DES MOINES, Iowa – A meet and stadium record in the women's hammer throw, a top 10 season mark in the heptathlon and a big win for a Drake runner highlighted Thursday's session at the 113th Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom. 

A fast run by a Loras relay team also figured in the excitement for the crowd of 7,338 as sunshine and temperatures in the low 70s warmed the Drake Stadium's Blue Oval.

Brooke Andersen, the 2022 U.S. and World champion, unleashed a throw of 258-2 (78.69 meters) to win the invitational women's hammer, a Relays and Drake Stadium record and the world No. 5 all-time mark. She broke Deanna Price's stadium record of 256-8 (78.24m) set at the 2019 USA Championships and topped the Relays record of 224-8 (68.49) set a year ago by Lara Bowman. 

Andersen is the world leader in the event this year at 261-9 (78.69). Maggie Ewen, who finished third in the women's indoor shot put at the Drake Fieldhouse on Wednesday, was second in the hammer at 237-9 (72.47m)

Rudy Winkler, No. 2 in the world this year, won the inaugural invitational men's hammer with a throw of 251-8 (76.70m).  It's the second victory at Drake Stadium in five years for Winkler, who won the hammer at the 2018 USA Championships and is the American record holder.

Former Texas A&M athlete Shaina Burns won the heptathlon with 5,932 points, the best score at Drake since 2010, No. 4 in the U.S. this year and No. 9 in the world. Burns, fourth in the pentathlon at the USA Indoor Championships this year, won the 100 hurdles, high jump and shot put during Wednesday's opening session and finished with a personal best 2:16.90 in the 800 to secure the victory.

"I knew going in I needed a 2:18 to top 5900, so coming through on that last lap I knew I had to put my head through that wind and sprint home," Burns said. "I am happy about that."

Second with 5,746 points went to Alex Gochenour-Brondyke, the 2017 Drake Relays champion who starred at Logan-Magnolia High School in southwest Iowa, then competed at LSU and Arkansas.

There was a strong Iowa connection in the decathlon, won by Northern Iowa's Carter Morton with 7,454 points, a personal best. UNI teammate Zack Butcher was second with 6,875. Morton prepped at Greene County High School in west-central Iowa and was the fourth different UNI athlete to win the event, following Daniel Gorris in 2012 and 2013, Mat Clark in 2009 and Raven Cepeda in 2007.

Morton was the Missouri Valley Conference indoor heptathlon champion this year and finished fourth in the Drake decathlon in 2022.

"I made a huge jump from last year to this year," he said. "It has always been my goal to get a Drake Relays flag and I finally got one."

Loras broke a 42-year-old meet record in the men's college 4x800, running 7:22.17 to win for the second straight year and with the same four runners: Wyatt Kelly, Ryan Harvey, Carter Oberfoell and Mike Jasa.

Jasa was more than 100 meters in front when he got the baton and even without anyone pushing him, he turned the final two laps in a swift 1:48.16 to give the Duhawks the record. The old record was 7:27.95 by Cal Poly-Pomona in 1981.  With their winning time, the Duhawks lowered their own NCAA Division III record.

Central Missouri won the women's college 4x800 in 9:01.46, the program's second Relays title in the event.

Drake's Brooke Mullins, a junior from Queensland, Australia, gave the home fans something to cheer when she won the women's steeplechase in a school-record 10:13.94. It was the first victory for the Bulldogs in a women's event since Gina DeWitt won the 800 in 1995. 

Tulsa's Christian Baker edged Northwest Missouri's Reece Smith at the finish to claim the university-college title in the men's steeplechase. Baker, the American Athletic Conference indoor mile champion this year, finished in 8:38.66 to beat Smith by two-hundredths of a second. Smith, who ran at Garner-Hayfield-Ventura High School in northern Iowa, is the defending Division II champion in the event. 

Former Oklahoma State athlete Craig Nowak, running unattached, was the first across the finish in 8:35.27.

Former Iowa State standout Edwin Kurgat earned this third career victory on the Blue Oval when he won the men's 5000 in 13:34.11.  Kurgat, the NCAA cross country champion in 2019, helped Iowa State win the 4x800 and distance medley relays at Drake that year, when the Cyclones claimed the Relays Cup.

South Dakota State's Joseph Minor-Williams was the top collegian in the race, placing second in 13:51.50.

The women's 5000 came down the final lap as China's Xiuzhen Ma outlasted defending champion Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State. Ma finished in 15:43.92, a personal best. Cunningham, the top collegiate finisher, ran 15:45.91 – 20 seconds faster than her winning time last year.

Ohio University sophomore Theresa Hagey made an impressive collegiate debut in the 10,000, winning the race in 34:53.10, the first Drake Relays title for her school in the event. Northern State's Jackson Harrison won the men's race in 29:51.59, a personal best.

Two Iowa high school athletes repeated their Drake Relays championships. Ballard's Paityn Noe ran away with the title in the girls 3000 in 9:28.89, a personal best that keeps her at No. 3 on the state's all-time list. West Des Moines Valley's Addison Dorenkamp was second in 9:36.38, which is her personal best. She's No. 5 on the all-time list. 

Isabelle Noring of Carlisle repeated as the girls long jump champion at 18-10, adding to an awards collection that includes the last two Class 3A titles at the state meet.

Jacob Kieler became the first Cedar Falls athlete to win the high jump in nearly 75 years when he cleared 6-10, the best winning jump since 2015. You have to go back to 1947 to find another Cedar Falls high jumper with a Relays title: Herbert Belz, who cleared 5-11 ½. 

Spencer Kessel became the first Louisa-Muscatine athlete with a Drake Relays championship when he won the boys shot put with a throw of 64-1/2. He had three other throws of more than 60 feet in dominating the competition.

Drake Relays action will resume Friday morning at 8:30 with the preliminaries of the high school girls 100 hurdles and high school boys discus.