DES MOINES, Iowa – The North Dakota State women's track & field team won a pair of events and turned in impressive performances in numerous others Friday at the Drake Relays.
 
NDSU's Grace Zimmerman, Alyssa Lind, Nell Graham and Katie Bye won the sprint medley relay title in 3:55.87 – the third ever Bison championship in the event at Drake. The quartet now ranks seventh all-time at NDSU.
 
Junior Akealy Moton led a Bison sweep of the top three places in the women's shot put, winning with a mark of 56-11.50 (17.36m). Senior Shelby Gunnells took second at 56-05.75 (17.21m), and Tasha Willing was third at 51-11.00 (15.82m).
 
Bison junior Jennie Baragar-Petrash ran the second-fastest 1500m in NDSU history, clocking 4:16.70 for fourth place in a loaded field. She now stands among the Top 30 in the NCAA this season.
 
NDSU senior Annika Rotvold cut 2 1/2 seconds off her 1500m personal-best, running 4:20.61. She moved up to fourth on the NDSU all-time list in the event, behind three All-Americans in Erin Teschuk, Baragar-Petrash and Laura Hermanson.
 
Amanda Anderson took runner-up honors in the discus, throwing the second-best mark of her career at 175-8 (53.55m). She ranks second in NDSU history and Top 40 in the NCAA this season. Freshman Michaela Hawkins threw a discus personal-best of 173-3 (52.81m) for fourth place, moving up to fourth all-time at NDSU and into the Top 50 in the NCAA this year.
 
Jodi Lipp took Drake Relays runner-up honors in the triple jump, posting a season-best mark of 40-04.75 (12.31m). She also placed seventh in the long jump. Daejha Moss took fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-6 (1.68m).
 
Graham clocked a 400m dash personal-best of 55.39, placing fifth. Zimmerman ran a 400m PR of 56.13 to finish eighth.
 
Bye, Kelby Anderson, Erin Valgardson and freshman Anna Bartels finished fifth in the 4x800m relay at Drake.
 
Bison hurdler Ansley Schug registered a big personal-best, clocking 1:02.50 in the 400m hurdles to place seventh.
 
At the Kip Janvrin Open in Indianola, Iowa, Kaleesa Houston won the 5,000m in a personal-best 17:15.76, cutting 20 seconds of her previous best in the event.
 
Bison freshman Grace Emineth won the long jump and triple jump at the Kip Janvrin Open, leaping 18-05.25 (5.62m) in the long and 36-08.50 (11.19m) in the triple. NDSU's Jenna Kes was the long jump runner-up at 18-05.00 (5.61m).
 
Valgardson ran a 1500m personal-best of 4:42.55 for second place.