Relay Teams Shine At Drake Relays
5/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
May 1, 2001
Erica Lankford had a banner day for the Falcons during last Saturday's Jack Christiansen Invitational Track and Field meet hosted by Colorado State University.
The freshman from Luling, Tex. won the triple jump (38'1 ?"), placed second in the 100- meter hurdles (14.51) and fifth in the long jump (17' 9 ?"). The hurdle time is the second fastest in school history and the long jump mark ranks seventh on the school's all-time list.
In the 800-meters, junior Elissa Ballas set a personal best (2:19.58) to finish third. Senior Ana Maria Ortega, competing after a month-long hiatus due to a stress fracture in her foot, broke her own school record in the pole vault by a quarter inch with a vault of 11'6".
"I was very pleased with our women's performance," Lindeman said. "I thought they competed very well at this meet. I wish I could say the same thing about our men's performance. I was disappointed with their showing."
CSU defeated the Falcons in 13 of 17 events, including both relays plus taking the top three spots in five events. The lone bright spots came in the pole vault and the decathlon. In the vault, sophomore Paul Goossen was the top collegiate vaulter with a mark of 16'0". Sophomore Nick Herald tallied 6,163 points--the ninth-best score in school history--to finish first in the decathalon competition.
The only male competitors that received praise from Lindeman were the small contingent that traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to compete in the Drake Relays. The 4x1600-meter relay team of Joe Lopez, Ben Payne, Jim Blech and Brian Carpenter posted the fourth-fastest time in school history with a clocking of 17:20.89. In the 4x200-meter relay, the team of Nick Bromberek, Tyler Paige, Marc Fulson and Luke Marker posted a time of 1:27.59, which also ranks as the fourth fastest in Academy history.
This week the team returns to Ft. Collins to compete in a triangular against Colorado State and Colorado. Field events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with the first running event scheduled for 11 a.m.
