Jenny Owens April 25, 2008

Dutch eighth in relay at Drake

DES MOINES—Central College qualified for the finals of the men’s college division 4x400-meter relay at the Drake Relays Friday.

The unit of Matt Patrick (sophomore, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS), Alex Miller (sophomore, Adel, Van Meter HS), Jake Contri (sophomore, Elk Grove Village, Ill.) and Guy Dierikx (senior, Port Byron, Ill, Riverdale HS) won the first heat in 3:16.64. That was the seventh-fastest time overall and topped the provisional-qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III meet. Central advances to the finals set for 5:26 p.m. Saturday.

The women’s foursome of Jenny Owens (senior, Treynor), Kari Hutchinson (senior, Charles City), Jill Ziskovsky (freshman, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) and Emily Teas (freshman, Indianola) finished eighth in the 4x200-meter relay in 1:45.17, just off the 1979 school mark of 1:44.9.

Teas, Hutchinson, Ziskovsky and Rachelle Tipton (sophomore, Newton) were hoping to turn in an NCAA Division III meet-qualifying effort in the 4x400-meter relay but came up short despite placing second in their heat in 3:57.15. They were 11th overall out of the 33 teams entered.

Saturday at 9:44 a.m., Mitch Morris (sophomore, Naples, Fla., Barron Collier HS), Zac Bailey (senior, Okoboji), Dierikx and Miller will run the sprint medley relay. All-American Jason Fisher (senior, Montezuma) competes in the combined university/college hammer throw at 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

The remainder of the Dutch squad will compete in the Kip Janvrin Open at Indianola Friday night. With a record field of more than 1,800 entries from 52 colleges and universities, the meet is not scheduled to conclude until early Saturday morning.