April 26, 2008
Results
DES MOINES, Iowa -
Illinois State track and field senior Devon Williams captured eighth place with a time of 11.93 seconds in the 100-meter dash to highlight the Redbirds performances at the 99th Annual Drake Relays inside Drake Stadium on the Jim Duncan Track Saturday.
Illinois State head track and field coach Elvis Forde felt that fatigue from all the races this weekend had caught up with his student-athletes.
"I think that Devon was exhausted from the long weekend and her reactions time was slow," said Forde. "She was in a strong competitive field. We have been competing quite a bit over the past two weekends, but once we get some fresh legs she should be able to finish the season strong."
Illinois States women's 1,600-meter sprint medley relay cruised to a 4:05.98 finish to take 12th in a pool of 16 competitors. Senior Melissa Clarke led off for Illinois State in the first 400-meters and then handed the baton to Kyndra Curtin who ran the 200-meters. Senior Brianna Officer handled the second 200 and junior Kim Smudde anchored the event with an 800-meter run.
Freshmen foursome Michelle Brunk, Jess Husted, Jenny Kraakevik and Kirsten Lang combined for their first 4x1,600-meter relay to place 14th out of a competitive 21 team field. The squad crossed the finish line with a time of 20:59.06.
ISU's men's distance medley relay placed 17th with a time of 10:20.59 on the leg work of sophomore Scott Krapf, senior DeAndre Tillman, freshman Nick Geyer and freshman Matt Mroczynski. Senior Mike Richardson was unable to recover in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase after someone stepped on the heel of his shoe. Richardson was forced to stop completely to fix his shoe. His final time was 9:53.85 as he placed 19th.
"Mike was in a race with some high caliber athletes," said Forde. "It is misfortunate that he lost his shoe. I think that this could have been a great race for him."
Complete results from the Drake Relays are available at GoDrakeBulldogs.com.
The Redbirds return home to host the Redbird Invitational Saturday, May 3. Field events are scheduled to get underway at 9 a.m.
