UA track team wins 2 titles at Drake Relays
Overcast skies and gusty winds failed to slow down the UA track team at the 90th annual Drake Relays as the Wildcats won two relay titles this weekend.
"We're really happy with how the meet went," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "Arizona has always been one of the more dominant teams at the meet and this time we were also successful."
The men's distance medley team of Abdi Abdirahman, Patrick Nduwimana, Micheil Jones and Matt Lea won the event with a time of 9 minutes, 40.31 seconds in front of a crowd of about 20,000.
The second relay title belonged to the women's sprint medley team of Brianna Glenn, Nicole Thomas, Carolyn Jackson and Shanna Griffin. The squad finished the event with a time of 3:48.57.
The women's 4x800-meters relay team set a new school record of 8:44.24 in the event. The school record placed the Wildcat team of Danielle Price, Erin Doherty, Cara Cline and Shanna Griffin second in the race.
"On the track we did very well," Murray said. "We came out with a couple of victories and I'm pleased with our performance."
Other notable performances included Tara Chaplin's season-best 16:26.52 in the 5,000m, which was good enough for a third place finish and an NCAA provisional qualifying time.
Junior Jeff Dutoit, vaulting in an invitational field of professional and collegiate competitors, placed seventh overall with a mark of 17-feet, 3/4-inches, which was the top collegiate mark in the competition.
The Wildcats will resume competition May 1 in Tempe in a tri-meet with Northern Arizona and host Arizona State.
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