Flood anchors Huskies to victory in distance medley relay, earning eighth career Drake Relays flag...
DES MOINES, Iowa--Local heroine Katie Flood (left/photo courtesy Drake Relays) put an exclamation mark on her return to the blue oval at Drake Stadium Saturday, as one of the most decorated athletes in Drake Relays history anchored the Washington Huskies to victory in the distance medley relay on the final day of the meet.
Katie Knight, Kayla Stueckle, Eleanor Fulton, and Flood combined to run 11:09.59, almost three seconds ahead of runner-up Baylor (11:12.37), and almost ten seconds up on third place Iowa State (11:19.29).
On the flnal leg, Flood received the baton in third, but ran a 4:37 1600m leg to win going away.
As a side note, the last time Flood anchored a UW distance medley relay team was in 2012, when she helped the Huskies win the NCAA indoor crown in Nampa, Idaho.
Afterwards, Flood, who with this victory, now has eight career Drake Relays wins (6 as a prep, and two at this meet), told the media, "This is a lot of fun, I think everyone reached their top performance today and it's always a fun team to celebrate with.”
When asked about competing on the track she called home as a prep at Dowling Catholic, she said. “It’s always a great feeling, I am very lucky to get that opportunity and come back to my home track, I’m appreciative of doing so well here.”
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| The winning UW DMR team (from left) Katie Knight, Katie Flood, Kayla Stueckle & Eleanor Fulton (photo courtesy Drake Relays) |
In addition to her eight career Drake Relays titles, Flood has won several Iowa state track crowns, as well as the 2012 NCAA 1500 title at Drake Stadium.
Washington's men's distance medley relay nearly made it five victories at this meet, as the team of Blake Nelson, Andrew Brown, Derrick Daigre and Meron Simon ran 9:40.20 to finish behind UTEP at 9:35.45. Illinois was third in 9:40.41.
The Huskies had teams entered in both sprint medley (200-200-400-800) relays, with the women's team of Haley Jacobson, Gianna Woodruff, Krista Armstead and Erin Johnson finishing eighth overall and second in their heat in 3:56.98. North Dakota State won in 3:47.73.
The men's team of Quadelle Satterwhite, Travis Marshall, Andrew Brown and Brad Whitley finished ninth in 3:22.39, as Georgia won in 3:18.22.
UW alum Brad Walker, who was originally entered in the Moscow Games Rematch pole vault, did not jump, as world and Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France won the event, jumping 18-8 1/4 (5.70m). Lavillenie earlier won the Pole Vault at the Mall competition to kick off the Drake Relays.
The Huskies travel to Pullman for the annual dual meet against undefeated Washington State on May 3rd.
NOTE: The Drake Relays and the sports information office at the University of Washington contributed to this report.
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