Texas Tech Athletics
Drake Relays
Young wins Discus in Day Two of Drake Relays
April 25, 2003 | Track and Field
April 25, 2003
Des Moines, Iowa - Competition of the second-day of the 94th running of the Drake Relays came to a close Friday afternoon with Jason Young collecting a gold medal in the discus and the men's and women's 1,600-meter relays advancing to Saturday's finals.
Young (Dallas, Texas) wasted no time in setting the winning mark in the discus throw as the junior recorded a meet-winning fling of 191-feet, 4-inches on his first attempt. Two future throws would not produce a better mark as Young entered the finals with the top mark of the three flights. Being the last to throw, the school record holder in the event was never pushed as the opening mark held giving Young Tech's first gold medal in the event at the relays.
Freshman Bobby Most (Laredo, Texas) went bar-for-bar with Wisconsin LaCrosse's Hans Schmidt in the pole vault before missing three attempts at 18'-0". The indoor All-American had to settle for runner-up due to more misses at 17'-6". Jared Thornhill (Snyder, Texas) continued a solid outdoor season as he placed seventh with a personal best mark of 17'-1".
The women's 1,600 relay of Rachelle Evans (Dallas, Texas), LaToya Fry (Mansfield, Texas), Karletha Cook (Dallas, Texas) and Licretia Sibley (Fort Worth, Texas) placed second in their heat with a time of 3:39.61 and earned the right to race in Saturday's finals, while the men's team of Albert Booker (Trent, Texas), Julieon Raeburn (Trincity, Trinidad), Matt Stewart (Odessa, Texas) and Jason Lovell (Reseada, Calif.) raced to a 3:08.90 finish and easily won their heat also advancing to tomorrow's finals.
The women's 3,000-meter steeplechase saw freshman Katie Leonard (Burkeburnett, Texas) run to an 11-minute, 3.76-second, ninth-place finish. The mark establishes a new school record as Leonard has lowered her time in the distance-hurdle event for the third consecutive time. The time is also just 3.76 seconds off the NCAA regional qualifying mark.
Marlon Odom (Killeen, Texas) placed fourth in his heat of the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.49, but did not qualify for Saturday's finals. The freshman then clocked a 53.72 finish in the 400 hurdles as he placed 16th. Cook also competed in the 400 hurdles where she posted a 1:03.64 finish.
Tech's Megan Schuessler (Llano, Texas) logged a 10th-place fling of 149-feet, 1-inch, while Olivia Clardy (Abilene, Texas) did not turn in a legal throw. Schuessler later competed in the shot put where she turned in a mark of 42'-2".
Last night, the women's 4 x Mile relay raced to a fourth-place finish as the quartet of Brionne Yosten (Hereford, Texas), Bridget Tidwell (Crawford, Texas), Stefanie Calhoun (Goliad, Texas) and Tracie Akerhielm (Sulpher Springs, Texas) ran a mile a piece and crossed the finish line in a time of 19:56.92. The time was three and one-half seconds behind third-place Kansas and 4.10 seconds off the second-place time of Colorado State.
The Drake Relays will come to a close tomorrow afternoon. One of the highlights of the meet looks to be the men's sprint medley relay. Tech enters the race with the world leading mark and will look to chase down the meet record of 3:12.19.
Players Mentioned
