Ray Jadusingh, 4x100 Advance to Finals at Drake Relays
4/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
April 24, 2009
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Alabama men's track and field team opened competition at the 100th running of the Drake Relays on Friday. At one of the largest track meets in the country, Alabama began competing just hours after sunrise and ended the day "Under the Lights" at Drake Stadium.
The Crimson Tide have gotten into the starting blocks with a 4x100m relay team four times this season and after Friday, they have posted four regional qualifying times. The relay team ran a time of 40.58 to win their heat by .24 seconds finishing third overall in the prelims. The team of Shaun Gaiser, Brandon Spradley, Ray Jadusingh and Matt Watson advanced to Saturday's finals.
Despite a strong headwind, Grant Stone finished 10th in the javelin with a season best throw of 197-8.
Jadusingh came back in the afternoon session in the 100m advancing to Saturday's final with a time of 10.75 in a headwind of 3.4 meters per second. He won his heat easily by .18 seconds and has the fourth fastest qualifying time.
"The 4x100 looked good today and we switched up the order a little bit," head coach Harvey Glance said. "Tomorrow I think we'll go with the same order in the relay. If (David) Chaplin feels better tomorrow, it'll be a meet time decision on what we'll do with that. Ray won the 100 meters running into a stiff headwind. I think the guys are ready to run and compete."
The Crimson Tide will resume competition Saturday at Drake Stadium.
