April 23, 2010
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DES MOINES, Iowa -- It was still a little too early to get the full effect of the “Relays Under the Lights” session Friday evening.
While the lights above Drake Stadium had yet to take hold, the Wisconsin men’s track and field team was shining on the track.
The Badgers put a cap on Wisconsin's day of competition at the 101st Drake Relays with a runner-up finish in the 4x200-meter relay as part of the evening session.
Three-fourths of the squad that set a school record in the event three weeks ago at the Florida Relays hit the track again at Drake, with sophomore Grant Bughman joining record-holders Gavin Robertson, Kyle Jefferson and James Groce.
This quartet fell short of the record but posted the third-fastest time in school history at 1:24.48 on their way to runner-up honors. There was no catching Baylor -- always a force in the sprints at Drake -- as the Bears went on to claim their fourth-consecutive title in the event with a time of 1:21.64.
Big Ten rivals Illinois (1:25.21) and Ohio State (1:25.54) claimed the third and fourth spots.
The 4x200 wasn’t the only relay in which the Badgers came close to earning a victory lap, however.
Despite a 4:01 anchor carry by senior Craig Miller, UW settled for a third-place finish in the men's 4x1600-meter relay.
Even in driving rain, Miller's anchor helped the Badgers clock in at 16:29.57, the sixth-fastest time in school history and the best mark by a Badgers team since 1982.
Still, it was only good enough for third as Ohio State's Jeff See won a drag race to the finish with Notre Dame's Jeremy Rae. The Buckeyes took the win in 16:25.42 with Notre Dame second in 16:25.57.
The Badgers led a good portion of the race after lead leg Ryan Gasper put them out front midway with his opening carry of 4:10. Gasper closed the final 800 meters in an impressive 1:56 before passing to redshirt freshman Rob Finnerty with the Badgers in the lead.
Finnerty kept them there, running a split of 4:06 for his 1,600 meters before handing the baton to freshman Drew Shields.
Shields and Notre Dame's Daniel Clark continued the two-team breakaway at the front, but the chase pack soon chewed into their 30-meter gap on the field. By the time Shields passed to Miller after a 4:10 split, the Badgers were in a battle for fourth.
Miller picked off a couple of spots and blazed to a 4:01 split, but Rae broke away for a sizeable lead that See only could erase with a dead sprint over the final 100 meters.
Senior Rayme Mackinson, the only other Badger to compete in an event final Friday, used a leap of 23 feet, 6 inches to grab a fifth-place finish in the men’s long jump.
The mark came on Mackinson’s final attempt of the event trials and pushed him into the finals, but he was unable to improve on the performance over his final three jumps.
Senior Nate Larkin, looking to build on his third-place finish in the event at last year’s Drake Relays, qualified fourth-fastest for the finals of the 110-meter hurdles with his preliminary time of 14.54 seconds.
The performance easily won Larkin his prelims section and puts him into the finals against a pair of familiar foes in Illinois’ Andrew Riley and Michigan State’s Shane Wells. Riley finished just ahead of Larkin in the runner-up spot last year at Drake, while Wells was just behind him in fourth.
Larkin also contributed to the Badgers’ effort in the prelims of the 4x100-meter relay Friday morning. He led off the UW effort, which also included freshman Gavin Robertson, senior James Groce and junior Kyle Jefferson.
The foursome clocked in at 41.42 to narrowly miss a spot in the finals, finishing 10th-fastest in the field.
The Badgers return to action for the final day of the Drake Relays on Saturday morning, with the women's 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay on tap at 8:20 a.m. The men's shuttle hurdle relay -- in which the Badgers are defending champs -- follows at 8:43 a.m.
