RESULTS
DES MOINES, Iowa. – Illinois State men's 4x100-meter relay squad and women's 4x400-meter relay team advance to the final rounds as they both won their heat, respectively. The men's 1x100-meter relay team of Dion Hooker, Jalen Lewis, Anderson Devonish and Shandall Thomas posted a time of 40.74. The squad advances to the final round tomorrow scheduled to start at 3:20 p.m.
In the women's 4x400-meter relay, ISU earned a time of 3:39.19. Ally Christiani led the relay of with a 56.70 split, followed by Amanda McClain who ran a stellar 53.70 split. Ashleigh Wilson was the third carry will a strong 55.04 split, finished with Sarah Mussallem anchoring with a 54.08 split. The squad's time is the second-fastest time in school record, nearly missing the school record time of 3:38.64, which was set at the 104th Drake Relays by Printassia Johnson, Shandel Ellis, Sade Sealy and Kristen Zillmer. The Redbirds will advance to the final round tomorrow set to start at 3:45 p.m.
"Our body of work today was really fantastic across the board," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "Many of our relays finished top eight and nearly missing two school records in the women's 4x400 and the 4x800. Both teams ran very well."
The men's 4x400-meter relay squad of Antonio Farley (48.56), Jalen Lewis (48.22), Ben Montgomery (46.74) and Anderson Devonish (46.28) posted a season-best time of 3:09.51 and placed fourth in their heat. The foursome's time is ranked fourth on ISU's all-time best list.
"Our men's 4x400 did well today," Bovee said. "They ran their season best by nearly four second. This is one of the fastest times ISU ran in April in many years."
The women's 4x100-meter relay team of Emily Cowan, Kelsie Prear, Mussallem and McClain posted a time of 46.03 and finished fifth in their heat.
Later in the evening, the women's 4x800- relay team were just shy of beating the school record of 8:46.30, as the team of Rayanne Wright (2:11.90), Kaley Ummel (2:11.20), Kimi Sanden (2:13.10) and Jackie Mink (2:10.20) posted a time of 8:46.47, which is now the second-fastest time in school history. The team's time placed seventh overall.
The men's had the same results as the 4x800-meter relay team of Kyle Hatton (1:52.90), Ryan Bybee (1:52.70), David Curnock (1:52.80) and JD LaFayette (1:51.10) ran a time of 7:29.46, which is the second-fastest time in ISU history. The school record is a time of 7:22.15. The squad placed fifth overall.
"The men's 4x800 finished it off well today, as they beat many really good teams," Bovee comments. "It was a very tight and packed race, and the guys battled well."
"All in all, I am just really proud of how well we competed," Bovee continued. "We scrapped and crawled for some really great finishes. Again, every relay mixed it up and were competitive. I don't know if there many teams here this weekend have this many relay teams finish this high. It was a great day and we are looking forward to a solid finish tomorrow."
The Redbirds are back in action tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the sprint medley relays.
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