April 30, 2011
Results
DES MOINES, Iowa -
Aisha Praught and Brittany Smith had strong performances during the final day of competition at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, on the Jim Duncan Track inside Drake Stadium Saturday afternoon. Praught bested the competition in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:25.11, while Smith set a new school record in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 199-08.
"Aisha was an individual champion at the Drake Relays, which is a huge accomplishment on her part," said head track and field coach Elvis Forde. "There are very few individuals who can say they were a champion at the Drake Relays, and Aisha is one of them. Her performance and first-place finish should help her prepare for the rest of the season. Brittany improved her personal best in the hammer, but really wants to get over the 200-00 mark. Brittany still has room to grow over the next couple of weeks before the conference meet and hopefully she will be at the 200-00 mark by that time."
On the women's side, Kristen Zillmer finished 10th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal-best time of 10:47.85, while Kirsten Lang (11:41.42) was 22nd. In the seeded 1500-meter run, Jess Husted ran the race in 4:37.29 for 15th place. Elsewhere on the track, Shandel Ellis, Alia McAfee, Jordan Frey and Jil Kerkman were 18th with a time of 4:0192 in the 1600-sprint medley relay.
For the men, John Navarro ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:04.55 and finished in 19th place. In the relays, the men's 4X800-meter relay team of Nick Geyer, Mat Smoody, Fabian Norgrove and Yosef Tewolde ran to a 12th-place finish in 7:39.98. Smoody, Norgrove, Tewolde, along with Matt Mroczynski ran the distance-medley relay as a team, finishing the race in 10:17.11 for 18th.
"Overall, this weekend was a learning experience, and our student-athletes saw a lot of tough competition," said Forde. "We need to use that to prepare for the conference championships."
The Redbirds will be back in action Friday, May 6 at the Billy Hayes Invitational in Bloomington, Ind.
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