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Today, a 37th consecutive sellout crowd of 24,000 watched champions
falter and records fall on a breezy, sunny, warm day.
Probably
the two most impressive performances of the day came in the women's
invitational pole vault and the women's university division shuttle
hurdle relay.
In
the pole vault, Kellie Suttle, 11th in Sydney, waged a battle
against only the wind and history as she won her fourth consecutive
Drake Relays pole vault by almost two feet in 15-0.25, the highest
jump in the world this year. Suttle's mark is a new personal record,
meet record, and stadium record.
In
the University/College division Shuttle Hurdle Relay, the Illinois
squad of Jenny Kallur, Camee' Williams, Susanna
Kallur and Perdita Felicia put on the show of the day
as they literally destroyed the field in 52.85. The mark was not
only a Drake Relays record, but an all-time NCAA record, and investigation
is ongoing to see if it is not a world-record, as well.
In
the women's 4X800, Missouri (Sunny Gilbert, Ann
Marie Brooks, Kerry Hils and Ashley Wysong)
extracted revenge from their Friday DMR loss by clubbing the field
in 8:44.95. The race was blown open after 400 meters thanks to Gilbert's
front running tactics. "I got this talk from Coach (Rick) McGuire
about leading races, how you just have to get out there. And that's
what I tried to do. I think that set the pace for the whole race."
"When
Sunny first went out I was thinking, 'what is she doing?'"
Brooks said. "But when she came around after two laps we had
a big lead. I don't run that many 800s so I was wondering what was
going on behind me. I knew that when I handed off to Keri that the
lead would just get bigger."
In
the men's distance medley relay, prerace favorite Arkansas, fresh
of their victory in Friday's 4XMile, booted the baton on the second
leg, effectively opening up the race for the rest of the field.
David Kimani of Alabama once again ran a monster last leg (3:58-something,
to go along with his 3:52.6 in Friday's 4XMile) to lead his Crimson
Tide teammates (Chris Mutai, Jevon Mason, and Troy
Henderson) to the victory stand. We spoke with a clearly excited
Kimani afterwards, to catch his reaction to his huge weekend, you
can check that out in our victory
lap chat. Colorado State's Bryan Berryhill followed up
his 1:45 in Friday's 4X800 with a 3:57 anchor leg to bring his Ram
squad to a runner-up finish.
The
afternoon saw the open middle distance races, and the buzz seemed
to be more about who wasn't on the track than who was, as Drake
Relays favorite Suzy Favor-Hamilton told a supportive crowd
that she didn't feel like she was ready to run after spending most
of the winter fighting injuries and illness. Favor-Hamilton's top-competitor,
US indoor champ Collette Liss, also withdrew from the invitational
1500. With Favor-Hamilton and Liss out of the picture, the Invitational
1500 was won by Mardrea Hyman's 4:21.37, Rasa Michniovaile
was second in 4:22.27.
The
University/College women's 1500 saw a battle of the Wildcats, as
Kansas State's Amy Mortimer lead most of the first 1400 meters,
but Arizona's Erin Doherty scooted past Mortimer at the line
to win, 4:26.21 to 4:26.61.
Mortimer's
teammate, Korene Hinds, won the invitational 800 in 2:06.49,
throwing down a wicked last 100 meters to defeat Nike's Amy Wickus
and early race leader Liz Diaz, representing Asics.
In
the men's University/College 800, Joseph Lee of Kansas State
managed to hold off a hard-charging Floyd Thompson of Baylor,
1:50.29 to 1:50.97. Another kick was used in the invitational men's
800, as Derrick Peterson sat and waited until 150 meters
to go before blowing by the field to defeat Rice's Adam Davis,
1:49.05 to 1:50.79.
The
men's 1500 was won by Shadrack Kimeli of Kansas State in
3:45.21, times were probably slowed by the winds that kicked up
througout the afternoon.
Probably
the most impressive invitational mile field in Drake Relays history
gathered to take an assault on Steve Scott's meet record
of 3:55.26. The pack went out in 1:57, but wind, dry air and blazing
temperatures all conspired to keep a meet record performance at
bay. Multiple-time NCAA and USATF champ Seneca Lassiter led
for most of the race, before losing and regaining his lead in the
final 250 meters. Lassiter shut the race down in the final 150,
winning in 3:59.12. Andy Downin and UTEP's Bashir Ibrahim
also went under the 4:00 barrier, running 3:59.39 and 3:59.55. US
5000 meter Olympian Nick
Rogers made a rare appearance at the four lap distance,
finishing 7th in 4:06.67. 2001 NCAA indoor runner-up Charlie
Gruber, competing here unattached, had an off day as he
finished 11th and last in 4:13.82.
In
high school action, the boys 1600 was won by Dan Winder of
Waterloo (IA) West in 4:20.16, Thursday's 3200 runner-up Bobby
Anderson of Mason City was second again in 4:20.94. Not surprisingly,
the girl's 4X800 saw a battle waged between the state's two top
programs, Iowa City West and Iowa City City, with the West squad
of Lara Janson, Lynn Dobyns, Lauren Levy and
3000 meter winner Jeni Frudden winning in 9:12.74. City High
was second in 9:15.56, almost 20 seconds ahead of third place.
That's
it from the 2001 Drake Relays.
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|
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
|
