Results and analysis from 2022 Drake Relays events Saturday

Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register
·9 min read

After a week full of competition, the final day of the Drake Relays is here. And, boy, it is gearing up to be a good one.

The Drake Relays have been running all week, but it really picked up steam Thursday, with the high school events and Distance Carnival. Friday was a huge day at the Blue Oval where high school, college and pro runners took the track for competition.

Saturday will have a bit of everything for fans, from high schoolers opening and closing the competition to college and professional athletes showing off their skills.

We'll have updates throughout the day. Fans also can watch action online (subscription required) or follow live results from Drake.

MORE: Inside Sam Spore's journey from Uganda to the Iowa wheelchair racing, track and field leaderboards

Mason City edges out Cedar Falls in 4x400

Cedar Falls came into the Drake Relays with the top time in the state in the 4x400, despite graduating all four seniors from last year's Relays-winning quartet. It looked like Cedar Falls was going to go home with the title again this year, but Mason City came from behind in the final stretch, and Kaden Tyler leapt over the line to beat out Cedar Falls' Cayden Schellhorn.

Prairie girls win Relays Cup

With a total of 19 points from finishes in the 4x100, 4x400, 4x800 and distance medley, the Hawks claimed the Relays Cups for girls high school.

Solon pulls off 4x400 win over Ames

Ames was leading in the final lap, but Solon's Emma Bock pulled ahead of Ellie Lynch to win the 4x400 in 3:56.24.

Aidan Ramsey wins the Drake Relays 1600m

The future Drake Bulldog from Dallas Center-Grimes won the boys 1600-meter race in 4:15.96. He edged out Newton's Jackson Mace-Maynard in the final stretch to pull off the win.

Ainsley Erzen wins girls 1500m

Erzen finished with a time of 4:36.27, beating out Valley sophomore Addison Dorenkamp, who finished in 4:36.27.

Saturday's field event results

Invitational women's hammer throw

  1. Lara Boman, Velaasa - 68.49

  2. Maddy Nilles, USA - 67.05

  3. Erin Reese, Velaasa - 64.62

Men's discus throw

  1. Kaleb Siekmeier, Minnesota - 54.67

  2. Tom Yezek, Northern Iowa - 54.44

  3. Jordan Johnson, Iowa - 53.66

Women's hammer throw

  1. Amy Phillips, North Dakota State - 66.01

  2. Shauniece O'Neal, Southern Illinois - 65.89

  3. Elisia Lancaster, Southern Illinois - 65.82

Invitational women's high jump

  1. Vashti Cunningham, Nike - 1.90

  2. Rachel McCoy, USA - 1.85

  3. Kimberly Williamson, Jamaica - 1.85

Invitational women's long jump

  1. Keturah Orji, Mizuno - 6.68

  2. Chanice Porter, PUMA - 6.59

  3. Ese Brume, ADIDA - 6.58

Invitational men's pole vault

  1. Chris Nilsen, Nike - 5.60

  2. Jake Wooten, Elite Athletics Network - 5.60

  3. Cole Walsh, USA - 5.50

Invitational men's shot put

  1. Ryan Crouser, Nike - 21.63

  2. Nick Ponzio, Italy - 21.04

  3. Payton Otterdahl, Nike - 20.69

Men's triple jump

  1. James Carter, Iowa - 15.79

  2. Safin Wills, Purdue - 15.75

  3. Tamar Greene, Purdue - 15.73

Men's hammer throw

  1. Kostas Zaltos, Minnesota - 71.9

  2. Tanner Berg, Northern State - 70.37

  3. Kade McCall, Kansas State -

Southeast Polk wins 4x100 with ease

Abu Sama, Titus Christiansen, Kyle Sisler and Cole Filloon ran the event in 42 seconds flat to win the relays title, holding off Ankeny's Tyrese Miller in the final stretch for the win.

ADM Adel upsets Waukee Northwest in 4x100

Waukee Northwest - with a quartet of Josie Vande Krol, Kiana Carnes, Natalie Harris and Morgan Engels - was the favorite to win the girls 4x100, but ADM Adel had other plans. The Tigers won the title in 48.48, the fastest time in the state this season. Waukee Northwest came in second, running a 48.69.

Minnesota State, Indian Hills win college 4x100

Women's college 4x100

  1. Minnesota State, 45.47

  2. Iowa Western, 46.69

  3. Loras, 47.22

Men's college 4x100

  1. Indian Hills, 40.19

  2. Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 40.92

  3. Minnesota State, 40.96

Kole Becker comes from behind to win

Coming into Drake Relays, Becker was the only hurdler in Iowa boys track and field to break the 54 second mark this season in the 400m hurdles. But on Saturday, he was challenged for the title. Mount Ayr's Ryce Reynolds was in the lead going over the last hurdle, but Becker caught him in the home stretch. The Lisbon senior finished in 53.49 seconds. Second place? Reynolds finished in 53.50.

Mackenzie Carney makes hurdles look easy

Carney defended her Drake Relays title in the 400-meter hurdles, winning the title with a time of 1:02.87. She was the only athletes across two sections in the girls competition to finish below 1:04.

Iowa, Kentucky both claim Relays Cup

The Drake Relays Cup is given to the men's and women's university teams that finish with the most points in five events. Those events are the 4x100, 4x400, 4x800, distance medley and sprint medley.The Iowa men and Kentucky women both finished with 36 points to win the Relays Cup.

North Carolina A&T wins men's 4x400 meter relay

With Olympic gold medalist Randolph Ross running the second leg, North Carolina A&T took home the Drake Relays title in the 4x400 meter relay. Ross' Olympic gold a medal is in the same event, and he ran a 3:05.81 with teammates Daniel Stokes, Reheem Hayles and Shemar Chambers. Kentucky came in second, and Iowa

Kentucky wins university women's Relays Cup

After a stellar performance throughout the Relays, the Kentucky women's 4x400 team officially secured the Relay Cup for the Wildcats. Karimah Davis, Dajour Miles, Abby Steiner and Alexis Holmes ran a 3:33.60 in the final of five events factoring into the Relay Cup standings.

Isaiah Jewett wins 800, but Erik Sowinski steals the show

Jewett took the Relays title in the invitational men's 800-meter race in 1:48.84. But it was Sowinski, who took second, that was the headliner after the finish. Running a 1:49.38, Sowinski's second place finish also make the 200th time he's run under 1:50 in the 800.

Ryan Crouser wins third straight shot put title at Drake Relays

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but the world record holder and reigning Olympics champion won the Drake Relays men's shot put event with a throw of 21.63 meters.

Grace Nwokocha, Lawrence Johnson take college 100 titles

North Carolina A&T freshman Grace Nwokocha won the women's 100-meter dash with a time of 11.98 seconds. She was the athlete in the finals to finish under 12 seconds.

Wisconsin freshman Lawrence Johnson came out on top in the men's 100 with a time of 10.56 seconds. Northern Iowa junior Isaiah Trousil came in second, running a 10.66.

Dalilah Muhammad becomes current fastest woman in 400 hurdles

Muhammad, who was the champion in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the silver medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, won the 400 hurdles at the Drake Relays. With a time of 53.88 seconds, Muhammad became the fastest woman competing in the event this year.

Alison Dos Santos wins invitational men's 400 hurdles

With a time of 48.41 seconds in the 400 hurdles, ADIDAS' Alison Dos Santos recorded the second fastest time in the world right now.

Iowa, Iowa State grab first, second in men's sprint medley

Iowa's quartet of Gratt Reed, Khullen Jefferson, Jenoah Mckiver and Alec Still took home the Relays tilte with a time of 3:18.06. Iowa State's squad of Gage Clay, Charlie Johnson, Cebastian Gentil and Darius Kipyego took second with a time of 3:20. 39.

Oklahoma State sweeps distance medley

Women's distance medley

  1. Oklahoma State - 11:04.64

  2. Utah - 11:17.92

  3. Kentucky - 11:21.15

Men's distance medley

  1. Oklahoma State - 9:40.60

  2. Michigan - 9:45.63

  3. Iowa - 9:47.73

Iowa wins men's shuttle hurdles

Women's shuttle hurdles

  1. Eastern Illinois - 58.03

  2. Indiana State - 58.26

  3. Oklahoma Baptist - 59.72

Men's shuttle hurdles

  1. Iowa - 56.74

  2. Illinois - 57.77

  3. North Dakota State - 1:00.31

Messy shuttle hurdles ends with Pleasant Valley victory

Not all events in track are pretty, and the boys 4x110-metre shuttle hurdles finals were a perfect example of that. Each team knocked down at least one hurdle, and Pella's hurdler went down hard in the final stretch. Pleasant Valley's squad of Max Doran, Grant Necker, Daniel Zietlow and Makhi Wilson was the only team to finish in under a minute, coming in at 59.72 seconds. Spirit Lake and Cedar Rapids Prairie finished second and third, respectively.

Waukee Northwest opens afternoon session with a win

The Wolves took first place in the girls shuttle hurdles, coming back in the final section to beat out Dowling Catholic. Faith Millsap, Natalie Harris, Camryn Weers, and Mackenzie Carney combined for a time of 1:01.86 to take home the Relays title. Dowling, Iowa City High and Winterset finished in that order.

Sioux City North records 12th best Relays time

The North Stars capped the morning session with a 7:48.21 time in the boys 4x800 relay. The group of Yemane Kifle, Natnael Kifle, William Lohr and Gabe Nash lead the pack for the length of the race, and were less than three seconds off the Drake Relays all-time record in the high school event. With their time, the North Stars went from not being on the top performers list to holding the 12th best time in the event in Relays history.

Dubuque Hempstead wins first high school finals of the day

The 4x800-meter relay team of Camdyn Kay, Julia Gehl, Keelee Leitzen and Brooke O'Brien came from behind to win the Relays title in 9:22.28. It was all Cedar Rapids Prairie in the opening half, but other teams chipped away at the Hawks' lead. Prairie finished in second and Solon came in third.

A quick recap of Friday's events

Friday was definitely a big day at the Drake Relays, and athletes from high school to the professionals more than just showed up in the rainy weather.

Drake's own Isaac Basten broke a 41-year drought by winning the university's first 1,500-meter title in the Relays since 1981. With a time of 3:39.11, he became the fourth ever Bulldog to win the event on his home track.

Ankeny senior Tyrese Miller had his own record moment at the Relays. He finished second in the boys 400 last season, but this year he came to win it all...and he did it in style. Miller took home the title and set a Drake Relays record with a time of 47.91 seconds.

Northern Iowa alum Jessica Heims set a Paralympic world record in the F64 discus classification with a throw of 37.28. Fun fact, this isn't the first time she's broken the world record. Heims did it in 2019, as a sophomore at UNI.

More Drake Relays coverage:

Alyssa Hertel is a college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Results, analysis of 2022 Drake Relay Saturday events