Track & Field Women Win Hy-Vee Cup At Drake Relays

DES MOINES, Iowa - For the second time in three years, the Baylor women’s track and field team earned the Hy-Vee Cup on the final day of the Drake Relays Saturday at Drake Stadium.

After winning the 2014 Hy-Vee Cup with 38 points, the Bears tallied 26 points this year to tie for the title with the Texas Longhorns.

The Hy-Vee Cup, which was created in 2013, goes to the team with the best combined finishes in five relay events, the 4x100, 4x400, 4x800, distance medley and sprint medley, at the meet.

On Friday, the BU women won the 4x800-meter race to give them an opportunity to go for the crown on Saturday.

Weather again played a major part in the action as rain and temperatures in the 40s made things difficult for BU’s athletes.

Things did not start out well for the women in the first race of the day as freshman Taylor Bennett pulled up with an injury in the sprint medley relay. 

BU racked up eight points towards its Hy-Vee Cup finish by placing second in the distance medley relay in 11:16.71. That time recorded by Maggie Montoya, Olicia Williams, Jessica Purtell and Chelsea Orr is third-best in the country for 2016 and the fifth-best mark in school history.

With Bennett’s injury, both the lineups from the 4x100 and 4x400 relays were altered.

In the 4x1 race, the crew of Kiana Horton, Ashley Fields, Juanita Mainoo and Justise Dayries raced to a third-place finish in 45.78 to build a 24-18 advantage over Texas in the Hy-Vee Cup standings. 

However in the final race of the day, the quarter mile relay of Kiana Hawn, Dayries, Williams and Horton ran a 3:38.92 to place seventh giving the Bears its final point tally of 26. UT’s second-place finish in the 4x4 event gave the Longhorns eight points to also give them 26 points as well.

In the men’s 4x400-meter relay final, the Bears placed second with a time of 3:06.95. That mark was achieved by the quartet of Brandon Moore, Wil London, Caleb Dickson and George Caddick.

The weather forced the pole vault competition indoors and junior Annie Rhodes capitalized on the venue change as she set a Drake Relays record with a clearance of 14-5.25 [4.40m]. She broke the record set by Natalie Willer of Nebraska in 2009. The attempt also ties for the second-best in BU history.

As the rain was at its heaviest, Rachel Toliver produced a title in the triple jump with a top attempt of 41-10.75 [12.77m]. The BU junior notched her top jump on her second attempt of the day.

OTHER NOTABLES

·         Freshman Antwuan Musgrove set a personal-best in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.14 to be 14th.