DES MOINES, IOWA - Drake junior Ari Curtis (Fort Collins, Colo.) was clocked in 59.10 seconds in her preliminary heat of qualifying rounds in the women's 400 hurdles of the USA Track and Field Championships Friday, missing an opportunity to advance into the semifinal round.

Running in lane four, Curtis clipped the first hurdle and could never recover.

“I was really excited to run here," said Curtis. "Seeing the other girls' times coming up in the first heats, I thought 'Oh, I can do that, I can easily get in', and then I hit the first hurdle and it all went downhill from there.

"That was probably the first hurting point of the race, it just messed me up. The rest of the race, I mean, I've been kind of sick and it's different trying to work and train. It just wasn't the ideal situation for me, but at the same time, I just didn't run my race.”

Nevertheless, Curtis will look to take advantage of the opportunity to compete in the U.S. National Championships,continuing her development in the future.

"I am definitely going to take a break for a while, then I will get back into it, to show that this is something I am really serious about and will continue to be serious about in the future.

“I'll have more chances to not do so poorly in front of my home crowd. Relays (Drake), then NCAA's next season, so I look forward to those. I'm going to chalk this up to experience and keep it moving to next year.”