April 26, 2004

Bulldog Track Competes At Three Meets, Including the Drake Relays

The Bulldog men's and women's track field teams were spread around last weekend at three different meets, including the top Truman runners competing at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

Alan Heincker (Dittmer, Mo./Grandview) was the lone male athlete to run at the Drake Relays for Truman. He finished fifth out of 29 runners, many from NCAA Division I schools, in the 10,000m race. He ran a time of 30:17.20, well under the NCAA provisional mark of 31:20.00.

Christina Winkler (High Ridge, Mo./Northwest) led the women's squad at the Drake Relays, including a fourth-place finish in the 400m hurdles. Winkler set a school record and just missed a NCAA automatic mark in the event when she recorded a time of 59.08. She was the top finisher in the race from a non-Division I program. Winkler also just missed out of qualifying for the 100m hurdles final when she ran a time of 14.11 in prelims, which was the 11th fastest-time.

Winkler also ran a leg on both of the Bulldogs' two relay teams at the Drake Relays. The 4x400 team, which consisted of Winkler, Sara Jessen (Brookfield, Mo./Brookfield), Candice Hoskins (Grandview, Mo./Grandview) and Candi Jones (Oskaloosa, Iowa/Oskaloosa) qualified for the finals with a time of 3:48.90 and then ran a season-best, NCAA provisional time of 3:46.82 in the finals, which placed them in third in the college division race. The sprint medley team of Winkler, Jessen, Jones and Leah Zidon (Bondurant, Iowa/Bondurant-Farrar) finished second in the college division of its race with a time of 4:02.58.

Lauren White (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) competed in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Drake Relays and came in eighth overall with a NCAA provisional time of 11:09.91.

The rest of the Bulldogs women's squad competed at the Simpson Twilight Open on Friday. The team's distance runners had the best showings as Jacquie Faust (St. Louis/Cor Jesu Academy) won the 10,000m race in a time of 39:17.66 and Abbie Smith (Urbandale, Iowa/Dowling) was runner-up in the 5,00m race with a time of 18:23.69.

In the field events, Lainie Bohnsack (Cape Girardeau, Mo./Central) was third in the high jump and thrower Bridgette Carpenter (Tebbetts, Mo./Jefferson City) was third in the discus and fourth in the shot put.

Several members of the men's track team ran in the SIU-Edwardsville Twilight Open on Saturday. James Walton (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale South) and Eli Klimek (Platte City, Mo./Platte County) brought home first-place titles. Walton won the long jump event with a mark of 23-7.25 and Klimek was first in the 5,000m run with a time of 14:51.20.

Josh Mayson (Mexico, Mo./Mexico) had a pair of top-five finishes, coming in third in the 100m and fifth in the 200m. Richard Mayson (Mexico, Mo./Mexico) was third in the 110m hurdles and Steve Porath (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) came in fifth in the 3,000m steeplechase.

This upcoming weekend, the Truman men's team will be in action at the Missouri Southern Invitational and the women's squad will be at the Western Illinois Invitational. Next Sunday and Monday (May 2-3), Truman will host the MIAA Combined Events competitions.

Men's Track & Field | Women's Track & Field | Truman Athletics