University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Men Win Two Drake Relays Titles
4/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Minnesota junior Aaron Studt defended his shot put title and the Golden Gophers’ 4x1,600-meter relay captured gold at the 100th Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.
Studt landed his winning throw of 61 feet, 5 3/4 inches on his fifth attempt. After fouling his first attempt of the preliminary round, Studt took the lead in the second round and never trailed.
The 4x1,600-meter relay did not disappoint as the Drake Relays crowd enjoy a great battle between two teams with successful traditions in cross country and distance running. Minnesota edged Stanford by just six-hundreds of a second (.06) in breaking the tape in 16 minutes, 29.74 seconds. All-American Hassan Mead led off the relay and was followed by Andy Richardson, All-American Chris Rombough and Ben Blankenship. Stanford finished in 16:29.85.
Minnesota now has won 49 Drake Relays titles.
Sophomore Brock Spandl cleared a season-best 17-0 3/4 in the pole vault to tie for sixth place. Missed attempts decided third place through eighth as six vaulters cleared the height of 17-0 3/4.
Ibrahim Kabia was unsuccessful in his bid to defend his Drake Relays title in the 100-meter dash. Kabia ran a time of 10.80 seconds in the prelims and did not advance to Saturday’s final. Kabia was also a member of the Gophers’ 4x100-meter relay that also was unable to move past the prelims, running a time of 41.05. Joining Kabia on the relay was Sayfe Jassim, Sean King and Blake Bowers.
Drake Relays Notes & Quotes
Minnesota ran the nation’s fastest men’s 4x1,600 relay time in 2009 at 16:29.74
Hassan Mead, sophomore, Minnesota, first leg of winning university-college men’s 4x1600 relay.
He ran 4:10.2. Team ran 16:29.74, best in nation this year. Gophers beat Stanford by .11
seconds.
``It was windy and I didn’t want to block it out (for the other runners) so I kind of relaxed back and
after the first 800 meters the race moved on, so I just went out. Hopefully at the end I’d give Andy
somewhat of a lead. It wasn’t much of a lead, but at least I handed off at the top. And that was our
goal. I didn’t want to be too far behind.’’
Did you think this might happen
``Wisconsin was in there, us and having Stanford, it wasn’t going to be easy. The winner was going
to have to basically run their guts out and that’s what we did. Especially being the 100th Drake
Relays, it’s something special. To win it was even more special.’’
Andy Richardson, freshman, Minnesota, second leg winning 4x1600 relay. He ran 4:11.1.
``When I got it, I knew the other guys were right there, so I was hopefully going to try to let them
block the wind for a bit, but the Stanford guy (Hakon Devries) took off pretty far, so I ended up
pushing against the wind the whole time anyway. When it came down to the end, I didn’t want to let
our team get out of race. I knew we had two really good strong runners at the end, so I just wanted
to finish hard and put Chris in a good position.’’
Chris Rombough, senior, Minnesota, third leg winning 4x1600 relay. He ran 4:07.1.
``I got the baton right next to the Stanford guy (Chris Derrick). I didn’t want to take the lead,
obviously, because of the wind, but about 700 in it was going a little slow and I knew we could pick it
up a little, so I pushed it and eventually opened up a little bit of a gap, enough for Ben to hold off the
Stanford anchor (Elliott Heath).’’
Ben Blakenship, sophomore, Minnesota, anchor winning 4x1600 relay. He ran 4:01.4.
``It was just up to these guys to get me in position and from there I was supposed to take it home. It
worked out really well. These guys ran great legs. I was in the lead from the git-go. I knew Stanford
was there. I raced Elliott in high school and knew he was a great athlete. So it just came down to
another mile.’’
Does it help knowing the guy you ran against
``I knew he was great in high school, so it was like, this isn’;t going to be an easy race. I know his
strength and weaknesses. He still ran a great leg.’’
How big was this win and having the fastest time in the nation
``We’re stoked. That’s pretty promising.’’
On holding off Heath
``The the first lap, I couldn’t really see until we got to the backstretch how close he really was. I was
able to peek up at the television screen and he was sitting right there. Coming down the
homestretch, I tried to move out to see if he wanted to do a little work, but I guess we were all
running into the wind. It was just tough..’’
Aaron Studt, junior, Minnesota, winner men’s university-college shot put, 61-5 (18.74M).
Won at Drake in 2008 with a throw of 60-8 (18.49M)
The competition
“It was kind of an interesting day. It was a nice day to throw, it was just that a lot of people were not
on their A-game today. I’m just glad to be here at this meet and at this atmosphere. It’s an awesome
feeling seeing these awesome athletes. I am very happy to be here.”
On his winning throw
“It’s early in the season. My best indoors is 19.36 (meters) and Nationals will be a great place to do
that. I’m still adjusting to the outdoor shot and the outdoor experience. Coming from Minnesota we
have had a lot of cold, outside practice days. I’m hoping for bigger throws come the Big Ten meet.”
Players Mentioned
