Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012

What's Ahead: The Drake men's track and field squad, after winning three titles this past weekend at the ISU Open, takes its talents to the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete at the Jack Jennett Invitational. Combined events will begin on Friday, while the rest of the events will take place on Saturday.

Last Time Out: Drake men's track and field team claimed three crowns at the Lied Recreation Center last weekend (Jan. 20-21)

Sophomore Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa), in his first meet of the season, won the seeded 3,000-meter race crossing the line in 8:26.99, beating Adam Godwin of Oklahoma Baptist by two-hundredths of a second.

The Drake 4x400 relay squad of sophomore Travis Marsh (Ankeny, Iowa), junior Dan Karys (Bartlett, Ill.) and seniors Jon DeGrave (Lake Villa, Ill.) and Shaun James (Lawrence, Kan.) won the race in 3:15.57, which is the second best mark in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.

Freshman Conor Wells (Des Moines, Iowa), in his first track meet in Drake blue, won the non-seeded 3,000-meter race in 8:58.57.

The Drake men's distance medley “A” relay squad of seniors Charlie Lapham(Rosemount, Minn.), DeGrave, Matt Jurysta (Oshawa, Ontario) and sophomore Omet Kak (Des Moines, Iowa) was second clocking in at 9:56.31. They defeated both the Iowa State “A” and “B” squads by more than five seconds.

Junior Isaac Twombly (Baldwin, Kan.), the school-record holder in the weight throw, finished in third with his heave of 57 feet 1.5 inches.

Karys soared 22 feet 7.25 inches in the long jump to finish fourth. In the triple jump, Karys soared 45 feet .50 inches to earn a fifth-place finish.

Marsh also earned a 10th-place showing in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles clocking in at 8.55, a season best time for the Ankeny native.

A Year Ago: Jon DeGrave (Lake Villa, Ill.), in his first 400-meter race of the 2011 indoor track and field campaign, finished second in a time of 49.15 at the Jayhawk Classic on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011

DeGrave, along with Dan Karys and Ian Wells (Champaign, Ill.) and Brett Wright (Longmont, Colo.) finished fifth in the 4x400 relay.

Then freshman Doug Brady (Englewood, Colo.) was in the 1,000 meter race clocking in 2:35.52.

Isaac Twombly was 11th in the weight throw with a toss of 50-feet 4-inches. Andy Curtis (Manchester, Iowa) set a personal best with a toss of 43-3.75. His throw, which registered a 22nd-place finish, put him third in the Drake record books behind Twombly and Eric Bumgardner.

Up Next: The Bulldogs will travel west to Lincoln, Neb. to compete at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Feb. 3 and 4.