DES MOINES, IOWA -- The Drake women's track and field team continued its assault on the school record books by setting three marks while equaling another during the 101st running of the Drake Relays this past weekend.
Junior
Ari Curtis (Fort Collins, Colo.) played a role in three of the school marks.
Curtis ran the 800 leg on the distance medley relay that finished sixth in the women's university division Friday in 11 minutes 31.96 seconds to better the previous school mark of 11:32.35 set in 1994.
Junior
Casey McDermott (Newton,Iowa) got things started by running the open 1,200-meter leg followed by junior
Beth Hamling (Council Bluffs, Iowa) running the 400, then Curtis and senior
Nicole Braunsdorf (St. Francis, Wis.) anchoring the 1,600 leg.
Curtis came back Saturday morning to run the anchor on the shuttle hurdle relay which set a school mark of 59.74, breaking the school record of 1:01.73 set in 2004. Other members of the record-setting shuttle hurdle relay were the freshmen trio of
Marissa Smith (Ajax, Ontario, Canada),
Emily James (Clive, Iowa) and
Sarah Yeager (Ottumwa, Iowa).
Curtis set a school record in the 400 hurdles for the third time this spring by placing sixth in 59.03 seconds, to lower her previous school mark of 59.27 set April 10 at the Jim Duncan Invitational.
Junior
Johanna Sprang (New Brighton, Minn.) tied the school outdoor pole vault mark of 11 feet 7.75 inches en route to tying for 18th place in the women's university-college field.
McDermott and Braunsdorf each ran personal bests in the university-college 1,500 to place fifth (4:28.48) and seventh (4:28.81), respectively.
Freshman
Briana Isom-Brummer (St. Louis, Mo.) opened the Drake Relays by finishing 11th in the heptathlon with a personal best of 4,404 points.
Junior Meredith Bell (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) was 13th in the 10,000 in 38:14.66. Senior
Tara Scieszinski (Albia, Iowa) ran a personal best 38:35.01 to place 14th in the 10,000.
The Bulldogs were 22nd in the university sprint medley relay in 4:09.73 behind Hamling, Smith, senior
Caitlin Able (Aurora, Colo.) and junior
Clarissa LaFlora (Kewanee, Ill.).
Drake assistant track and field coach
Kelly Parriott won the Grand Blue Mile Corporate Challenge women's race in 5:41.76.
In qualifying heats, junior
Cambria Pardner (Aurora, Colo.) was timed in 12.72 in the university-college 100, while Yeager and Smith were clocked in 15.14 and 15.15, respectively.
The Drake women's track and field program has now set four outdoor school records this spring, while tying another.
Earlier, Curtis set a school record in the heptathlon with 4,998 points en route to a second-place finish at the Kansas Relays.