore set new personal bests of 11.33 with a sixth place finish in the 100 meters, 51.65 with a ninth place finish in the 400 meters, 21'-10” (6.65 meters) to finish fourth in the long jump, 31'-0” (9.45 meters) that was 14th best in the shot put, and 6'-7” (2.01 meters) to tie for third in the high jump.
Ethan Miller of Central College, who won the NCAA Division III National Indoor high jump title earlier this year while finishing second in the long jump and pentathlon, leads the field with 3,860 points. Mat Clark, a graduate of Northern Iowa who is competing unattached, is second with 3,848 points while Michigan State junior Cliff Miller is third with 3,752 points and sophomore Spartan teammate Kurt Schneider is fourth with 3,698 points.
The Decathlon wraps up starting at 10:30 a.m. (ET) Thursday with competition in the 110 meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 meters.
Kelly Steffen has recorded 2,740 points through four events of the Heptathlon. She set new personal bests as she ran 15.12 to finish sixth in the 100 meter hurdles and 27.33 in finishing eighth in the 200 meters. She also tied her personal best by clearing 5'-3” (1.60 meters) in tying for third in the high jump. The freshman also came close to a personal best in the shot put as she had a toss of 30'-11.75” (9.44 meters) in finishing sixth in the shot put.
Rachael Johnson has scored 2,338 points through the first four events as she established a new personal best in the shot put with a distance of 29'-7.5” (9.03 meters) in finishing eighth. Johnson ran 16.82 to finish ninth in the 100 meter hurdles, was timed at 28.54 in the 200 meters to finish ninth, and cleared 5'-0.5” (1.54 meters) to tie for fifth in the high jump.
Utah junior Brianna LeRoy leads the field with 3,116 points while North Dakota State senior Whitney Carlson is second with 3,109 points. Both are ranked in the top 100 nationally with LeRoy currently 56th nationally in the Heptathlon and Carlson 38th. Maddy Outman, who finished third in the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships for Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is competing unattached, is third with 3,009 points. Anne Carlson, former All-American and a volunteer assistant coach at Central Missouri who is also competing unattached, is fourth with 2,692 points.
The Heptathlon wraps up starting at 11:30 a.m. (ET) Thursday with competition in the long jump, javelin, and 800 meters.
Three other Sycamores will be competing on Thursday as sophomore Leeann Michl runs in the women's unseeded 800 meters at 5 p.m. (ET), sophomore Albaro Escalera goes in the men's 10,000 meters at 9:10 p.m. (ET), and junior Craig Padgett competes in the men's 5,000 meters at 10:05 p.m. (ET).
The rest of the Indiana State team present for the Drake Relays will be in competition on Friday and Saturday.
