University of Illinois
Drake Relays
Resier, Lafond Set PRs on Day 1 of Drake Relays
April 27, 2017 | Men's Track & Field
Competition continues tomorrow at 9:45am CT
DES MOINES, Iowa. – Illinois men's track began the 108th annual Drake Relays with the distance carnival on Thursday evening, led by a personal-best 5,000m race by Jesse Reiser (13:54.66) and outdoor personal-best time from Dylan Lafond (13:56.61). Reiser's time ranks fourth in Illini history, while Lafond moves into seventh place on the all-time list.
Reiser edged Lafond by two seconds, as the Illini sophomore finished fourth overall ahead of Lafond's fifth-place finish. The 13:54.66 time stands as a 15-second personal record for Reiser, lowering his time from the Stanford Invite (14:09.21) earlier this season. For Lafond, the time is an eight-second improvement on his best outdoor 5,000m race. It marks the second and third time this season that an Illinois runner has clocked a sub-14:00 minute 5,000m run, the first coming when Jon Davis timed 13:49.55 two weeks ago at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Competing elsewhere in unseeded 5,000m race, Alex Gold, Zach Dale and Sean Pengelly lowered their personal-best times. Gold led the trio with a time of 14:17.25. while Dale finished in 14:23.60 and Pengelly in 14:28.04.
Preceding the 5,000m race, Zack Smith represented the Illini in the 10,000m run with a time of 30:50.46.
The Fighting Illini will resume competition at Drake Relays tomorrow, beginning at 9:45 a.m. with 110m hurdles prelims. Four Illini relay teams will begin their defense of the four straight Hy-Vee Cup titles, while Illini field event competitors will contest the shot put, javelin and pole vault.
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