April 26, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Redbird track and field competitor Brittney Hourd put in a hard day's work on the first day of competition at the 97th Annual Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. Finishing up the first four events, Hourd holds the 10th place spot in the heptathlon.
In the first event of the day, the 100-meter hurdles, Hourd turned in season-best time of 14.24 to take fourth in the event. In the high jumped she turned in a jump of 5-00.50 and threw 34-05.00 in the shot put. To round out the day, Hourd ran a 25.84 in the 200-meters for a total of 2,984 points.
According to assistant jumps coach Tim Thompson, Hourd competed hard today, but fell short in a couple of events.
"Brittney's not in as good of a position as what we hoped she would be in after the first four events," said Thompson. "That's alright, though. She's only about 50 points from the fifth and sixth-place competitor and that's the range we're shooting for tomorrow."
Hourd is also not far off pace from her point total after the first day of competition at the Lee Calhoun Memorial Invitational at Western Illinois on April 14. That weekend Hourd tallied her highest point total of the season and also qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional.
Tomorrow Hourd will wrap up the heptathlon with the long jump beginning at 12:30 p.m. The javelin and 800-meter run will follow thereafter.
