Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NCAA Preliminaries
Demon Deacon 4x400m Relay Moves On To NCAA Championships With Strong Performance
5/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
May 29, 2010
Complete Results | Wake Forest Results | 
Day 3 Photo Gallery
GREENSBORO, NC - The Wake Forest men's 4x400m relay put a cap on the NCAA Preliminaries Saturday night at the Irwin Belk Track with a season-best performance and earned a trip to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.
The Demon Deacon team of seniors Tyler Dodds, Brent LaRue, Jon Reid and junior Allan Lunkenheimer came into the event with a season-best time of 3:08.48 and were looking for either a top-3 finish in their heat or one of the next three best times. Dodds opened the race with a very good opening leg and then passed off to LaRue. The field started to spread out over the second leg and LaRue was able to push to the fourth position as he handed off to Lunkenheimer.
Lunkenheimer then moved into third place around the final turn and handed to Reid for the anchor leg. Reid held the third spot for most of his leg but Donte Holmes of Delaware State and Aaron Younger of Rutgers were able to overtake him down the final straightaway. However, the Deacons' season-best time of 3:06.81 was good enough to grab one of the final three-best times to earn a spot in the championship field.
"I called this from the beginning of the season," said Wake Forest Director of Track & Field Annie Bennett. "These guys have worked so hard this year and I couldn't be more happy for them."
For LaRue and Reid, this will be their second NCAA Championship as a member of the 4x400m relay as LaRue ran as a freshman in 2006 and Reid also ran as a freshman in 2007. It will be the first NCAA Championship appearance for both Dodds and Lunkenheimer.
LaRue will also be running in the semifinals of the 400m hurdles in Eugene as he ran a school-record 50.29 to win his heat and earn a spot on Friday night.
In the women's 5,000m run Saturday night, junior Anna Nosenko was looking to make her second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships. She got out well and was near the head of the pack for the first two miles. With a little less than a mile and a half left, Nosenko made her way to the front of the pack and led the race for the next 800 meters.
But with just under a mile to go, she started to slip back into the pack and with just under 700 meters left, she was forced to pull out of the race as she began to cramp. It was a disappointing end to the season for Nosenko who had won both the 5,000m and 10,000m ACC Titles earlier this spring becoming just the second Demon Deacon to pull that feat.
Graduate student Erin Reddan had to wait over night to compete in the quarterfinals of the women's 3,000m steeplechase as heavy rains delayed the race from Friday night until Saturday morning. When she finally got to run, the Bricktown, NJ, native turned in a time of 11:02.72 to finish 38th. Reddan had a great effort just to get to the quarterfinals as she ran two races in three nights, including a personal-best 10:37.97 on May 16.
Marcus Dillon also qualified to run in the men's 3,000m steeplechase but a foot injury earlier in the week forced him to miss the competition.
Next up for the Deacons is the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. The semifinals of the men's 400m hurdles are set for Wednesday, June 9, at 6:45 pm PST with the finals at 5:05 pm PST on Friday, June 11. The semifinals of the 4x400m relay will be 6:45 pm PST on Thursday, June 10, and the final will be the last event of the meet at 11:50 am PST on Saturday, June 12.
Players Mentioned
