AUSTIN, Texas – The Drake University men's and women's track and field teams split up to span the country this weekend as Bulldog student-athletes are set to compete in five different meets in three states this weekend. A select group will race at the 90thClyde Littlefield Texas Relays presented by Spectrum in Austin, Texas, while others will be in nearby San Marcos, Texas, for the Texas State Bobcat Invitational. A pair of distance runners will head to California, and the remainder of the team will stay close to campus for the Central Invitational in Pella, Iowa.
Friday will be the busiest day for the Bulldogs as five step into the starting blocks at the Texas Relays to compete in the men's and women's 100 meters, men's 110-meter hurdles, women's 100-meter hurdles and men's 400-meter hurdles. That same afternoon, 11 Bulldogs are scheduled to compete at the Texas State Bobcat Invitational. The Texas Relays features more than 7,700 athletes across all levels of competition including competitors from nearly 200 colleges and universities. At Texas State, the Bulldogs will compete against more than 50 other programs.
Both Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Josh Yeager (Center Point, Iowa) will be competing in California on Friday. Fischer will run the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational under the lights at 11:34 p.m. CDT, while Yeager will run the 5,000 meters at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival at 6:42 p.m. CDT. Fischer's race will be his outdoor debut after capturing the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Last weekend, Yeager opened his season by finished third in the seeded section of the 1,500 meters at the Arkansas Spring Invitational.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs continue competition at the Bobcat Invitational while others will make the short trip from campus for the Central Invitational, hosted by Central College in Pella, Iowa.
This weekend's competitions mark the second week of action during the outdoor season for the Bulldogs. Last weekend, the Bulldogs took on some of the nation's top competitors at the Arkansas Spring Invitational, including host Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Missouri State, Wichita State and Tulsa. Drake finished the weekend with 29 top-10 finishes.
Junior Taryn Rolle (Nassau, The Bahamas) nabbed the team's only title, winning the triple jump with a leap of 39-5.75. Rolle also finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 18-3, an outdoor best. Junior Mary Young (Urbandale, Iowa) and sophomore Victoria Coombe (Centennial, Colo.) both also tabbed personal bests. Young, who took fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, recorded a personal best in the 200 meters finishing eighth in 24.73 while Coombe took sixth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.77.
The men's team was led by freshman Xavier Lechleitner (Edgar, Wis.) who finished second in the un-seeded section of the 800m with a time of 1:55.22. Senior Demetrius Shelton (Markham, Ill.) took fifth in the 100 meters and fourth in the 200 meters for the men and junior Chris Kaminski (New Lenox, Ill.) took third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
