This is the report from Drake Relays communications on Day 1 of the 2025 Drake Relays, April 24, 2025. The Drake Relays are in their 115th year. In 1910, when they first began, the Drake Relays had 800 competitors and 100 fans, and there was snow in the stadium. This year, the iconic Drake Relays is starting off with some amazing performances.
Drake Relays does a wonderful job of promoting the event, with excellent Zoom conferences, great results, and coverage of the event. I just wish I could have been there this eyar.
RECORDS FALL ON OPENING DAY OF 115TH DRAKE RELAYS
DES MOINES, Iowa – The world’s best athletes wasted little time making their presence known on the first day of the 115th running of the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom.
It took only 20 minutes into Thursday’s opening session for American record holder Rudy Winkler to set both a Drake Relays and Drake Stadium record in the WACT men’s hammer throw, uncorking a throw of 81.08m/266-0 on his third attempt. It was the second-best throw in the world this spring.
“I have been training very well so I knew 80 meters was in the cards in terms of how my training has been going,” said Winkler, who was sixth in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “You always know. My furthest throw today felt good, but it felt like there is more there which is exciting.”
It was the second Drake Relays title in the hammer for Winkler, who competes for the New York Athletic Club. He also won in 2023.
Nebraska junior Till Steinforth repeated his decathlon championship with a meet record that lifted him to the No. 1 spot in the world this year. Steinforth amassed 8,265 points over the two days of competition to break a 29-year-old record held by Drake Relays Hall of Famer Kip Janvrin.
“I feel proud of that,” said Steinforth, a native of Germany who was 15th at the Paris Olympics last year and was the bronze medalist in the heptathlon at this year’s World Indoor Championships. “He (Janvrin) is a really great athlete.”
“I don’t know who holds the record for the most decathlons over eight thousand points, but he (Janvrin) is definitely up there. To be able to break his record just shows me to what level I can get to.”
Janvrin scored 8,198 points back in 1996. Steinforth’s point total is the best in the world so far this year. He is one of four athletes in Drake Relays to achieve 8,000 points. The others are Janvrin, a 2000 Olympian; 1976 Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner; and Jeff Bennett from Oklahoma Christian, who was the first to break the 8,000-point barrier with 8,072 points in 1970.
Carter Morton, who is being redshirted at Northern Iowa this spring, outran Iowa freshman Abraham Vogelsang in the final event, the 1500, to hold on to second place. Morton finished with a career-best 7,882 points and Vogelsang had 7,874 in an impressive Drake Relays debut.
Steinforth won four of the five events on Wednesday: 100, long jump, shot put, 400 in a personal best 47.96. He opened the final day winning the 110 hurdles in 14.09, while finishing second in the javelin (183-9).
Brooke Anderson outdueled world leader Rachel Richeson to win the WACT women’s hammer throw. Anderson, the world championships gold medalist in 2022, posted a throw of 75.28m/247-0, a season best that ranks No. 5 in the world. Richeson, who has thrown a world-best 78.80m/258-6 this year, was second at 72.76m/238-8. She is coming off a gold medal in the weight throw at USA Indoor Championships on Feb. 23.
USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Hayward Field, University of Oregon, June 23-26, 2022, photo by Kevin Morris
Bahamian Olympian Rhema Otabor repeated her title in the women’s javelin, capturing the WACT event in dramatic fashion. Otabor, a two-time NCAA champion competing for Nebraska and a 2024 Olympian, trailed Madison Wiltrout until throwing 58.20m/190-11 on her final attempt to edge Wiltrout by two inches. Wiltrout, who was an ACC champion and All-American at North Carolina, threw 58.14m/190-9 on her first attempt and no one passed her until Otabor came up with her clutch throw at the end.
Jordan Gray from Multi-Stars Inc. completed a steady progression with her victory in the heptathlon. Gray finished third in 2023 and was the runner-up last year before putting together her winning performance for her first Drake Relays championship. Making her outdoor debut, Gray built a solid lead after the first four events Wednesday and stayed comfortably ahead through the final three events, finishing with 5,517 points. It was the 29-year-old’s first complete heptathlon since winning the bronze medal at the 2023 Pan-American Games in Chile.
Wisconsin junior Shaina Zinter, the reigning 2024 Big Ten Conference heptathlon champ, had a strong second day to finish second with 5,261 points – one point ahead of Emily Swanson, a senior at Sioux Falls.
Dordt led from the start in racing to its first Drake Relays championship in the college women’s 4×800 relay. The Defenders finished in 9:02.33 — the top time among NAIA schools this year. The college men’s 4×800 relay produced some of the nation’s top times, including the No. 1 clocking in the NAIA ranks by Cornerstone of Michigan, which won the race in 7:31.29. Runner-up Iowa Central Community College logged the No. 3 junior college time at 7:32.82 and Minnesota State took over the NCAA Division II lead with its time of 7:34.02
In the most anticipated high school event of the opening day, Western Dubuque junior Quentin Nauman put the hammer down on the backstretch of the final lap and sped to a Relays record in the high school boys 3200 of 8:52.45. He beat a strong field that included defending champion Jaden Merrick of Cedar Falls, who set the old record of 8:55.14 last year and was leading until Nauman made his move. Turning his final lap in 57.75, Nauman’s time puts him at No. 3 on the state’s all-time list. Pella’s Canaan Dunham was second in 8:56.11, which is seventh on the all-time list, and Ankeny’s Ethan Zuber took third in 8:59.60. Merrick finished fourth in 9:02.74.
Camanche senior Tyson Seeser joined an elite group with his repeat victory in the boys high jump, clearing seven feet to become just the fifth prep jumper to top that height at the Relays and only the 13th overall. He’s first to win back-to-back titles since Jeff Giannettino won three straight from 2013-15.
Cedar Falls freshman Charlee Gall pulled away from the pack early and became the second member of her family to win the high school girls 3000. Gall, the daughter of three-time Drake Relays champion Sarah Gray, raced to a 9:44.19 clocking, which puts her at No. 9 on the state’s all-time list. Her mother won her titles in 1995, 1996 and 1997 and is a member of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Track Hall of Fame.
Clear Lake’s Reese Brownlee took the first step in her bid to become a repeat champion in two events. Brownlee went 18-10 in the high school girls long jump to edge the state’s all-time leader, Abby Mecklenburg of Linn-Mar, by a quarter of an inch for her second straight Relays title. Mecklenburg has jumped 20-8 ¼ his year, the only Iowa girl who has gone past 20 feet. She had two chances at the end of the competition to pass Brownlee but fouled on both jumps. Brownlee will go for her second straight title in the 400 hurdles on Saturday.
Action will continue in the 115th Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom tomorrow with a gripping prep lineup and loads of promise in the university and collegiate fields.
Live Results: https://results.
