CEDAR FALLS, IOWA - The Drake women's track and field team had six runners advance to the final rounds of their events during the first day of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track And Field Championships at the UNI Dome on Saturday (Feb. 26).
The senior tandem of Ari Curtis (Fort Collins, Colo.) and Beth Hamling (Council Bluffs, Iowa) advanced to the 400-meter finals. Curtis's time of 56.18 was the second fastest in the event, while Hamling advanced with the fourth best time of 56.96.
"For Ari this is something new," commented head coach Natasha Brown. "Its not a new event as she typically does the pentathlon. We were switching it up for her this year and trying her with the 400-meters. She ran a strong and aggressive race. Beth closed very well. She had a great race too, but her finish really helped crack the top four of the event."
Seniors Kara McCartney (Elgin, Iowa) and Clarissa LaFlora (Kewanee, Ill.) both qualified for the finals of the 800-meter race. McCartney qualified with a time of 2:14.58, while LaFlora's time of 2:17.83 earned her the last spot in the finals.
"Kara is not a surprise in this as she has qualified for this event this many times," said Brown. "The trick was having Clarissa squeak in as the last qualifier."
The sophomore duo of Marissa Smith (Ajax, Ontario) and Sarah Yeager (Ottumwa, Iowa) qualified for the 60-meter finals while setting personal bests. Smith's time of 8.70 was the fifth best time on the day, and beat her previous best by a hundredth of a second. Yeager set a personal best of 8.88 to earn her a spot in Sunday's final.
"Marissa had an amazing race," said Brown. "Every time she races, she gets close to breaking her personal best or she breaks it. Sarah had a tremendous drop and we knew this was coming as she has had so many decent performances leading up to this meet."
Senior Casey McDermott (Newton, Iowa) finished eighth in the 3,000-meter race crossing the finish line in 10:04.03.
Drake 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.
