Thursday, May 12, 2011

What's Ahead: The Drake women's track and field team will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to partake in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track And Field Championship. The meet, held at the Mark Messersmith Track and Field Complex, will last from Friday to Sunday (May 13-15). Combined events will begin Friday at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 10:30 a.m., while action on Sunday kicks off at 11 a.m. with the men's pole vault.

Last Time Out: Sophomore Marissa Smith (Ajax, Ontario) ran a personal best of 13.95 in the 100-meter hurdles at the Arkansas Twilight.

Smith, who finished seventh in the race, broke her old personal best by four-tenths of a second. Her time also ranks third in the Missouri Valley Conference and second all-time at Drake.

Fellow sophomore Sarah Yeager (Ottumwa, Iowa) clocked in at 14:47 to register a ninth-place showing. Yeager also competed in the 400-meter hurdles finishing in 1:04.27 to place fifth.

Senior Casey McDermott (Newton, Iowa) was fifth in the 1500-meter race running a season-best of 4:31.11.

The senior duo of Clarissa LaFlora (Kewanee, Ill.) and Kara McCartney (Elgin, Iowa) were 12th (58.03) and 14th (59.13), respectively, in the 400-meter dash.

A Year Ago: Ari Curtis (Fort Collins, Colo.) lowered her then school record in the 400 hurdles en route to a runner-up finish at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

Curtis was timed in 58.27 seconds, toppling her previous school mark of 59.03.

Indiana State's Erica Moore became the league's third-ever three-time champion in the 400 hurdles clocking a time of 56.21.

Curtis capped off the meet by running the anchor leg on Drake's 4x400 relay which finished fifth in 3:46.08 that marked the fourth fastest time in school history.

Beth Hamling (Council Bluffs, Iowa) was third in the 400-meter dash, running a personal best 55.23 seconds.

Hamling ran the second leg on the 4x400 relay which also included an opening leg by senior Caitlin Able and a third leg by Clarissa LaFlora (Kewanne, Ill.).

Nicole Braunsdorf  was fifth in the 1,500 in 4:31.80.

Deidra Dirth was sixth in the discus at 152-6, recording her best mark on her last throw.

Casey McDermott (Newton, Iowa) was sixth in the 5,000 in 17:17.57. She also was tenth in the 1,500 in 4:35.50, while Courtney Heinz was 19th in 4:58.84.

Johanna Sprang (New Brighton, Minn.) set a school record in the women's pole vault at 12 feet topping the previous mark of 11 feet 7 3/4 inches set by Jess Hetcko in 2004.

Tyse Samani (Kansas City, Mo.) tied for seventh in the high jump at 5-3.25.