Northwestern College announces Women’s 4x400 Runs a Season-Best Time at Drake Relays
From April 30, 2023 post.
DES MOINES, Iowa – The 113th Drake Relays would see the Raiders yet again arrive to run at the Blue Oval this outdoor season. The two-day meet would have the men running the 4x100m prelims as well as the 4x400m prelims on Friday, with men's long jump, men's javelin, and women's high jump on Saturday, with the potential relay finals on Saturday as well.
The first contested event up for the Raider women would be the 4x400m relay on Friday afternoon. The relay would start with Savonne Sterk, but a little jumpiness from Sterk in the blocks would get the race recalled seconds after it started. Getting a green card from the officials, signaling everything was alright, Sterk would get back into the blocks for her start. Clean the second time, Sterk would race around the track on her way to handoff to Abigail Clarke. Clarke, leaving a touch early would still make the handoff clean coming from Sterk, as she made her way through the second of 4 legs of the relay. Clarke would make up a ton of ground on the competitors, making a signifigant impact in the final 50 meters of her leg. A great handoff to Emma Blum put the Raiders neck-and-neck with their next closest competitor in the field. Blum, deciding that being just behind her competition wasn't an option, so around the first turn she turned up her speed and passed her competitor, leading the Raiders into 3rd place of their heat. Blum would hand off to Kennedy Kramer for the final 400m of the relay. Kramer would take Blums lead and extend on it, pulling away from 4th place the longer she ran. Kramer finished the team in 3rd place in their heat, 12th place overall, with the relay's best time of the season of 3:58.47. This time is just off of the NAIA Provisional Mark of 3:57.00.
The second and final competition for the women was Jacie Vander Waal in the high jump on Saturday afternoon. Vander Waal received assistance by one of her teammates well before she jumped as she misplaced her safety pins which are required to put her competitor number on her jersey. Saved with plenty of time to space, Vander Waal made her way to the high jump pad as the rain and wind started picking up and the temps started dropping. Unphased by the climate, she took her warmup jumps and got ready for the competition. The bar was very unforgiving as it took her three attempts to get over her first height of 1.58m or 5' 2.25". The second height would be the end of the comptetion for Vander Waal as she would be unable to keep the bar on the standards at 1.63m. Vander Waal has previously this year already hit the NAIA Provisional Mark of 1.65m or 5' 5" and is tied for 10th in the nation.
Raider Results
4x400m Relay
- Prelims:
- Savonne Sterk, Abigail Clarke, Emma Blum, Kennedy Kramer 3:58.47 – 12th
High Jump
- Jacie Vander Waal 1.58m – 17th
1.58 1.63
XXO XXX
Raider Rankings in the NAIA:
- High Jump – 10th at 1.65m
Up Next: NWC's Men's and Women's Track and Field teams will be competeing at the Great Plains Atheltic Conference (GPAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championship will be held in Sioux Center, Iowa on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6.
Original source can be found here.