ieDES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University men's and women's track and field teams finished the 41st Jim Duncan Invitational with two meet records and 11 first-place finishes over two days of competition at Drake Stadium.
 
"Ecstatic is the best word I can use to describe my thoughts on the team's performance this weekend," said Drake co-interim head coach LaRon Bennett. "We carried a lot of momentum from the indoor season and I knew we had to stay healthy and believe in the process. It's good to see that faith and hard work pay off with meet records and wins. I'm proud of our team and happy for them."
 
The women's 4x400-meter relay team, consisting of Mariah Crawford, Mary Young (Urbandale, Iowa), Victoria Coombe (Centennial, Colo.) and Ebele Okoye (McDonough, Ga.) set a Jim Duncan Invitational record with a time of 3:42.63. The time was also the second-fastest time in school history and bested the previous meet record by nearly two seconds.
 
The men's 4x400-meter relay team had similar success with a first-place time of 3:14.54 from Dominic Lombardi (Columbus, Ohio), Blair Barrow, Malik Metivier (Toronto, Ont.) and Bas Van Leersum (Zaandam, The Netherlands).
 
Earlier in the day, sprinters Deonne Witherspoon (South Bend, Ind.), Demetrius Shelton (Markham, Ill.), Aaron Chier (Belgium, Wis.) and Caulin Graves (Kansas City, Mo.) combined to run a 40.97 4x100-meter relay for another meet record. Their time shattered the 25-year-old mark of 41.10 set by Iowa in 1992. Three of the four also went on to place top five in both the 100 and 200 meters with Shelton taking first the 100 meters in 10.76 against a strong headwind. The women's 4x100-meter team also took top honors in 46.51 thanks to Crawford, Young, Taryn Rolle (Nassau, The Bahamas) and Okoye's efforts.
 
Crawford also swept the 100 and 200 meters with times of 12.55 and 24.89, just ahead of Coombe, who finished second in both the 100 and 200 meters with personal bests in both events.
 
Drake also had a pair of first-place finishes in the hurdles with Hudson Priebe (Chamberlain, S.D.) winning the men's 400-meter hurdles in 52.96 while Young won the women's 100-meter hurdles in 13.86. Priebe's finish led to a sweep of the top three spots in the race with Lombardi and Metivier following with personal bests of 53.13 and 53.31, respectively.  
 
Rolle led the Bulldogs' efforts in the field events with a first-place jump of 39-1.
 
The Bulldogs will be back in action April 22 at MUSCO Twilight meet in Iowa City, followed by the Drake Relays April 25-29 back on the Jim Duncan Track.
 
Jim Duncan Invitational
April 14-15
Jim Duncan Track – Drake Stadium
 
Drake Individual Men's Results
100 Meters
1. Demetrius Shelton, 10.76
3. Caulin Graves, 10.88
4. Aaron Chier, 11.11
6. Deonne Witherspoon, 11.28
15. Nihad Ejubovic, 11.60
 
200 Meters
3. Caulin Graves, 21.62
4. Demetrius Shelton, 21.72
5. Aaron Chier, 21.82
10. Deonne Witherspoon, 22.60
11. Nihad Ejubovic, 22.61
12. Blair Barrow, 22.63
19. Maxwell Harlan, 23.09
 
400 Meters
12. Blair Barrow, 50.56
18. Maxwell Harlan, 51.99
 
800 Meters
2. George Webb 1:54.30
5. Xavier Lechleitner 1:55.24
7. Cory Erickson 1:55.32
9. Matt Cozine 1:55.87
10. Josh Yeager 1:56.82
23. Michael Cooper, 2:03.55
24. Alec Bognar, 2:04.43
26. John Freeman, 2:06.72
 
1,500 Meters
3. Josh Yeager, 3:51.89
5. Xavier Lechleitner, 3:52.45
6. Reed Fischer, 3:52.48
10. Matt Cozine, 3:58.38
 
5,000 Meters
9. Kyle Cass, 15:03.73
10. Kyle Brandt, 15:04.49
 
4x100-Meter Relay
1. Witherspoon, Shelton, Cheir, Graves, 40.97
 
4x400-Meter Relay
1. Lombardi, Barrow, Metivier, Van Leersum, 3:14.54
9. Erickson, Webb, Lechleitner, Bognar, 3:27.01
10. Zak, Cozine, Cooper, Harlan, 3:29.28
 
110-Meter Hurdles
3. Hudson Priebe, 15.32
5. Dominic Lombardi 15.47
 
400-Meter Hurdles
1. Hudson Priebe, 52.96
2. Dominic Lombardi, 53.13
3. Malik Metivier, 53.31
6. Tyler Zak, 55.30
 
3,000-Meter Steeplechase
2. Chris Kaminski, 9:54.53
 
High Jump
3. Forest Moses, 6-4 (1.93m)
 
Discus
6. Michael Dolan, 136-05 (40.62m)
 
Hammer Throw
8. Michael Dolan, 155-10 (47.51m)
 
Javelin
5. Erik Olson, 126-10 (38.66m)
 
 
Drake Individual Women's Results
100 Meters
1. Mariah Crawford, 12.55
 
200 Meters
1. Mariah Crawford, 24.89
2. Ebele Okoye, 25.15
 
400 Meters
1. Rai Ahmed-Green, 56.86
 
800 Meters
2. Meghan Kearney, 2:17.62
3.  Kayla Giuliano, 2:17.97
7. Kaylen Rettig, 2:18.88
8. Samantha Nielsen, 2:20.59
12. Olivia Rogers, 2:25.79
13. Paige Nicholson, 2:27.15
 
1,500 Meters
9. Olivia Rogers, 4:52.63
11. Meghan Kearney, 4:54.73
13. Morgan Garcia, 4:57.07
19. Shelby Varney, 5:13.04
 
5,000 Meters
10. Bailee Cofer, 18:06.60
14. MyKaela Cole, 18:43.73
 
4x100-Meter Relay
1. Crawford, Rolle, Young, Okoye, 46.51
 
4x400-Meter Relay
1. Crawford, Young, Coombe, Okoye, 3:42.63 Meet record
4. Lang, Giuliano, Rettig, Nicholson, 4:01.51
 
100-Meter Hurdles
1. Mary Young, 13.86
2. Victoria Coombe, 14.61
10. Bryce Lang, 16.99
 
400-Meter Hurdles
2. Victoria Coombe, 1:02.54
8. Bryce Lang, 1:07.09
 
High Jump
4. Tamar Mosby, 5-03 (1.6m)
6. Taylor Patton, 5-01 (1.55m)
 
Pole Vault
4. Christina LeMunyon, 10-02 (3.10m)
 
Triple Jump
1. Taryn Rolle, 39-01 (11.91m)