CEDAR FALLS, IOWA - Junior Jon DeGrave (Lake Villa, Ill.) advanced to both the 200-meter and 400-meter races at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track And Field Championships at the UNI Dome on Saturday (Feb. 26).
DeGrave ran the 200-meter race in 21.99, while his time of 49.78 in the 400-meter race was the fourth-fastest time of the day.
"We kind of expected him to make the finals," commented head coach Natasha Brown. "Jon has been racing very aggressively this season. The neat thing was him making the finals of the 200-meters as he is usually a 400-meter runner or a 400-meter hurdler."
Junior Matt Jurysta (Oshawa, Ontario) finished third in the qualifying round of the 800-meter race. Jurysta's time of 1:53.76 broke his personal best set last week at the Iowa Invitational. Junior Charlie Lapham (Golden Valley, Minn.) also advanced to the finals with a time of 1:54.21.
"Matt was pretty impressive," said Brown. "He looked strong and he stayed out of trouble for pretty much the whole race. He decided with 50 meters to go to just start passing people."
Freshman Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa) registered a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter race crossing the finish line in 8:33.29.
"For him to be a first year racing some national level athletes and to perform well is remarkable," said Brown.
Sophomore Dan Karys (Bartlett, Ill.) placed ninth in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet 2 inches, a personal best.
Sophomore Isaac Twombly (Baldwin, Kan.) had a toss of 50 feet 10.75 in the weight throw to finish 15th.
The Bulldogs will return to the UNI Dome Sunday (Feb. 27) for the final day of the State Farm MVC Indoor Track And Field Championship. The meet will begin at 9:30 a.m.
