DES MOINES, Iowa - The Lincoln women's track and field team won one event and picked up four other top-three results while competing in the prestigious Drake Relays.
The three-day event, which routinely features many of the top athletes in the country at all levels of competition, was hosted by Drake University from Thursday through Saturday.
The Blue Tigers' victory came in the 4x800-meter college relay, as the foursome of Willomena Williams, Jhevere Hall, Ebony Rose and Monique Thompson won in 8:57.14.
The Blue Tigers also finished second in the 4x100-meter college relay in 45.26 with the team of Keja Christie, Yanique Ellington, Kimberly Bailey and Janae Johnson. That same foursome also competed in the 4x200-meter college relay, taking second place with a time of 1:37.18.
Lincoln also finished second in the 4x400-meter college relay, as the team of Hall, Thompson, Williams and Lovan Palmer clocked in at 3:42.03.
The Blue Tigers took third in the 1,600-meter college sprint medley, with Johnson, Ellington, Palmer and Thompson finishing in 4:00.89.
The only individual entry of the meet for the Blue Tigers was in the university/college 100-meter hurdles, as Ladonna Richards finished 10th in preliminaries with a time of 13.93.
The Lincoln men captured the title in the 4x200-meter college relay with the team of Miguel Barton, Roger Blake, Wesley Best and Romone Hill in 1:25.57.
Best, Blake and Hill teamed with Jakiel David to finish eighth in the 4x100-meter college relay in a time of 42.08.
Jeromia Riley just missed placing in an individual event, as he finished ninth in the unseeded university/college 800-meter run in 1:51.85.
Up next for Lincoln is the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which will take place Friday through Sunday at Lindenwood University.
III
While most members of the men's and women's teams traveled to the Drake Relays, a few Blue Tigers went to Joplin to compete in the Williams/Laptad Invite hosted by Missouri Southern State University on Friday.
Darran Hunter highlighted the day for the Lincoln men with a win in the 400-meter hurdles in 55.00. Alva Henry came in fourth, clocking in at 55.54.
Hunter also finished fourth in the preliminaries of the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.82, but did not run in the finals.
Owen Smith placed seventh in the triple jump, finishing with a distance of 45-2 1/4, while Sedeekie Edie was eighth with a mark of 44-11 1/2. Hampton Mayson finished eighth in the javelin at 141-6.
Jonelle Campbell led the Lincoln women by finishing second in the triple jump with a leap of 39-1.
Nadia Harriott finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (14.53) and seventh in the 400-meter hurdles (1:08.38).
In addition, Lincoln's Adewumi Ademuwagun placed seventh in the long jump (17-10 3/4).
Also in the women's portion of the event, Missouri Southern's Melanie Bower (Linn High School) tied for second in the pole vault (11-11 3/4) and Kezia Martin (Jefferson City High School) was fourth in the triple jump (38-10 1/4).
Missouri Southern's Allie Heckemeyer (St. Elizabeth High School) finished fifth in the javelin (84-0) and was a member of the Lions' 4x400-meter relay team that took second (4:05.56), and teammate Miranda Hill (Russellville High School) was seventh in the 1,500-meter run (5:06.67).
Katlyn Meier (Vienna High School) was part of Missouri S&T's 4x100-meter relay team that took fourth (49.08).
On the men's side, Missouri Southern's Tom Zeilman (Fatima High School) was fourth in the 800-meter run (1:55.47) and Missouri S&T's John Karsten (Blair Oaks High School) was seventh in the discus (152-1) and seventh in the hammer throw (155-0).