DES MOINES, Iowa — Wisconsin junior Isaiah Festa finished second in the 3000-meter steeplechase to lead UW’s men’s track-and-field team on the first day of the Drake Relays Thursday. The Drake Relays is one of track and field’s biggest annual events. Now in its tenth decade, the relays drew 33 NCAA champions.
Competing in the steeplechase for the first time, Festa ran an impressive 8:56.52, just missing the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8:54.00. Mike Hill of Washington won the race in 8:54.38. UW sophomore Drew Hohensee finished sixth in the same race in a personal best of 9:05.83, while junior Sam Jackson was 21st in 9:26.26.
The team competed in only two events on the final day of the relays after all afternoon finals were cancelled due to bad weather.
The Badgers finished fifth in the distance medley relay, with the team of Festa, Gustin Smith, Jabari Pride and Matt Tegenkamp crossing in 9:49.98.
Wisconsin was also sixth in the sprint medley relay as Pierre Leinbach, B.J. Tucker, Jvontai Hanserd and Dan Murray combined to run 3:24.17.
On the second day of competition, freshman Ryan Cole finished 17th in the 5000 meters in 15:12.50. Former Badger Jared Cordes was outrun by Central Methodist’s Josphat Boit for the event title.
Boit won in 14:14.36 while Cordes finished second in 14:14.86.
Wisconsin finished fourth in its heat of the 4×100-meter relay and failed to qualify for the final. The team of Pierre Leinbach, Len Herring, B.J. Tucker and Gustin Smith ran 41.28. Neither Tucker nor Leinbach qualified for the finals of the 100 meters. Tucker finished fifth in his heat in 10.88, while Leinbach was second in his heat in 11.04.
Junior Jon Mungen finished second in his heat of the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.74, but it wasn’t enough to qualify for the finals. Leinbach finished seventh in the same heat in 14.98.
Former Wisconsin women’s runner Suzy Favor Hamilton won her fourth career Drake Relays title, setting a new event mark in the 3000 meters. It was the fastest 3000 time this year. She has set meet records in her last three appearances at Drake.
Illinois’ women had the best marks after a good week of hurdling at Drake, as the Illini claimed a collegiate record in the shuttle hurdle relay, and Susanna Kallur added a nation-leading mark in the 100-meter hurdles.
“I felt good out there. I was mentally in the race, and I have to stay focused. I noticed the wind more and more as the race went on, and it can throw off your steps. But I got through it, and it was fun,” said Kallur, the defending 100-hurdles champion at Drake. “Whenever you get to race with so many of your teammates in the finals, it’s fun. It was like a practice, but with the chance to win at Drake.”
Kallur’s 12.81w surpassed teammate Perdita Felicien (13.04w), who already took No. 2 on the leader board in the preliminary rounds with a 12.92. Kallur and Felicien joined with teammates Jenny Kallur and Camee Williams to set the relay record with a 52.85, breaking the 53.00 mark set by LSU 10 years ago.
UTEP’s Svetlana Badrankova also grabbed a No. 1 mark, clocking 2:02.99 in the 800.
Rice posted a series of great marks at Des Moines, as Allison Beckford claimed third on the intermediate hurdles list at 56.31, Alice Falaiye took third on the long jump list at 6.52 meters (21-4.75), and the Owls’ Beckford-anchored 4×400 relay took eighth on the national list with a 3:34.78 win over Arizona State (3:34.90).
In men’s action, the best collegiate mark of the relays was produced by SMU’s Janus Robberts who threw a huge 69-7.50 in the shot put, winning by six feet over Georgia’s Reese Hoffa (63-4.50) and adding to his national lead.
Back on the hurdles front, national leader Aubrey Herring of Indiana State took the measure of Alabama senior Ron Bramlett with a 13.77 to 13.38 into a strong headwind.
Meanwhile, defending intermediate hurdles champ Bayano Kamani of Baylor raced a seasonal best 49.30 to defeat U.S. Olympian and home-state favorite Joey Woody (49.69). Baylor might continue to dominate this event as the Bears have signed New Jersey ace Dwight Ruff, who on that very day ran the No. 5 high school time ever (50.47) at the Penn Relays.
In the men’s hammer, senior Carey Ryan of Depaul hurled the hammer 224-7 to defeat UTEP’s Janne Vartia (220-8). Other noteworthy marks came from SFA’s Adam Keul (18-4 in the vault), UW’s Len Herring (53-6.50 in the triple jump) and UTEP’s Bashar Ibrahim (3:41.81c in the mile) and Arizona State’s 4×400 relay (3:03.10).
Clack vaults to new mark
LACROSSE, Wis. — Junior Tara Clack set a school record in the pole vault to lead the Wisconsin women’s track-and-field team Saturday at the UW-LaCrosse Classic. Clack won the event with a vault of 12-6, breaking the old record of 12-0 set by Christine Baudry in 2001. Clack’s mark was also an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
Senior Shana Martin finished second at 12-0, tying her personal best, while freshman Andrea Lopez was fifth at 10-0.
UW-Madison won the meet, which was moved indoors for most of the events due to weather, with 164.83 points. UW-LaCrosse finished second with 143.6 points, while UW-Eau Claire was third with 88.5 points.
The Badgers won six events at the meet, including double-winner Bree Fuqua. Fuqua won the shot put with an outdoor personal best of 49-0. She ranks second on UW’s all-time list behind school record holder Karen Nitsch at 50-10. Fuqua also won the hammer at 133-5. Senior Stacy Sawtelle finished second with 131-0.
Fuqua also placed third in the discus at 145-2. Senior Becky Tuma was second with a throw of 145-6 and freshman Julia Slabosheski finished fourth with a personal best of 139-0. Sawtelle was fifth at 137-6.
Senior Cathy Ross continues her quest to win a Big Ten title in the triple jump, winning that event at 41-3. Junior Julie Stefan finished third in a season’s best of 38-9.
Wisconsin also won the 90-meter dash where Kym Hubing ran 11.70 and the 1500 meters where Liz Reusser ran 4:51.10.
Badgers swept four of the top five places in the 800 meters behind second-place finisher Hilary Edmondson. Edmondson ran 2:12.60, while Bethany Brewster finished third in 2:15.40. Freshman Alissa Bennicoff was fourth in a personal best of 2:16.20, and junior Elaine Canchola was fifth in 2:19.20.
