April 23, 2011

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Sophomore Isaac Twombly (Baldwin, Kan.) broke his own school record in the hammer throw at the Musco Twilight on Saturday.

Twombly's toss of 166 feet 8 inches broke his old record by two feet, which he set last spring.

"Isaac has been working hard on making some tough technique changes and he finally caught a throw on his last attempt," commented assistant coach Mark Kostek. "The meet is a great confidence builder as we move into the Drake Relays next weekend and the MVC Championship in a few weeks."

Twombly, along with freshman Andy Curtis (Manchester, Iowa) set personal bests in the discus throw with their tosses of 150 feet 7 inches and 138 feet 2 inches, respectively.

Freshman Phillip Beeler (Lenexa, Kan.) finished second in the javelin with his throw of 186 feet 7 inches, while sophomore Kevin Harp (Iowa City, Iowa) was third with his heave of 185 feet 1 inches.

Sophomore Dan Karys (Bartlett, Ill.) soared 23 feet 0.50 inches in the long jump to place second. Karys also registered a fourth-place showing in the triple jump with his leap of 46 feet 5.25 inches.

"I have been very impressed with Dan this spring," commented head coach Natasha Brown. "He has been able to put a string of consistent triple jumps and long jumps together each weekend."

Junior Jon DeGrave (Lake Villa, Ill.) snared fourth-place in the 400-meter hurdles finishing in at 53.31.

Freshman Omet Kak (Des Moines, Iowa) was fifth in the 1500 clocking in at 3:51.70, a season best. Junior Matt Jurysta (Oshawa, Ontario) garnered a ninth-place showing crossing the line in 3:55.14. Freshman Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa) and junior Charlie Lapham (Golden Valley, Minn.) were 13th (3:56.09) and 15th (3:56.38) respectively.

Junior Ben Jaskowiak (Madison, Wis.) registered a fourth-place showing in the 5,000-meter race with a season best time of 15:32.79.

"We have a couple more weeks before the conference meet," said Brown. "If we can stay focused, the men's team is on the verge of some great performances."

The Bulldogs will split up next weekend and compete at two different meets. Some athletes will stay at home and compete in the Drake Relays (April 28-30), while others will partake in the Kip Janvrin Invitational (April 28-29) in Indianola, Iowa.