DES MOINES, Iowa -- Reigning NCAA Indoor champion Arkansas, appearing at the Drake Relays for the first time since 2015, made its presence felt, running away from the field to win the women's university 4x800 relay to highlight action during the Friday session of the 113th running of the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom.
 
The Razorbacks put up a time of 8:41.73, which is No. 3 in the world, lowering their previous best of 8:42.83 at the Texas Relays earlier this month.
 
It was part of an evening session that included the world's No. 2 time in the women's steeplechase, the No. 4 times in the world in the men's and women's 4x200 relay – both by Purdue foursomes – and two stirring races in the inaugural elite high school miles for boys and girls.
 
Cedar Rapids Washington sprinter Miles Thompson delivered a Relays record in the boys 100 with the second-fastest time in state history, bringing the two-day record total to eight, including five new events.
 
The day also produced the second-best U.S. outdoor mark in the men's high jump and two world top 10 times in the men's 4x800 relay as 9,217 fans watched during the morning and afternoon events and 8,587 attended the evening session. That brought the two-day total to 25,142.
 
Arkansas' victory came in the year that Lance Harter, the school's veteran women's coach, was inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame. Lainey Quandt anchored for Arkansas in 2:09.85 after getting the baton from freshman Ainsley Erzen, who won four Drake Relays championships as a high school athlete at Carlisle. Utah finished second in 8:56.30.
 
American Madie Boreman, a former Colorado standout, beat a strong international field and put up the No. 2 time in the world in winning the women's invitational steeplechase.
 
Boreman broke away from a tight lead pack in the final lap and stayed comfortably ahead to finish in 9:36.86, short of the Relays record but still an outstanding time. Boreman was a two-time Pac-12 champion with the Buffaloes and the NCAA runner-up in 2017. Alicja Konieczek, a 2021 Olympian for Poland, was second in 9:39.46. Simone Ponte Ferraz, a three-time national champion in Brazil and 2021 Olympian, took third in 9:42.84.
 
Purdue swept the university-college 4x200 relay events, winning the women's race in 1:34.46 and the men's in 1:22.90. Both go down as the No. 4 times in the world this year. It's the third time in five years a school has won both races, including a Purdue sweep in 2018, when the Boilermakers won the women's Relays Cup under Relays Coaches Hall of Famer Lonnie Greene.
 
In one of the most anticipated races of the weekend, Rapid City Stevens (S.D.) High School senior Simeon Birnbaum won the inaugural elite boys high school mile in 4:02.36. The future Oregon Duck narrowly beat hometown favorite Jackson Heidesch of Dowling Catholic, the future Duke Blue Devil taking second in 4:02.76 as the two dueled down the Blue Oval homestretch.
 
Shawnee Mission East (Kan.) Wyatt Haughton was third in 4:05.99, while Iowa City High's Ford Washburn was fourth in 4:07.08. Those four times are the fastest outdoor boys miles in the U.S. this season. 


Des Moines Roosevelt's Adrienne Buettner-Cable won the elite girls mile, passing Ballard's Paityn Noe on the final lap and beating her the finish in 4:49.58, the fastest girls mile ever run on Iowa soil and fifth-fastest of all time by an Iowa prep.
 
It was the second victory of the meet for the Roosevelt senior, who won the 800 earlier in the day. Noe, the 3000 winner on Thursday, ran 4:49.91 in the mile to finish second. 
 
Thompson got things started Friday morning by setting a Drake Relays record in the high school boys 100 in  10.37, which ranks No. 2 on the Iowa all-time list. He came back later in the day to win the final in 10.54.
 
Iowa's Kat Moody earned her second and third career Drake Relays title, winning the women's discus and shot put. Moody opened her day with a win in the discus with a toss of 175-10 (56.81m). Moody is just the third Hawkeye to win the event at Drake, joining Laulauga Tausaga (2019) and Majesty Tutson (2013). Defending Relays champion Emily March from Iowa State was second with a heave of 171-0 (52.13). 
 
Moody went on to win the shot put in the evening with a final-attempt heave of 54-0 (16.46), topping Big Ten rival Taylor Latimer of Nebraska, who was second with a mark of 53-9 3/4 (16.40). She is the eighth thrower to complete the women's discus and shot put sweep at the Drake Relays and the first since Jessica Pressley of Arizona State in 2008. 
 
During her high school days at Waukee, Moody won two state championships in the shot and was the 2017 Drake Relays high school champion.
 
Iowa State captured the women's 4x1600-meter relay for the second time in Drake Relays history, running away from the field with a time of 19:04.56 – the fourth fastest winning time in Relays history. ISU's only other victory in the relay occurred in 2013 in 19:16.69.
 
The Cyclones took the lead with Ashlyn Keeney on the second carry and stayed in front the rest of the way. Madelynn Hill led off for the Cyclones and Keeney was followed by Janette Schraft and Callie Logue.
 
Olivet Nazarene sophomore Hannah Antkoviak  set an all-time NAIA record in the women's university-college 400 hurdles of 56.97, bettering the previous mark of 57.63 by Kimona Smikle of Southern-New Orleans in 2018.
 
The Nebraska quartet of Nick Bryant, Sam Easley, Cortez Ruiz, Niko Schultz led the Cornhuskers to their first 4x800 crown since 1996. The Huskers finished in 7:25.78, which ranks seventh in the world this season. Nebraska also captured titles in the 4x800 in 1985, 1987 and 1995. North Dakota State raced to the No. 9 time in the world in the event, crossing the line in 7:29.14

In the same year that the legendary late Air Force head coach Ralph Lindeman was inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame, the Falcons used a strong kick by Eli Bennett to win their second ever Drake Relays men's 4x1600 meter title. The Falcon quartet of Sean Maison, Scott Maison, Jason Renze and Eli  Bennett finished in a school-record time of 16:23.31 to beat defending champion Iowa State, which ran 16:23.69. Bennett, who won the 2023 Mountain West Conference indoor 3000 title, ran a 4:01.12 anchor leg. Scott Maison had the fastest split with a 4:00.89 second leg.
 
Jalan Rivers gave Air Force its second victory of the day when he cleared 7-1 ½ (2.17m) to win the university-college high jump. Nebraska's Tyus Wilson also cleared 7 -1 ½, but Rivers got the Drake Relays flag on fewer misses. Michael Millslagle of Graceland was next with a clearance of 7-¼ (2.14). 
 
Kyle Rollins, competing unattached, had the top clearance at 7-4 ½ (2.25m), which matches the second best U.S. outdoor mark this year. Rollins was an NCAA Division III champion at St. John Fisher in Rochester, N.Y.
 
Moments after junior Tiana LoStracco became the first Bradley woman ever to capture a Drake Relays title in the women's 1,500 in a personal best 4:18.92,  sophomore Jack Crull of Bradley won the men's 1,500 in a personal best 3:43.18. It marked the first time Bradley had ever won a Drake Relays title in either the men's or women's division. It also marked the fourth time a school swept the men's and women's 1,500 times at the Drake Relays.
 
LoStracco outkicked Arkansas freshman Heidi Nielson down the final 200 meters. Nielsen was second in 4:21.51. LoStracco won the mile at the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship as well as running a leg on the Braves' winning distance medley relay.

Drake Relays action resumes on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. with the preliminaries of the high school girls shuttle hurdle relay.  Fans that can't make it to Des Moines can watch action on the Blue Oval from 2 p.m. CT to 4 p.m. CT live on CBS Sports Network.