Saturday, April 16, 2011
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake women's
track and field team won five events Saturday on the final day of the Jim
Duncan Invitational at Drake Stadium.
Senior Casey McDermott (Newton, Iowa) won her second event in two weeks as
she took home the 1,500-meter crown.
McDermott, who won the steeplechase
last week at the Tom Botts Invitational, won the 1,500 race crossing the line
in 4:42.19.
"She ran very smart," commented head
coach Natasha Brown. "I know she and Coach Hostager talked about when she would
move into the front of the pack and she executed that to perfection."
Sophomore Marissa Smith (Ajax, Ontario) won the 100-meter hurdles crossing
the line in 14.73, while fellow sophomore Sarah Yeager (Ottumwa, Iowa) was clocked in 14.81 to finish third.
Senior Beth Hamling (Council Bluffs, Iowa) won the 200-meter crown with a time
of 25.14. Smith earned a sixth-place showing crossing the line in 26.13.
"Beth ran a solid 100 to open up the
meet," said Brown. "She came back and had a strong 200. She got nice and tall
on the home stretch and finished strong."
The Bulldogs' 4x100 meter relay team of
senior Cambria Pardner (Aurora,
Colo.) freshman Tiara Winston (Denton, Texas), and sophomores Smith and Yeager won the
event clocking in at 48.59.
Senior Johanna Sprang (New Brighton, Minn.) won the pole vault with a leap
of 10 feet 4 inches.
Drake had three of the top five
finishers in the 800-meter race. Senior Kara McCartney (Elgin, Iowa), McDermott and junior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.) finished second (2:14.53), third
(2:15.12) and fifth (2:17.32).
Pardner garnered a third-place showing
in the triple jump as she soared 36 feet 7 inches.
Hamling also nabbed third-place in the
100-meter dash clocking in at 12:48, while Pardner, in her third event of the
day, was eighth in 12.69.
"I was very pleased with the meet," said Brown. "It's not a
real stressful meet for us and it allows us to focus on some technical
components. We worked on some strategies and that was evident today."
The Bulldogs will travel to Iowa City, Iowa next Saturday
(April 23) to compete in the Musco Twilight.
