"Jon opened up strong with his first 400-meter race of the season," commented Drake track and field head coach Natasha Brown. "He proved he is on the edge of running a great race."

DeGrave, along with sophomore Dan Karys (Bartlett, Ill.) and freshman Ian Wells (Champaign, Ill.) and Brett Wright (Longmont, Colo.) finished fifth in the 4x400 relay.

"Karys had an impressive anchor leg and Wells looked strong running the third leg," said Brown.

Freshman Doug Brady (Englewood, Colo.) and Max Johnson (Wayzata, Minn.) were third and fifth, respectively, in the 1,000 meter race. Brady had a time of 2:35.52, while Johnson was clocked in 2:37.47.

Senior Brandon Lewis (Plymouth, Minn.) finished in 1:59.33 to register an eighth-place finish in the 800-meter race. Junior Matt Jurysta (Oshawa, Ontario) was 18th with a time of 2:02.90.

The Drake distance medley relay placed third finishing in 10:28.30 with Brady, Johnson, Lewis and Jurysta all competing for the Bulldogs.

Sophomore Isaac Twombly (Baldwin, Kan.) was 11th in the weight throw with a toss of 50-feet 4-inches. Freshman Andy Curtis (Manchester, Iowa) set a personal best with a toss of 43-3.75. His throw, which registered a 22nd-place finish, puts him third in the Drake record books behind Twombly and Eric Bumgardner.

Junior Shaun James (Lawrence, Kan.), competing in his hometown, ran a time of 22.74 in the 200-meter dash. His time netted him a 16th-place finish against the field of 58 competitors.

"This is the time of the season when we start racing our true events" said Brown. "We have been competing in shorter or longer races to prepare for our main events."

Drake will now look ahead to competing in the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 4-5) in Lincoln, Neb.