EUGENE, Ore. — Three former Drake Relays champions captured individual titles during Day Two of the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field Friday.
 
World record holder and two-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser, who is a four-time defending Drake Relays champ,  won the men's shot put with three marks inside the top 10 all time for the event. His winning mark of 75 feet, 10.25 inches is the best in the world this year.
 
Five-time Drake Relays champ Sandi Morris won her fourth U.S. Outdoor title, soaring a world-leading height of 15-9.75. She is a two-time reigning World Indoor champ and earned a silver medal in the 2017 and 2019 World Outdoor Championships.
 
Two-time Olympian Vashti Cunningham claimed her  fifth career U.S. outdoor national title in the women's high jump, soaring 6-4. Cunningham won the 2018 and 2022 Drake Relays invitational high jump .
 
Tokyo Olympic champ Katie Nageotte, who was second at the 2021 Drake Relays, placed third  in the women's pole vault with a season best vault of 15-3. 
 
Emily Grove,who was the 2017 and 2019 Drake Relays university-college champ, finished fifth at 15-1, but could still advance to the World Championships since she has met the championship standard of 15-7.
 
Defending Drake Relays university-college champ James Carter of Iowa placed seventh in the men's long jump at 26-3. Carter, who also won the triple jump at the 2022 Drake Relays, will compete in the triple jump final Sunday.
 
Rachel McCoy, who was second at the 2022 Drake Relays, placed second in the women's high jump with a season-best 6-2.75. Drake Relays alum Inika McPherson was fourth with a season-best jump of 6-1.50. Minnesota's Nyalaam Jok, who was fifth in the 2022 Drake Relays university-college division, tied for fifth at 5-11.5
 
Two-time Drake Relays champ Laulauga Tausaga-Collins finished second in the women's discus final with a personal best of 211-7 coming on her fourth throw.
 
Minnesota's Shelby Frank, who was 12^thin the 2022 Drake Relays, was fifth at 187-8. Iowa State's Emily March, who won the 2022 Drake Relays university-college title, finished 12^thin the discus final at 173-4. North Dakota State's Amanda Anderson, who was second in the 2021 and 2022 Drake Relays, finished 13^that 172-9. 

Northern Iowa's Darius King, who was fifth in the 2022 Drake Relays invitational men's shot put, threw a personal best 65-9 to finish 11th in the men's shot put.
 
Bednarek Seventh In Men's 100
In the men's 100 final Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek, who won the men's invitational 200 at the 2019 Drake Relays, finished seventh in 9.88 seconds.
 
Fred Kerley, the former 400 specialist turned sprint champ, surged to victory in the men's 100 in 9.77. In the semifinals earlier Friday, Kerley ran a meet-record 9.76, a personal best and the fastest ever at Hayward Field.

It marked the first time every finalist in a men's 100-meter USATF race finished under 10 seconds.  
 
Former Northern Iowa sprinter Brandon Carnes,who won the 2016 and 2017 Drake Relays university-college 100, finished fifth in the first semifinal heat in 10.04 – just missing the finals.
 
Former Drake Relays champion Brittany Brown (2017) finished eighth in the women's 100 final in 11.04. Earlier, Cambrea Sturgis, who was named the outstanding women's performer of the 2021 Drake Relays while running for North Carolina A&T,  was seventh in the first semifinal heat in 11.04 (2021).
 
Brown, a former NCAA champ at the University of Iowa and a silver medalist in 200 at the 2019 World Championships, will now concentrate on her specialty the 200 with the first round Saturday. 
 
Sowinski Advances to 16^thUSATF 800 Final
 
Two-time Olympian Clayton Murphy, who is a four-time Drake Relays champ including invitational 800 titles in 2015 and 2016, posted the third fastest time in the semifinal round of the men's 800 in 1:46.45.
 
Former Iowa NCAA champ Erik Sowinski advanced to his 16^thfinal in a USATF Indoor and Outdoor Championship, by running 1:46.76 which was the sixth fastest qualifying time in the semifinal round.
  
But 2021 Olympian Isaiah Jewett, who won the invitational 800 in his Drake Relays debut April 30,  did not advance into the finals after running 1:48.36. 
 
Allie Wilson, who captured the 2022 Drake Relays title, advanced to finals of the women's 800 with a qualifying mark of 1:58.50
 
2022 World Indoor champ Ajee Wilson, who won the 2015 Drake Relays invitational women's 800, had the seventh fastest women's qualifying time in the semifinal round of the women's 800 in 2:00.81 to advance into Sunday's final.
 
Four Drake Relays alumni also qualified for the finals of the women's 400 hurdles headed by Kentucky's Masai Russell, who ran a personal best of 55.02 which was the second fastest overall qualifying time.
 
Ashley Spencer, who was second at the 2021 Drake Relays, was right behind at 55.19 with Anna Cockrell, who was third in the 2022 Drake Relay,  advancing in 55.54. Shamier Little, (fifth in 2022 Drake Relays, ) also advanced running 55.60.
 
2015 Drake Relays champ Cassandra Tate just missed advancing to finals after running 56.26.
 
2022 Drake Relays MVP Advances in Men's 400
North Carolina A&T  junior Randolph Ross, who was named the outstanding men's performer of the 2022 Drake Relays, posted the second fastest qualifying time in the men's 400 semifinal round at 44.36.  Ross, who earned a gold medal as a member of Team USA 4x400 relay at the Tokyo Olympics, set a Drake Relays university-college 400 record, while running the anchor leg on the Aggies' 4x100 relay which set another Drake Relays record.
 
Vernon Norwood, who was second in the 400 in the 2017 Drake Relays, also advanced into Saturday's final by recording the sixth fastest time in the semifinal round at 45.02.

Meanwhile,ten-time national champion Allyson Felix, who ran in the 2006 Drake Relays, posted the seventh fastest qualifying time in the women's 400 semifinal round  in 51.32 to advance into Saturday's final. Felix has won 11 Olympic medals during her career, including seven gold medals.
 
Three Drake Relays alumni advanced to the semifinal round of the men's 400 hurdles Saturday. Amere Lattin, who was sixth in the 2022 Drake Relays, led the way with the fourth fastest qualifying time of 50.00.   David Kendziera, who won the 2019 Drake Relays university-college title, advanced in 50.75 along with Aldrich Bailey (eighth, 2022 Drake Relays) who ran 51.21.
 
Abby Kohut-Jackson, a native of Ballard, Iowa, advanced into finals of the women's steeplechase by running a season-best 9:47.65 in the first round.
 
10 Drake Relays champs, 2 World Leaders in Saturday's Events
 
The first round of the men's 110 hurdles and women's 200 Saturday feature world leaders who are also Drake Relays champs.
 
Devon Allen, the 2018 Drake Relays champ, has posted a world leading time of 12.84 in the men's 110 hurdles. Abby Steiner, recently named Track and Field News Women's Collegiate Performer of the Year, has a world leading mark of 21.80 in the 200.  

Steiner ran legs on Kentucky's 4x400 and sprint medley relays which won 2022 Drake Relays titles.

Two-time defending Drake Relays champ Chris Nilsen headlines the field in the men's pole vault. Nilsen, a silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics ranks second in the world this year, soaring 19-8.25. Sam Kendricks, a three-time Drake Relays champ, also is in the field. He set the existing American record of 19-10.25 at Drake Stadium during the 2019 U.S. Outdoor Championships.

There will be a strong local Iowa flavor in the finals of both the men's and women's 1500 finals Saturday.

Karissa Schweizer, who ran in both the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Tokyo Olympics, is in the women's 1,500 final after running 4:14.80 in the first round. 
 
"It's different than what I'm used to, but definitely exciting to challenge myself in a different event, especially working on my speed for that 10K and 5K," said Schweizer, a native of Urbandale, Iowa.
 
Schweizer, who won the 5,000 at the 2019 Drake Relays running for Missouri en route to being named the meet's outstanding performer, also will be in the 5,000 final Sunday.
 
Drake junior Isaac Basten hopes to ride the momentum from his stunning performance in the first round of the men's 1500 where a late kick enabled him to post the fastest qualifying time with a personal best of 3:38.92. 
 
Basten won the Drake Relays university-college 1,500 April 30 during an outdoor campaign in which he also won the Missouri Valley Conference 1,500 title, while placing tenth in the NCAA Championships June 10.  
 
Daniel Michalski, who won the 3,000 steeplechase at the Drake Relays April 29, is in the men's steeplechase final Saturday after recording the fastest qualifying time in the first round with a season best of 8:23.39.
 
Basten will run in the 1,500 finals at 3:52 p.m. central time Saturday, while Michalski and former Iowa State standout Hillary Bor will run in the 3,000 steeplechase finals at 4:04 p.m. central time Saturday.

Thirty-six year old Kara Winger, a four-time Olympian, will be competing for her ninth U.S. title in the women's javelin. Winger was the 2009 and 2010 Drake Relays champ, while setting an American record at the 2010 U.S. Championships held in Des Moines.

The women's javelin field also includes Nebraska's Maddie Harris, who won the 2022 Drake Relays university-college javelin as well as Kari Wolfe from North Dakota State who was the 2021 Drake Relays champ.
 
Finals also will be contested on the track in the men's and women's 400 as well as the women's 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles.
 
NBC will televise coverage of the USA Outdoor Championships Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. central time.