Drake Relays - Day 2 Quotes

April 24, 2008

Mat Clark
Junior
Second place, men's decathlon
On his strategy in the 1,500 meters:
"I was just trying to focus on staying with Joe (Detmer) and, with 300 left, I just tried to take off but he out-kicked me."

On setting a new personal-best score of 7,691 points in the decathlon:
"I'm really pleased with how I performed today, but most important was getting the automatic qualifying mark for the national meet."

On finishing ahead of teammate Raven Cepeda, who was third:
"It was nice to finally beat Raven, but I'm happier with setting a new personal-best. I know that I've had a chance to compete outdoors more than Raven, so I know I have to improve a lot and Raven's going to continue to improve, as well."

On personal-best throw of 195-11 in the javelin:
"It was definitely a turning point in the competition for me. I was really upset with my pole vault, so I got really aggressive with my approach, got after it and had a good mark."

Raven Cepeda
Senior
Third place, men's decathlon
On his performance on day two of the decathlon:
"I was just coming out here trying to get a qualifier. I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary or supernatural to happen. I just came out to do my 10 events."

On clearing 16 feet, 3/4 inches in the pole vault:
"I dropped quite a few points in the vault, couldn't quite get five meters, but I got a 4.90 bar, which was enough to get me the (NCAA Outdoor Championships automatic qualifying) mark. I came out to get a spot in nationals, and I did that."

Traci Hawley
Senior
Fifth place, women's 5000 meters
On setting new personal-best time of 16:54.30
"I'm really glad a ran a personal record, but I'm kind of disappointed I missed the regional qualifying mark by two seconds."

On her race:
"I ran a good race. I ran my hardest and I couldn't ask for anything more, but I know it's going to run through my head that I missed the qualifying mark by two seconds."

Travis Geopfert
UNI Associate Head Coach, Jumps/Multi-Events
On the final event of the decathlon:
"I knew we had three great decathletes coming down here and I knew it was going to be a battle between all three. It came down to the 1,500, and it always does. It was a great race."

On the competition between the top four competitors:
"When the scoring is that close, it comes down to one bar here or one bar there. Mat only made one bar in the pole vault today, but he set personal-bests in eight other events. It was a great day."

On UNI decathletes' first competition of the season:
"This is really early in the training and their season overall. We're really gearing things for June."

On Mat Clark meeting 'B' standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials:
"Mat hit the B standard today, and Raven has his A standard mark from last season. We're going to have two UNI guys in the Olympic Trials."

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