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Due to some technical difficulties, our photo coverage of the Friday
session of the Drake Relays is limited, but we've still got your
nightly wrap-up, including highlights of two meet records in the
women's distance events.
Generally,
the Friday of the Drake Relays is reserved for the sprint, hurdle,
and relay prelims, as well as the men's 4X800, crowd favorite 4XMile
and the women's Distance Medley Relays.
In
the men's 4X800, Southern Methodist's team of Daibor Balgac,
Roman Oravec, Graham Davidson, and Adam Merritt
came away victorious in 7:21.29, as the top three teams were separated
by only .53 seconds. Colorado State's Bryan Berryhill blitzed
an outstanding 1:45 on his anchor leg to bring the Rams back into
the chase, but Minnesota's Zachary Edmonson managed to squeeze
the Gophers into 2nd place at the line.
The
men's 4XMile relay, always a crowd favorite at the Drake Relays,
was predictably dominated from start to finish by the University
of Arkansas team of Murray Link, Daniel Lincoln, Ryan
Travis, and Sharif Karie, who won in 16:23.35. Alabama's
five-time NCAA champ David Kimani won the crowd when he got
the stick in 8th place and proceeded to mow down the chase pack
with a 3:52.6 split. Kimani had pulled the Crimson Tide into 2nd
by the final lap, but was ultimately outleaned for 2nd by Minnesota's
Neil Hanson.
In
the women's 4XMile, Minnesota's squad of Anita Menden, Laine
Misch, Elaine Eggleston, and Crystal Glenn defeated
the squad from Marquette, 20:11.04 to 20:12.48, with both teams
going under the old meet record.
In
the women's Distance Medley Relay, the Kansas State team of Amy
Mortimer, Nicole Grose, Amanda Crouse, and Korene
Hinds surprised NCAA Indoor champion Missouri, 11:09.34 to 11:18.22.
The Missouri squad has a chance for revenge on Saturday in the 4X800
final, however.
The
University and College women's 800 meters was one of the few open
events of the session, and Svetlana Badrankova of UTEP shattered
the Drake Relays record in a terriffic 2:02.99, leading Leva
Zunda of NAIA school Lewis to an also outstanding 2:04.25. In
addition to Badrankova and Zunda's automatic qualifiers, five others
reached the provisional standard for the NCAA championships.
On
to high school action: the boy's 4X800 was dominated by state of
Iowa powerhouse City High of Iowa City. The Little Hawk team of
Skyler Moss, Dave Keitel, Jim Crocker, and
John Williams battled high winds and dry, hot air to win
in 8:01.72.
In
the girl's open 800, Amanda Bales of Pleasant Valley defeated
Kristen Hansen of Okoboji, 2:12.26 to 2:13.31. Hansen was
3rd in the 3000 meters on Thursday.
That's
it for Friday. Saturday's Drake Relays focus primarily on the invitational
events, a 37th consecutive sellout crowd is expected to attend.
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NCAA Div. III XC Champion Johanna Olson of Luther College competes
in the 5000 meters on Thursday night.
Thursday:
Men's
Photos | Women's
Photos | Wrap-Up
| Results
| Chat
with Abdi Abdirahman
Friday: Wrap-Up
| Men's
Results | Women's
Results
Saturday: Men's
Photos | Women's
Photos | Wrap-Up
| Men's
Results | Women's
Results | Chat
with David Kimani
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