Track and Field Wraps Up 110th Drake Relays
Apr 27, 2019
DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Dubuque track and field teams competed in seven events on Saturday to wrap up the 110th Drake Relays.
The men’s distance relay team of Heitter, Klose, Rumple md Biechler hit the track bright and early on Saturday morning. The relay sat in 10th after the opening 1200m, after the 400m portion they fell back to 11th but jumped back up to 10th after the 800 leg, where they would stay finish in a time of 10:38.40.
Rebecca Burmahl was the first of the UD throwers on Saturday, launching her first throw of the hammer throw 47.15/154-8. After scratching on her second toss, Burmahl threw her best throw of the morning at 49.56/162-7 to place 22nd overall amongst division one competition.
Both the women’s and men’s 4x200 teams put up impressive performances on Saturday morning , both coming away with top 11 finishes against competition from all NCAA divisions and NAIA schools. The women’s team of Ailes-Primes, Beeman and Skrove raced around the track in a time of 1:42.17, breaking the school record by over two seconds to finish 11th out of 26 teams that started the relay. On the men’s side, the squad of Steed, Ellis, Kutsch and Boysen posted a 10th place finish overall. The Spartans blazed around the track to finish 1:28.61, less than a second behind the fifth place finisher.
Blaze Murfin competed in two events on Saturday, beginning the day with the discus. Murfin gradually improved his first three throws going, 48.33/158-6, 51.83/170-0 and 53.01/173-11. His third and final throw was good enough to lift him into the final nine, but he would not improve on his mark in the finals and finished eighth, behind six division one throwers and one junior college.
Murfin wrapped up his trifecta with the hammer throw in the afternoon. Murfin began with a bang, launching the hammer 58.62/192-4, putting him in ninth place from the start. He would not improve upon his first mark after a throw of 56.17m/184-3 and a fault and would fall back to 11th place after the first wave of throwers and would only fall one spot after the next way to finish 12th. His throw of 58.62m/192-4 is a new school record.
The women’s shuttle hurdle team took the track in the first of four heats. The team of Burks, Eniola, Vaultonburg and Johnson would complete the relay in 1:05.00, finishing second in the heat and 10th overall out of 15 relay teams.
