by Larry Eder
Des Moines, April 29 — With finals in seven relay finals
and nine field events, the Drake Relays rolled on despite blustery winds with
gusts up t0 30 miles an hour.
Baylor sprinters turned in
the best performances, winning both 4×200 relays in close-to-meet record times.
The Baylor men had a pretty easy time of it, winning their fifth Drake
two-lapper in a row in 1:21.47 by 15 meters over Texas-Arlington’s 1:23.26. By
contrast, the Lady Bears were pushed all the way by Arkansas before Tiffany Taylor anchored them to win 1:33.96.
In other men’s relays,
Wisconsin won the 4×1,600 easily in 16:32.76 from Notre Dame’s 16:38.99, and
Minnesota took the 4×800 in 7:19.51, the fastest time in 10 years. Iowa came
from far back to take second thanks to a 1.48.7 anchor leg by Erik Sowinski.
The other women’s relays were
won by Kansas State, which took the 4×800 in 8:34.81, and Utah, which won by 50
meters in 11:17.09 from last
year’s winner, Iowa State.
The outstanding performances
on the track included a 44.5 split in the men’s 4×400 by Torrin Lawrence of
Georgia, and a rapid high school 800 victory by Shelby Houlihan of Souix City
who took more than a second-and-a half of here previous meet record with
2:07.69.
The top field event of the
day was Karat Patterson’s javelin throw of 189-5. Patterson, who set her American record of 218-8 here last
June in the USATF championships.
She said, “I’m a little
frustrated today. My technique improvements didn’t translate into a long throw.”
She did have one 200-foot throw, on her fifth attempt, but it was blown out of
the sector.
