June 9, 2011

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DES MOINES, Iowa -- True to her nature, Egle Staisiunaite walked off the track somewhat disappointed on Wednesday.

That quality of never being satisfied probably had a lot to do with the fact that the University of Wisconsin senior put together such a satisfying close to her career.

Staisiunaite continued the trend of saving her best for last Wednesday night, racing to a personal-best time in her NCAA championships debut -- and her final race in a Badgers uniform.

She opened the Badgers' four-day schedule at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships by finishing her circuit of Drake Stadium in the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles in 58.37 seconds.

"It was my best race ever," Staisiunaite said. "I felt loose, I only had one bad hurdle and it was a really good race."

The performance lowered Staisiunaite's lifetime-best mark in the event for the second-consecutive meet and placed her 19th overall in the 24-person NCAA field. Miami's Ti'erra Brown posted the fastest qualifying time for Friday's final at 55.59, with the slowest mark to advance the 56.49 recorded by Texas A&M's Andrea Sutherland.

Still, despite her strong run, the humble Staisiunaite was striving for more.

"It's a PR and it's my first time at the NCAA," she said. "I'm really happy to be here, but my goal was to run under 58 (seconds)."

In less than a month's time, Staisiunaite scored in four events at the Big Ten championships, set UW's school record in the 100-meter hurdles (13.45), qualified for the NCAA championships and twice lowered her personal-best mark in the 400 hurdles -- a time that ranks No. 2 all-time at UW.

In the end, the performance continued Staisiuanite's trend of constantly improving throughout her four-year career -- which included NCAA regional or preliminary round berths each season.

"I really wanted to run in the 57s, but we'll see," she said. "Maybe I'll get another chance, but just not at Wisconsin."

As Staisiunaite closed her career, Alex Brill began his NCAA championships career in the semifinals of the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The redshirt freshman clocked in at 9 minutes, 6.35 seconds to finish 11th in his heat and 22nd overall in the 24-man field. Louisville's Matt Hughes was the fastest semifinalist at 8:40.04, with an 8:50.00 the final time to advance to Friday's final.

Brill, who ran 8:58.60 to finish fourth at the Drake Relays in his previous appearance at Drake Stadium, was disappointed with his time but pleased with the progress he showed in his rookie season.

"Being the only freshman in this field gives me confidence," Brill said. "It wasn't the race I was looking for today, but nothing but confidence comes out of making the NCAA championships."

He scored for the Badgers at the Big Ten championships with a seventh-place finish in the steeplechase and then raced his way into the national meet with his personal-best run of 8:52.23 two weeks ago at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

"Going back to Big Tens and scoring, that was my No. 1 goal, being a contributor to the team," he said, "and obviously making nationals is a huge goal to get accomplished."

The NCAA championships continue Thursday, with the Badgers competing sophomore Dorcas Akinniyi and junior Jessica Flax in the women's heptathlon at 1 p.m., junior Monika Jakutyte in the women's high jump at 5:30 p.m. and sophomore Maverick Darling in the men's 10,000 meters at 8:50 p.m.