RESULTS | DAY ONE RECAP | DAY TWO RECAP
DES MOINES, Iowa - Augustana closed their trip to the Drake Relays with an automatic qualifying performance from senior
Kyle Blakeslee and the women's 4x400-meter relay team broke the school record for the second straight day.
Blakeslee already owned a top-15 qualifying time, but the Cannon Falls, Minn. native improved her mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and is now one of three automatic qualifiers in the event. As the only Division II competitor in the field, Blakeslee finished fourth in a time of 10:23.84, just seconds shy of the Augustana record she set two years ago at the Drake Relays.
With the new Augustana women's 4x400-meter relay record just over 24 years old, the Viking quartet shaved off over a second and a half to nearly ensure a bid to the NCAA Championships.
Carina Hofmeister,
Anne Parsley,
Colleen Everson, and
Kayla Mescher clocked a 3:45.19 to finish fifth and find themselves just outside a top-10 spot on the Division II performance list.
The men's sprint medley relay team won their heat but fell just short of capturing another title for the Vikings as they took third.
Justin Greenway and
Jason Greenway opened the Vikings with the 200-meter legs and
Skyler Kuil gained some ground in the 400-meter portion, but he was boxed in and couldn't move the Vikings up the field.
took the baton for the final 800 meters and after a lap of jockeying for position he broke free and carried the Vikings to the heat win in a final time of 3:25.51. Iowa Western won the first heat and held on for the victory as they snuck ahead of Augustana and Lincoln (Mo.) by less than a second.
The women's 4x800-meter relay team raced to a seventh-place finish on Saturday morning.
Emma Anderson,
Charissa Etrheim,
Cassidy Soli, and
Kaitlyn Yoerg finished in 9:19.55 for their only action of day three.
CJ Ham's day didn't go as planned when the junior took to the circle to compete in the collegiate shot put. Ham scratched in all three of his attempts, failing to make the final and staying in search of his first qualifying mark of the outdoor season.
In action away from the Drake Relays on Friday, Augustana sent athletes to the Kip Janvrin Invitational in nearby Indianola, Iowa where they collected a slew of qualifying marks.
In all, the Vikings put together six qualifying performances, including a sweep of the top four in the men's 5,000-meter run.
Nathan Hauge edged
Jordan Slusser for the men's 5k Kip Janvrin title, clocking a 14:29.35, just 0.22 seconds faster than Slusser and etched his name as the meet record holder for the 5k.
Keegan Carda joined in for the third provisional qualifying mark by running his 5,000 meters in 14:38.40.
Glen Ellingson missed the provisional standard by less than 0.2 seconds with his fourth-place time of 14:40.19.
Adam Braun improved his 3,000-meter steeplechase qualifying mark by a dozen seconds, winning the Kip Janvrin Title by nearly half a minute in 9:12.86, a new meet record.
Henrik Hansson turned in a season-best 1:51.97 to win the 800-meter run and earn his first NCAA-provisional qualifying time.
Kelsey Kaufmann raced over from the Drake Relays with hopes of improving her provisional mark, but she equaled her qualifying clearance of 1.68 meters (5-6) to take secondj after just clipping the bar on her attempt at 1.73 meters (5-8).
The Vikings are back in action in Sioux Falls next weekend as they will compete in the Howard Wood Relays on March 2 and 3 at Howard Wood Field.
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