Wisconsin Badgers
Drake Relays
Hurdlers pick up pace on final day of Drake Relays
April 24, 2010 | Women's Track & Field
April 24, 2010
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DES MOINES, Iowa -- Whether individually or as a team, Saturday afternoon at the Drake Relays went very well for Wisconsin's women's hurdlers.
The 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay team took a fourth-place finish in the event, as the quartet of sophomore Jessica Flax, senior Jenny Soceka, freshman Dorcas Akinniyi and junior Egle Staisiunaite ran a school-record time of 56.77 in the afternoon final.
The time was a drop of nearly a second off the previous record set by the foursome -- a 57.53 run at the Florida Relays on April 3.
Saturday's runs -- the prelims and the final -- represented just the third and fourth shuttle hurdle races in school history. Before they ran at the Florida Relays, Wisconsin's only previous run in the event was at the 2008 Sea Ray Relays.
Just 40 minutes anchoring the Badgers' effort in the relay, Staisiunaite returned to the track to run the 400-meter hurdles. She responded with an effort of 59.89 to finish 10th and clock the second sub-1:00 run of her career.
Sophomore teammate Jenna Severson was strong, too, running a personal-best 1:00.65 to finish 16th.
Also on the track, the Badgers ran the third-fastest sprint medley in school history at 3:56.16. That clocking, from the foursome of freshman Jameice DeCoster, senior Alexis Beecham, freshman Brittney Harper and senior Amanda Donath, was good for a 10th-place finish.
Tulsa claimed the win in 3:47.44, with Ohio State second in 3:51.80.
In the field, senior LaQuita Brazil posted a personal-best leap and sophomore Jordan Helgren put up her best mark of the season to grab a pair of top-10 finishes in the women's triple jump.
Brazil had the top mark in her flight with her lifetime-best effort of 40 feet, 7 3/4 inches, but she narrowly missed out on a spot in the finals. Still, the performance moved her up to No. 8 on the Badgers' all-time list in the event.
Helgren did advance to the finals and posted her best attempt of the day on her third and final jump of the trials. She leapt a season-best 41-4 1/2, a mark she did not improve on in the finals, but one that was good enough for seventh place overall.
Freshman Andrea Geubell of Kansas had the winning mark with a leap of 43-11 1/4.
The Badgers will make a return trip to the state of Iowa next weekend, when they compete in the Musco Twilight Invitational in Iowa City on Saturday, May 1. Big Ten Network is scheduled to air the meet on a tape-delay basis.
