Relay team wins at Drake Relays

Freshman sprinter Brown gets set in the blocks during practice Thursday afternoon at O'Brien Stadium. (Danny Damiani/The Daily Eastern News)

Champions. 

It has been 18 years since an Eastern track and field athlete has won at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. 

The Eastern men's 1,600-meter sprint medley did that on Saturday, winning the event in 3 minutes, 16.89 seconds as Eastern sophomore Sean Wiggan chased down Iowa sophomore Erik Sowinski and Wisconsin junior Luke Rucks in the final 200 meters.

Wiggan let Rucks and Sowinski lead through the first 600 meters, but was able to pass both competitors. Wiggan passed Rucks in about the final 100 meters, and Wiggan passed Sowinski in the final 50 meters.

"My goal was to come in second at first," Wiggan said. "I saw Iowa was right there."

We can go for the gold, Wiggan told himself.

Wiggan knew his teammates, senior Marcus Williams, red-shirt sophomore Zye Boey and junior Darren Patterson, would keep him in the race.

Williams handed off to Wiggan in about first place after running 400 meters. Patterson and Boey had made much of the stagger in their 200-meter parts of the race. 

"I really wanted to win the race," Wiggan said.

Eastern head coach Tom Akers could tell from the stands Wiggan could win it when he saw the body language of Wisconsin and Iowa runners started to shorten their strides and bodies straighten up.

"(Wiggan) looked a like million bucks coming around the turn," Akers said.

After winning, the relay team took a victory lap around the track.

Wiggan was a little bit tired, but the lap was well worth it.

"I was excited to be in front of so many fans," Wiggan said. "It was just a good feeling.

I've been feeling great. It was about time for me to pop a big one. We've been doing all great things. I knew it was time."

According to Drake sports information, this is the fourth-best time in the country this year.

The last set of Eastern athletes to win an event at the Drake Relays was former NCAA champion Dan Steele. He won the 400-meter hurdles in 1992 in 51.44 seconds, and the Panthers also won the 440-meter men's shuttle hurdle relay that year in 58.28 seconds. The Eastern men's track and field program has only won seven events at the Drake Relays. That number is now up to eight.

Last year, Boey and Williams were the returning runners from this event as that group finished third at the Drake Relays in 3:22.78.

Boey said being third last year was a huge indicator of how good the team was going to be in the event this year. 

Boey said he probably jumped about three feet in the air after winning.

"It's a pretty big accomplishment," he said.

Wiggan said the relay team also knew it had a good chance of winning from indication from former Eastern runner Nick Kuczwara, who now competes at Iowa and told Wiggan the Iowa team would give Eastern a strong race.

This year's sprint medley relay team also broke a school record that was set in 1987 at the Drake Relays in 3:20.72.

"I felt like we did something important," Wiggan said.

In other action at the Drake Relays, the Eastern men's and women's 3,200-meter relay teams set school records on Friday.

The men's relay team finished fourth with a school record finishing in 7:19.89. The relay team included seniors Jason Springer, David Holm, Wes Sheldon and Wiggan. Wiggan and Sheldon are already part of the men's indoor 1,600-meter relay record.

The women's 3,200-meter relay team finished sixth in 8:56.15. Sophomore Erika Foltys, senior Meghan Carney, senior Erin O'Grady and red-shirt sophomore Megan Gingerich beat the previous school record set earlier this season at the Big Blue Classic. Foltys, Carney and O'Grady were part of the team that ran that relay in 9:28.52. 

Senior Sean Hopkins finished with an Eastern career best in the decathlon finishing with 6,651 points finishing 14th. This is the sixth-best mark in program history. Hopkins run completed three Eastern career bests with a 51.57 seconds in the 400-meter dash, a throw of 162 feet, 2 inches in the javelin and ran 4:58.30 in the 1,500-meter run.

Eastern also set school records in the women's distance medley relay and the women's 1,600-sprint medley relay. Freshman Jamiee Roy, sophomore Olivia Klaus, junior Andrea Fabiano and O'Grady ran the distance medley relay in 11:55.10 to finish 14th. Senior Shawana Smith, sophomore Emily Quiones, Carney and Gingerich set the school record with a 15th-place finish in 3:59.37.

The men's distance medley relay finished eighth at the Drake Relays, but now ranks second all-time in program history finishing in 9:51.20. Holm, Sheldon, Springer and junior Pat Tortorici comprised this relay.

In other track events, Boey added a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter dash. In field events, senior Kandace Arnold finished fifth in the shot put, and sophomore Tyler Carter finished fifth in the long jump.

Eastern also sent athletes to the Illinois State Invitational on Saturday. 

Junior Chad Aubin took first in the 400-meter hurdles and ran a personal best time of 53.02 seconds. Freshman Alyssa Donner matched her Eastern career best with a vault of 10 feet, 6 inches and finished second. Senior Tarra Grant jumped 18 feet, 2.5 inches and finished second. Her mark ranks seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Both Eastern track and field teams return to action at the OVC championships Friday and Saturday in Cookeville, Tenn.

Links for all Eastern winners at Drake Relays
http://data.desmoinesregister.com/sports_data/drake_relays_champions.php?&keyevent=%27&keyathlete=%27&keyteam=%27Eastern%20Illinois&keyyear=%27

Video of winning men's sprint medley relay
http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236860/329367

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.