WICHITA, Kan.--Drake senior Jon DeGrave won his third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference title in the men's 400-meter hurdles to close out competition at the 2012 MVC Championship Sunday.
With the victory in 51.80 he becomes one of only four individuals to win three or more 400-meter hurdle titles in conference history. The last athlete to do so was Cory Goos of Northern Iowa, who won the three years prior to DeGraves' victories.
DeGrave (Lake Villa, Ill.), a senior who originally competed as a walk-on, won the MVC 2010 and 2011 Outdoor titles as well as the 2011 indoor title in the 400-meters. He also has qualified for the NCAA regionals in the event.
"Jon is a fierce competitor," said Drake head coach Natasha Brown. "He went out aggressively and had made up the stagger by the fifth hurdle, then proceeded to finish strong."
Junior Charlie Lapham (Golden Valley, Minn.) fell behind early but ran a strong race to finish second in the men's 1500-meter run. His time of 3:51.59 was two seconds behind the winner, Zach Dahleen of Southern Illinois.
"Charlie ran a come-from-behind 1500 race." Brown said. "He kept himself in striking position and was able to pull up the leaders, finishing second."
Sophomore Omet Kak (Des Moines, Iowa) finished just behind Lapham in fourth place in a time of 3:51.16.
Along with DeGrave, fellow senior Shaun James (Lawrence, Kan.) ran well in his final MVC race as a Bulldog. He finished in fourth place of the 200-meter in a time of 21.76.
Drake finished in sixth place on the weekend with a total of 69 points. Indiana State won the meet with a grand total of 187.5 points.
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