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Tulsa
Drake Relays
James Wins 400m Hurdles at Drake Relays
4/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 26, 2002
Des Moines, Iowa - The University of Tulsa junior Jamese James became the first Golden Hurricane to win a individual title at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The meet is in its 93rd year, having 36 consecutive sellout audiences in the 18,000-seat stadium.
A Tulsa native, James broke the school record in the final of the 400m hurdles with a time of 57.86. James qualified for the finale by winning her preliminary heat in a another school record 59.32. Her preliminary time was the second best among the 38 runners to compete in the event.
"I feel great. This race was a total surprise. This was my personal best in this event by two seconds," said James. "I was relaxed and I didn't hit any hurdles. This is what I call a crash and burn race, I run my hardest and then die. I knew my adrenalin would carry me the last 100 yards. I figured I could have run this fast all along. This is my favorite event."
James was also a member of the Hurricane's 4x400m relay team which qualifed for finals of the event to be held on Saturday. The squad of freshmen Chatney Noble and Alisha Burnett along with junior Monica Joannes and James; ran a season best time of 3:37.86 to finish second in its preliminary heat. The time, the second fastest in school history, was the fourth best overall among the 33 teams in the event.
Sophomore Shana Robinson also competed on Friday, in the preliminaries of the 100m dash. The Tulsa Central High School graduate finished ninth overall among 31 runners in the event with a time of 12.02. While she finished second in her preliminary heat, Robinson missed qualifing for the final by one-one hundredth of a second.
On Thursday, junior Sarah Haskins finished fourth in the 10,000m runs with a time of 35:55.03. By shaving just over two minutes off her personal-best time, Haskins recorded TU's second best time in the event.
Fellow junior Andy Norman finished sixth in the men's 5,000m Invitational meet with a time of 14:30.93. Just 10 second off his school record, Norman was the third fastest collegian in the race.
Two Tulsa runners competed in the women's 5,000m Invitational. Senior Charlotte Sanderson finished 16th with a time of 17:38.12, while fellow senior Debbie Cardenas finished just seven seconds back in 17th place with a time of 17:45.86.
