Senior Britta Christofferson overcame some mechanical difficulties on Saturday and finished ninth in the hammer throw.

Her final distance at the Drake Relays was 191 feet, two inches. Gwen Berry of Southern Illinois won with a total distance of 231-04. That was more than 20 feet longer than the second place finisher.

Christofferson didn’t feel any extra pressure because of the close locale to Ames, but she was well aware of her surroundings.

“It’s Drake Relays, so you know that everyone that’s around you is rooting for you because you’re from Iowa,” Christofferson said.

While she didn’t have a set place expectation coming in, she knew that the field would offer tough competition. The top seven finishers threw over 60 meters. That was something that she wasn’t expecting.

Christofferson wasn’t neccesarily happy with how she finished, but knew she could have placed higher.

“It’s nice to stay up in the 190’s,” Christofferson said. “I would have liked to set a PR today, but Drake is a fast ring. I wasn’t feeling real smooth technique-wise today.”

Assistant coach Grant Wall may feel that Britta was too hard on herself. Wall looked at this meet as the equivalent of a national meet, so he was pleased to see Christofferson make the finals.

“I thought it was good,” Wall said. “She wasn’t as crisp as she has been in practice and meets, but she went out and competed really well. She was only a couple feet off of her PR. We got a couple things to work on over the next couple weeks, but I like where were at.”

Christofferson entered the Drake Relays as the top female hammer thrower in the Big 12. She is also currently ranked 22nd in the nation.

Senior Josh Koglin and junior Jack Richards also competed in the hammer throw, but failed to reach the finals. Koglin fouled out and Richards’ total distance came to 198 feet, four inches.