DES MOINES, IOWA — Chaunte' Lowe, who soared a world-leading mark of 6 feet 5 inches to win the women's high jump, has been named the outstanding women's performer of the 2010 Drake Relays.
Kenya's Boaz Lalang and Ohio State senior Jeff See were named the outstanding men's performers, marking the first time two athletes were named co-outstanding performers in the men's division since 1997 when sprinter Michael Johnson and distance runner Bob Keino shared the award.
For the first time ever, co-recipients were named as the outstanding high school girls' performers. West Des Moines Dowling Catholic senior Katie Flood and Dike-New Hartford senior Hannah Willms shared the award.
Johnny Fuller, a junior at Glenwood High School, was named the outstanding high school boys' performer.
Eighteen meet records, along with five world-leading marks, were set during the 101st running of the Drake Relays.
A two-time Olympian, Lowe defended her title in the women's invitational high jump, while setting both a Drake Relays and Drake Stadium record in the event.
Lalang and See were named co-recipients of the Maury White Award, named after the long-time decorated sportswriter for the Des Moines Register, who died in 1999.
Lalang ran two sub-4 minute miles in a five-day span. The 2008 Olympian ran a personal best of 3 minutes 54.33 seconds to win the inaugural Grand Blue Mile last Tuesday and then turned around to upset two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat in the invitational mile on Saturday.
The top-six finishers all broke four minutes while recording the top-six fastest mile times in the world this spring. Lalang won in 3:56.14, followed by Lagat in 3:56.38.
See anchored Ohio State to victories in the 4x1,600 relay and a world-leading time in the 4x800 relay.
See opened the Friday afternoon program with a 3-minute 57.6-second anchor leg to lead the Buckeyes to victory in the 4x1,600 relay in 16:25.42. He capped the day with a 1:47.5 anchor as both Ohio State and runner-up Minnesota bettered the previous 4x800 world-leading mark of 7:18.72 by Penn State at the Florida Relays March 4.
Fuller was named winner of the Robert Kramme Award as the outstanding high school boys' performer.
Fuller opened the Drake Relays on Thursday by capturing the 3,200-meter run in 9:12.34 and came back on Saturday to win the 1,600 in 4:15.66. Fuller's winning time in the 3,200 was the best clocking in that race at the Drake Relays since 1985.
Flood made her last Drake Relays appearance memorable by setting two individual meet records, while anchoring a record-setting relay.
On Thursday, Flood ran the fastest high school outdoor girls' 3,000 time in the United States this year while setting a meet record of 9:43.39, to better the previous 2010 prep best of 9:45.71 by Emily Lipari, Roslyn, N.Y., and break her own record of 9:44.96 set in 2007.
The University of Washington bound-Flood became just the third high school athlete in Drake Relays history to win an event four times, joining Debbie Carroll of Collins, who won the 100 yard dash from 1971-74 and Abby Emsick from Lewis Central of Council Bluffs who won the discus from 1999-2002.
On Saturday, Flood lowered her national leading prep time in the 1,500-meter run to a meet record 4:28.30 while setting an Iowa all-time best mark. She also ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x800 relay which set a meet record of 9:11.01.
Willms set a meet record and posted the best high school outdoor girls' high jump mark in the United States this year at 6-1, topping the previous 2010 prep best of 5-11.5 by Ashley Smith from Millikan, Calif.
Winning her third straight Drake Relays high jump title, she also bettered her previous Iowa all-time state record of 6-0.25 set last year.
She won the high school girls' 100 in 12.36 on Friday and also anchored Dike-New Hartford to victory in the sprint medley relay in 1:47.53.
