CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Drake University track and field teams recorded five personal bests on the final day of the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Track and Field Championship. Following three days of competition, the men finished in seventh place with 62.50 points while the women were ninth with 33 points.

Wichita State won the women's team title with 160.5 points while Indiana State defended its men's crown with 164.5 points.

"I love this team. We only had a handful of athletes but they left it all out on the field of play," said Drake head coach Natasha Kaiser-Brown. "We knew it would be hard wit hteh number of injuries and small squad size, but they pulled out personal and season bests just to make finals. Then they found another gear to get more than the expected points in the finals."

Danyelle Cole (Kansas City, Kan.) and Sarah Yeager (Ottumwa, Iowa) led the women's team by each scoring in two individual events and a pair of relays. Cole recorded personal bests in the 100 and 200 meters to finish fourth and sixth in the events, respectively. She turned in a time of 11.88 in the 100 meters and 24.19 in the 200 meters. Tiara Winston (Denton, Texas) joined Cole in scoring in the 100 meters as she crossed in 11.91 to finish fifth.

Cole also teamed up with Yeager on the 4x100 and 4x400-meter teams that finished third and eighth to score points for the Bulldogs. Cole ran the leadoff leg on both relays as the team clocked times of 46.07 in the 4x100-meters and 3:55.89 in the 4x400-meter relay.

Yeager, competing in her final MVC Championship, finished third in the 100-meter hurdles in a season best time of 13.60 and was sixth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.95. Sophomore Ashley Johnson (Chicago, Ill.) was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles as well in a personal best time of 14.05.

"The championships bring out an athlete's true character," Kaiser-Brown added. "It was awesome to watch them dig deep and compete with pride."

The men's team had six fifth-place finishes on the final day led by Stephen Jordan (McFarland, Wis.) turning in a personal best of 21.50 in the 200 meters. Kai Asberry (Carrollton, Texas) also notched a career best of 51.70 in the 400-meter hurdles record another fifth-place showing.

Jordan and Asberry ran legs on the Bulldogs' 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays that both finished fifth. The 4x100-meter team crossed in 41.46 while the 4x400-meter crew came in at 3:12.48.

A day after winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Rob McCann (Mississauga, Ontario) returned to the track to score via a fifth-place showing in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:56.31. James Saxton (La Crosse, Wis.) also scored on the track with an eighth-place time of 1:55.94 in the 800 meters.

Sunday's field events saw two Bulldogs score in the triple jump as freshman Johnathan Osifuye (Woodbury, Minn.) was fifth with a jump of 48.3.25 while Kayla Bell (Bollingbrook, Ill.) was eighth in the women's event at 38-7.75.

For the bulk of the team, the MVC Championship concludes the 2014 season. However, those athletes that have achieved the necessary marks will advance to the NCAA Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Ark., in two weeks to attempt to advance to June's NCAA Championship.