DES MOINES, Iowa – The final day of the 115th running of the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom was one for the ages, with some of the oldest records in recent history being broken and Olympic gold medalists delighting the crowd at Drake Stadium.
Ten records were set Saturday, pushing the three-day total to 21 and highlighted by a 64-year mark falling in the men's long jump.
Just an hour after Minnesota sophomore Charles Godfred took down the oldest mark in the Drake Relays record book in the men's long jump, a 50-year-old meet record was erased in the women's mile, as had been expected. If that wasn't enough, Oregon junior Silan Ayyildiz set a collegiate record in the same race of 4:25.50, bettering the old record of 4:29.04 by Angela Chalmers of Northern Arizona in 1987.
En route to his victory in the WACT men's long jump, Godfred went 26 feet 4 ¼ inches (8.03m) on his second jump to break the record of 26-1 ¼ (8.13m) that three-time Olympic medalist Ralph Boston set back in 1961. Godfred, the defending Big Ten outdoor champion, will get credit for a winning jump of 26-8 ¼ (8.13m), which he hit on his third attempt, but the favoring wind was over the allowable limit so that mark could not be counted as the record.
Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall, making her Drake Relays debut, wasted no time breaking the Relays record in the WACT women's invitational long jump. On her first jump, Davis-Woodhall went 22-1 ¾ (6.75m), which was a quarter of an inch longer than the Relays record that three-time Olympic medalist Brittney Reese set in 2016.
She didn't improve on that mark in the final five rounds, so it goes down as the winning jump. Sydney Willits, who was an NCAA indoor champion at Iowa, State, finished second at 21-5 ½ (6.54m).
Davis-Woodhall sprawled in the sand after her final jump, then got up, faced the crowd and urged them on. Minutes later, she watched her husband run as the only Paralympian in the invitational 400. Woodall, the Paralympic gold medalist in Paris last year, ran 48.13 in a race won by Jamaican Zandrion Barnes in 45.29.
"I feel like I'm living a dream but it's actually reality," Davis-Woodhall said. "I'm so grateful to compete in front of such a great crowd and show them what we have, what we got."
Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell treated the Drake Stadium crowd to a victory in the WACT women's invitational 100 hurdles even as she and the other runners battled a head wind. Russell, who ran a 12.62 in Gainesville, Fla., last weekend, clocked 12.74 this time to win handily. Denisha Cartwright, who won the university-college 100 hurdles while competing for Minnesota State at the 2024 Drake Relays, was second in 12.93. Former UCF runner Rayniah Jones was third in 13-flat.
"I was running into a negative wind but that gave me a little more confidence," Russell said. "The goal was to win, and I did just that. I didn't really know what to expect today…the goal is to run fast in July and September and getting the rhythm back…for me it was a good execution."
Roger Steen, silver medalist in the 2025 World Indoor Championships, captured the WACT men's invitational shot put with a throw of 70-11 1/4 (21.62) which ranks No. 2 on the world list. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser did not compete as scheduled in the WACT men's invitational shot put while recovering from shoulder surgery.
Running icon Francie Larrieu, a five-time Olympian, has been saying it was time for someone to break her 50-year-old Relays record in the invitational women's mile. A star-studded field of 16 runners, including seven Olympians, made it happen. Krissy Gear led them all across the finish line, clocking 4:23.69 to beat crowd favorites Karissa Schweizer and Shelby Houlihan and obliterate Larrieu's record of 4:40.2 set in 1975.
Ayyildiz, who earlier set the collegiate indoor mark in the mile, finished fourth. Oregon senior teammate Mia Barnett also ran under the previous collegiate record with a time of 4:26.40 to place sixth.
By the time everyone had finished, all 16 had come in under the old record. It was the second Relays victory of the week for Gear, who won the USATF One Mile Road Championship in downtown Des Moines Tuesday night.
Houlihan, the American record holder in the 1500, was second in 4:23.84. She won a total of 16 championships on the Blue Oval while running at Sioux City East High School and is a 12-time national champion at various distances.
"I really just wanted to come back swinging and I feel like I've been able to," said Houlihan, who was making her first Drake Relays appearance since 2017. "I feel like I did everything I could this weekend. It's definitely there…we're going to be sharp."
Schweizer, a two-time Olympian who graduated from West Des Moines Dowling Catholic High School, was third in 4:25.27. She had finished second in the road mile.
"The stadium was incredible…it's so fun to be back, I really wanted to do the road mile and track mile this year. Such a fun weekend," added Schweizer, who won six NCAA titles running for Missouri. "I really tried to work on my race tactics and see how it went for me. I'm happy with how I was able to respond. Putting myself in these challenging environments is good."
Vincent Ciattei matched Gear's efforts by winning the WACT invitational 1500 in 3:49.99, just four days after winning the USATF One Mile Road Championship Tuesday.
Former Alabama standout Chris Robinson held on after stumbling at the last hurdle to win the WACT men's 400 hurdles. Robinson, who was an NCAA champion and runner-up with the Crimson Tide, ran 48.92 to beat a fast-closing James Smith II. Smith II, coming off a victory at the Mt. SAC Relays, was clocked in 49.11. Ashley Miller, the national record holder in Zimbabwe, captured the WACT women's 400 hurdles in 56.07.
The Drake Relays long has been known for fast shuttle hurdle relays and this year was no exception. The winners in both the men's and women's races recorded the best times in the world so far. Iowa won the men's race in 57.26, giving the Hawkeyes their second world best time in less than 24 hours. They logged the No. 1 time in the 4x800 relay on Friday night, running 7:21.88. Kentucky won the women's shuttle hurdle in a world best 54.31.
Iowa State and Iowa won the Relays Men's and Women's Cups, respectively. The Cyclones won the men's university sprint medley on Saturday and finished second in the university distance medley.
Iowa sophomore Holly Duax won the women's university-college 100 and ran the first leg on the Hawkeyes' winning sprint medley relay and the second leg on the second-place 4x100 relay.
"In high school, it was easy to kind of get caught up in my head and feel like I had so many expectations," said Duax, who won the high school girls 100 at the 2021 and 2022 Drake Relays, competing for Sioux City North. "If I won, it was cool. Everybody was expecting that, but if I lost, it would be this huge deal, so I had so much pressure to perform."
Reese Brownlee's victory in the girls 400 hurdles put her in a select group of two. The Clear Lake senior broke the Relays record with her time of 59.86 fr her third title this weekend to go with earlier victories in the long jump and 400. Houlihan, an Iowa high school Hall of Famer, is the only other athlete to claim three individual titles in the girls division, winning the 800, 1500 and 3000 in 2011. Brownlee, who also won the 400 hurdles last year, became the first to run under 60 seconds at the Relays. The old Relays record was 1:00.25 by Linn-Mar's Payton Wensel in 2018.
Nearly four decades after Rock Valley's Darwin Vande Hoef became the first athlete to win three individual Relays titles in the boys competition, Western Dubuque's Quinton Nauman matched that feat. Nauman, a junior who has committed to Oregon, completed his triple crown by winning the 1600 in 4:05.17, a Relays record and the fastest time ever in the state. That came after he won the 3200 in record time on Thursday and the 800 on Friday, tying the Relays record in that event. Vande Hoef won the 100 hurdles, 400 hurdles and long jump in 1989. Caleb Ten Pas of Des Moines Christian finished second in the 1600 in 4:07.70, which is No. 7 on the all-time list. Third went to Dowling Catholic's Owen Wolfe in 4:09.41, which is No. 10 all-time.
Waukee Northwest also set an Iowa boys all-time high school mark in the shuttle hurdle relay of 56.82 on Saturday.
The Drake Relays will be back in 2026 for the 116th installment of America's Athletic Classic. Fans and athletes alike will flock to Drake Stadium from April 22-25, 2026.
