Bulldogs Compete At National Relays Meets

April 25, 2004

Junior Victoria Mitchell posted a third place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, to highlight a weekend that saw Butler track athletes competing in the two most prestigious collegiate track and field meets. Head coach Joe Franklin also sent athletes to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa.

Mitchell turned in a strong performance in Iowa with her third place finish in 10:24.81. She trailed only Ida Nilsson of Northern Arizona (9:57.03) and Amber Ferner of Purdue (10:21.85) among the 21 collegiate runners in the event. Mitchell topped her previous best Butler time in the event by eight seconds, and she improved her regional qualifying time.

Butler also had a seventh place finish at Drake in the 4 X 1600 meter relay with a time of 16:56.03. The quartet of Andrew Sherman, John Frazer, Nick Goodliffe and Thomas Frazer finished behind teams from Notre Dame, Colorado State, Air Force, Illinois, Minnesota and Northern Iowa.

The Butler team of Mary Reeves, Brooke Carr, Rholonda Ash and Monica Behney placed 11th in the distance medley relay in a season-best time of 11:57.54, and Behney came in 11th in the 5,000 meter run in a season-best 17:23.97 at the Iowa meet.

Franklin also sent one runner to compete in the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase and three runners to compete in the men's 5,000 meter run at the Penn Relays. Junior Monika Schneider earned a regional qualifying berth with a time of 10:51.13 in the steeplechase. She placed 12th in the championship section of the event. Senior Brad Bennett turned in the best Butler performance in the 5,000 with a 13th place finish in 14:36.23. Senior Brian Dunn placed 23rd in 15:01.39, while senior Bart Phariss came in 26th in 15:05.57.