Texas Tech Athletics
Drake Relays
Men's Sprint Medley Relay Reins Supreme
April 26, 2003 | Track and Field
April 26, 2003
Des Moines, Iowa - For the first time since the 1993 season the Texas Tech track and field team had multiple champions at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, as the men's sprint medley relay team proved their world leading mark at the Texas Relays was not a fluke and bettered its mark in joining Jason Young as 2003 Drake Relays champions Saturday.
Alabama's Latonel Williams got off to a fast start and had the Crimson Tide in the lead after the opening leg of the sprint medley relay. Matt Stewart (Odessa, Texas) held ground with the rest of the pack as he turned the race over to the lone upperclassmen on the team Julieon Raeburn (Trincity, Trinidad). The senior proceeded to take the Red Raiders into the lead before letting Albert Booker (Trent, Texas) take center stage.
"I knew that if I could get the stick to Booker in a good position he would be able to catch everyone in front of him," said Raeburn. "Once we were in the lead I knew we would win because Booker was going to hold the lead and once [Jonathan Johnson] gets it, it's over."
Booker got to the break first and led by as much as five meters as his 45.0 split gave Tech a lead it would never give up. Jonathan Johnson (Abilene, Texas) ran a 1:47.1 final 800-meters and had to hold off a hard-charging Peter Etoot of Alabama over the final 200 to better the Red Raiders world leading mark to 2:14.08.
The women's sprint medley relay almost gave the Red Raiders a sweep in the event as the quartet of LaToya Fry (Mansfield, Texas), Rachelle Evans (Dallas, Texas), Licretia Sibley (Fort Worth, Texas) and Brionne Yosten (Hereford, Texas) posted a school record time of 3:53.92.
Running in the first of four heats the Red Raider's time held up through the next two heats before Tulsa posted a 3:47.62 in the fourth heat and bumped Tech to second.
Dwayne Benoit (Abilene, Texas) and Yosten became the newest Red Raiders to qualify for the Midwest regional meet this weekend. Yosten did not find out until a few hours prior to competing in the 1,500 that she was listed to compete. The sophomore stayed with the leaders running in fifth through the first 1,100 meters.
"I couldn't believe I was there," noted Yosten. "[Sara Bei So, Stanford] is a great runner and I was right there with here with 100 meters to go. I knew that I couldn't kick with her so my plan was to just finish strong because I didn't know where the rest of the pack was."
Yosten used a very strong push to move from fifth to second heading into the final turn. The result was the second-fastest finish in school history, a clocking of 4:22.48.
"I felt really good, I was ready to run this race because this was one of my last chances get a good time and qualify for the regional meet before conference. Today I just felt really good."
Beniot posted a fifth-place finish of 3:49.27.
In the men's 800 freshman Kyle Atwood (Muleshoe, Texas) set the pace through the first 400 meters but was unable to hold the pace as he would finish eighth with a time of 1:52.49. The men's 1,600-meter team of Stewart, Raeburn, Johnson and Booker ran to a third-place finish with a time of 3:06.91. The time was thesecond fastest of the year for the team. Arizona State took first in the race with the top collegiate time of the year thus far, 3:02.81, while Baylor clocked in at 3:02.82.
The women's 1,600-meter relay ran in the finals after winning their heat in Friday's preliminaries. The team of Evans, Fry, Karletha Cook (Dallas, Texas) and Sibley raced to a fourth-place finish in a time of 3:38.98.
In field events, Chad Pharis (Vernon, Texas) tied for fourth with a height of 6-feet, 10.75-inches, Clifton Eddington (Dallas, Texas) hop, skipped and jumped to a distance of 48'-8" and Young recorded an eighth-place throw of 189'-10" in the hammer throw. Olivia Clardy (Abilene, Texas) was the lone female to compete in a field event on the final day as she posted a mark of 165'-5" in the hammer throw.
The Red Raider track and field teams will compete at the Red Raider Open next weekend as a final tune up before the Big 12 Championships in Austin, Texas.
