Peterson, 4 x 800 are Winners for Gopher Men

The University of Minnesota men won the Drake Relays 4 x 800-meter relay title and pole vaulter Ben Peterson tied for first-place at the meet in Friday action at the historic meet.

The Gopher foursome of David Pachuta, Travis Burkstrand, Nick Hutton and Harun Abda won the 4 x 800-meter relay in a school-record time of 7:19.51.

Peterson captured a share of the Drake Relays title in the pole vault by clearing a height of 17-0 3/4. Texas-Arlington's Jeff Rodriguez cleared the same height. The Gophers' Brock Spandl finished fifth at 16-10 3/4.

Minnesota has now won 51 titles in the history of the Drake Relays.

Minnesota’s 4 x 1,600-meter relay of Paul Hilsen, Mike Torchia, Hassan Mead and Andy Richardson finished third in a time of 16:40.29. Wisconsin, with Burnsville High School alumnus Rob Finnerty running the third leg, won the event.

The Gophers' 4 x 100-meter relay ran 41.47, but failed to advance to finals, while the 4x400-meter relay was disqualified.

In the long jump, Addison Demer placed third with a career-best leap of 24-3 3/4. Oladipo Fagbemi was ninth with a jump of 23-3 1/4. In the shot put, Trey Davis added a third-place showing with a season-best effort of 57-11.

Gopher Women ... The Gopher women had their four-year winning streak in the Drake Relays 4 x 800-meter relay snapped by Kansas State on Friday. The Golden Gophers finished third in 8:37.54 seconds. Running the relay for Minnesota was Nikki Swenson, Katie Hill, Jamie Dittmar and Elizabeth Yetzer.

Hill and Dittmar were also members of the Gophers’ distance medley relay that recorded a third-place showing in a time of 11:29.23. Missa Varpness and Stephanie Price, who helped the Gophers to the 4 x 1600-meter relay crown on Thursday, completed the DMR foursome.

Keeping with the bronze medal theme, Samantha Sonnenberg added a third-place finish in the pole vault with a leap of 13 feet, 1 1/2 inches.

Thrower Nikki Tzanakis posted the top finish among the Gophers competing on Friday at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Tzanakis finished second in the discus with a throw of 170-7, her second-best effort of the season.

Also at Penn, the 4x100-meter relay placed seventh in the College Final with a time of 45.58 seconds. Handling the baton for the Gophers was Todea-Kay Willis, Nyoka Giles, Chimerem Okoroji and Alena Brooks. Okoroji, Giles and Brooks, along with Sharyn Dahl, ran to an 11th-place finish in the sprint medley in a time of 3:57.75.

Find complete Drake Relays results HERE.

Find Penn Relays results HERE.