Drake Relays

Drake Relays

Sport	Track and field
Founded	1910
Country	United States
Official website	Official website

The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee for sponsorship purposes) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. It is regarded as one of the top track and field events in the United States.^[1]

History

The inaugural Drake Relays were held in 1910. The first meet drew just 100 spectators and 82 athletes, all from Des Moines-area colleges and high schools. The second year, however, drew 250 athletes and a crowd of some 500 spectators. In 1914, the Relays saw its first world record set. By 1922, the Relays had been expanded into a two-day event that drew 10,000 fans and became the first major track and field event broadcast on the radio. For the 1926 Relays, Drake Stadium was completed on the site of the prior host, Haskins Field.^[2]

Women's events were added beginning in 1961 with Wilma Rudolph competing in the 100 meters.^[3] The 1966 Relays began a streak of 48 consecutive Saturdays with a sellout.^[4] In 1969, a $175,000 tartan track was installed. The events at the Relays would go metric beginning in 1976; the track was rebuilt in a 400-meter oval in 1978. The track oval was resurfaced in 1983 and was renamed the "Jim Duncan Track" to honor the long time relays public address announcer in 1988.

Hundreds of Olympic gold medalists have competed at Drake Stadium including Bruce Jenner, Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Frank Shorter, Gwen Torrence, and Jeremy Wariner.^[5] Hundreds more Drake Relays competitors have gone onto compete in the Olympic Games, including 113 former athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games.^[6]

In 2006, a Friday night session was added for the first time.^[7] In 2010, the Grand Blue Mile, a one-mile road race in downtown Des Moines, was added as the first athletic event.^[8] The current week of festivities begins with a parade on Saturday, continues with a Beautiful Bulldog Contest (Drake's mascot) on Monday, the Grand Blue Mile on Tuesday, and an indoor pole vault on Wednesday^[9] with the decathlon and heptathlon beginning Wednesday and concluding alongside the distance carnival on Thursday.

In November 2012, Midwest grocer Hy-Vee was announced as the presenting sponsor beginning with the 104th running of the Drake Relays in 2013. Through the sponsorship, the Relays will offer a $50,000 purse in running events and $25,000 purse in field events, making the Drake Relays the richest athletics event in the United States. Further, 90 minutes of action were aired on ESPN2 and an additional two hours on ESPN3.^[10] The 2013 field saw 25 Olympic medalists in total.^[11]

In addition to serving as a track meet, the Relays serves as a second homecoming for the university^[12] and sees wider community events, such as a student street painting and a downtown Des Moines block party.

Drake Stadium

Opened in 1925, the 14,557-seat stadium and its famous blue oval have hosted the Relays since 1926. A $15 million renovation in 2006 reduced capacity from 18,000 seats in order to expand the lanes, allow fans to watch throwing and running at the same time, and allow for more hosting of events.^[7]

Relays Directors

Eleven men have claimed the role of director of the Drake Relays since the very first officially organized track and field event took place more than 100 years ago back in the year 1910. In 2009, the day before the 100th anniversary of the relays, there was a phenomenal firework show put on by the area Girl Scouts to honor the Veterans of wars past fought.

• John L. Griffith 1910-1918
  Griffith was the founder of the Drake Relays. He remained director for 9 years and moved to the University of Illinois after World War I. He later became commissioner of the Big Ten Conference.

• M.B. Banks 1919-1921
  Banks also served as coach to the Drake football and basketball teams.

• K.L. (Tug) Wilson 1922-1925
  Wilson was a former Illinois and Olympic athlete. After his tenure as director, he went on to become athletic director at Northwestern University. Wilson was also a former Big Ten Conference commissioner.

• O.M. (Ossie) Solem 1926-1932
  Longtime Drake coach succeeded Wilson, but left to become head football coach at the University of Iowa, and later at Syracuse University.

• F.P. (Pitch) Johnson 1933-1940

• M.E. (Bill) Easton 1941-1947

• Tom Deckard 1948-1955

• Bob Karnes 1956-1969

• Bob Ehrhart 1970-2000

• Mark Kostek 2001-2005

• Brian Brown 2006–present
  Brown participated in the relays himself and currently holds the Drake Relays record in the high jump. Each year Brown attempts to have his record broken by recruiting some of the best high jumpers in the country, but none have been able to take down his record.

Meet Records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	10.01 (+1.9 m/s)	Harvey Glance	United States	24 April 1976	[13]
200 m	20.02 (+1.7 m/s)	Wallace Spearmon	United States	28 April 2012	[14]
400 m	44.41	Michael Johnson	United States	27 April 1996	[15]
800 m	1:45.86	Randy Wilson	United States	28 April 1978	[16]
1500 m	3:38.27	Steve Scott	United States	28 April 1984	[17]
Mile	3:51.71	Alan Webb	United States	28 April 2007	[18]
5000 m	13:27.20	Nick Rose	United Kingdom	29 April 1977	[19]
10000 m	28:07.40	Kipsubal Koskei	Kenya	26 April 1980	[20]
110 m hurdles	13.20 (+1.0 m/s)	Ryan Wilson	United States	28 April 2012	[14]
400 m hurdles	48.28	Danny Harris	United States	25 April 1986	[21]
3000 m steeplechase	8:31.02	Henry Marsh	United States	30 April 1977	[19]
High jump	2.31 m	Brian Brown	United States	26 April 1997	[22]
		Dusty Jonas	United States	30 April 2011	[23]
				30 April 2013	[22]
		Erik Kynard	United States	30 April 2011	[23]
Pole vault	5.79 m	Jeff Hartwig	United States	28 April 2007	[18]
	5.80 m i	Björn Otto	Germany	24 April 2013	[24]
Long jump	7.96 m	Ralph Boston	United States	29 April 1961	[25]
Triple jump	16.85 m	Paul Emordi	Nigeria	27 April 1985	[26]
Shot put	22.10 m	Christian Cantwell	United States	29 April 2006	[27]
Discus throw	64.32 m	Mac Wilkins	United States	28 April 1978	[16]
Hammer Throw	72.77 m	Libor Charfreitag	Slovakia	27 April 2002	[28]
		Cory Martin	United States	26 April 2008	[28]
Decathlon	8198 pts	Kip Janvrin	United States	25 April 1996	[15]
	10.96 (100 m), 7.20 m (long jump), 13.72 m (shot put), 1.98 m (high jump), 48.57 (400 m) / 14.70 (110 m hurdles), 43.16 m (discus), 4.95 m (pole vault), 58.02 m (javelin), 4:11.63 (1500 m)
4×100 m relay	38.96	University of Alabama Emmit King Lamar Smith Calvin Smith Walter Monroe	United States  United States  United States  United States	30 April 1983	[29]
4×200 m relay	1:20.53	University of Texas-El Paso Obadele Thompson Milton Mallard Hayden Stephen Andrew Tynes	Barbados  United States  United States  Bahamas	30 April 1994	[30]
4×400 m relay	3:00.78	Southern Illinois University Parry Duncan Tony Adams Elvis Forde Michael Franks	United States  United States  Barbados  United States	28 April 1984	[17]
4×800 m relay	7:14.89	University of Nebraska Gerard O'Callaghan Glen Cunningham Regis Humphrey Jean Verster	Ireland  United States  United States  South Africa	26 April 1985	[26]
4×110m Shuttle hurdles relay	55.06	Indiana State University Jeff Martin Ryan Johnson Larry Hines Aubrey Herring	United States  United States  United States  United States	28 April 2001	[31]

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	11.06 (0.0 m/s)	LaShauntea Moore	United States	24 April 2010	[32]
200 m	22.40 (+0.7 m/s)	Gwen Torrence	United States	30 April 1994	[33]
400 m	50.64	Lillie Leatherwood-King	United States	25 April 1987	[34]
800 m	2:01.68	Suzy Favor-Hamilton	United States	27 April 1998	[35]
1500 m	4:03.35	Jennifer Simpson	United States	26 April 2013	[36]
Mile	4:40.2	Francie Larrieu-Smith	United States	27 April 1975	[37]
3000 m	8:56.03	Suzy Favor-Hamilton	United States	27 April 2002	[35]
5000 m	15:31.18	Cathy Branta-Easker	United States	27 April 1985	[26]
10000 m	32:57.38	Patti Murray	United States	28 April 1988	[38]
100 m hurdles	12.65 (-0.9 m/s)	Damu Cherry	United States	24 April 2010	[39]
400 m hurdles	54.41	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	27 April 2013	[40]
3000 m steeplechase	8:31.02	Ida Nilsson	Sweden	23 April 2004	[41]
High jump	1.98 m	Chaunte Lowe	United States	28 April 2012	[42]
Pole vault	4.85 m	Yarisley Silva	Cuba	26 April 2013	[43]
	4.82 m i	Yarisley Silva	Cuba	24 April 2013	[44]
Long jump	6.78 m	Aisha James	United States	26 April 2003	[45]
Triple jump	13.81 m	Shani Marks	United States	26 April 2003	[45]
Shot put	18.67 m	Nadine Kleinert	Germany	24 April 2010	[46]
Discus throw	64.38 m	Becky Breisch	United States	24 April 2010	[47]
Hammer throw	63.77 m	Florence Ezeh	Togo	27 April 2002	[35]
Heptathlon	6040 pts	Diana Pickler	United States	21–22 April 2009	[48]
	13.63 (0.0 m/s) (100 m hurdles), 1.78 m (high jump), 12.08 m (shot put), 24.48 (+1.7 m/s) (200 m) / 6.14 m (+1.0 m/s) (long jump), 41.39 m (javelin), 2:16.73 (800 m)				[49]
4×100 m relay	43.58	University Of Texas Morgan Snow Allison Peter Christy Udoh Chalonda Goodman	United States  United States Virgin Islands  Nigeria  United States	28 April 2012	[50]
4×200 m relay	43.58	Texas Southern University Linda Eseimokumoh Beatrice Utondu Dyan Webber Mary Onyali	Nigeria  Nigeria  United States  Nigeria	28 April 1989	[51]
4×400 m relay	3:28.63	University of Arkansas Regina George Shelise Williams Gwendolyn Flowers Brittany Hyter	Nigeria  United States  United States  United States	30 April 2011	[52]
4×800 m relay	8:27.42	University Of Minnesota Julie Schwengler Jamie Cheever Gabrielle Anderson Heather Dorniden	United States  United States  United States  United States	27 April 2007	[53]
4×100m Shuttle hurdles relay	52.50	Academy of Art University Vashti Thomas Briana Stewart Dinesha Bean Julian Purvis	United States  United States  United States  United States	27 April 2013	[54]

Future Dates

• 105th Annual Drake Relays - April 24–26, 2014
• 106th Annual Drake Relays - April 23–25, 2015
• 107th Annual Drake Relays - April 28–30, 2016

References

External links

• Drake Relays website
• Drake Relays Records
• Drake Relays Digital Archives
• Drake Relays Hall of Fame