LOADED FIELDS SET FOR USATF 1 MILE ROAD RACE, CHANCE AT RECORD-BREAKING WOMEN’S MILE, ELITE MEN’S 1500 at Drake Relays

LOADED FIELDS SET FOR USATF 1 MILE ROAD RACE, CHANCE AT RECORD-BREAKING WOMEN’S MILE, ELITE MEN’S 1500

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DES MOINES, Iowa – The stakes have been raised heading to the 2025 Drake Relays for a selection of distance races. The USA Track & Field 1 Mile Road Championships, hosted as part of the Grand Blue Mile presented by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, will again bring some of the nation’s top milers to Downtown Des Moines for a chance to qualify for Team USA. The Blue Oval will also feature a loaded lineup in the women’s mile and a shot at a 50-year-old stadium record while the men’s 1500 is set to be another impressive contest with multiple athletes hoping to better the stadium record set last year.

“It is an honor to again host the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships have as part of the Grand Blue Mile presented by Wellmark,” Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays Blake Boldon said. “The event has built a reputation among the discipline’s most competitive runners as a premier destination, and this year’s race will add an extra level of motivation to that tradition. It’s a point of pride for Des Moines and a distinction for all involved with America’s Athletic Classic.”

The fields for the Women’s USATF 1 Mile Road Championship and Women’s Mile in Drake Stadium will include several of the same athletes highlighted by a pair of internationally renowned Iowans. Karissa Schweizer, a 2-time Olympic finalist and 2014 Dowling Catholic Grad, and Shelby Houlihan, a Sioux City East prep and 2016 Olympic finalist, will highlight both races. Schweizer was a 6-time NCAA title winner at Missouri where she also won a Drake Relays flag. She has won 13 Drake Relays medals during her career and is currently ranked third all-time in the American women’s 3000m and 5000m. Houlihan also has valuable Blue Oval experience with eight Drake Relays titles to her credit. She ran collegiately at Arizona State where she won the 2014 NCAA 1500m crown and was a 10-time All-American. This year, Houlihan finished second at both the U.S. Indoor Championships and Indoor World Championships after logging the second fastest time in the world for the indoor mile.

Shelby Houlihan, USA, edges Jessica Hull, AUS in 3000 meters, March 22, 2025, Nanjing, photo by Dan Vernonn for World Athletics

Both Schweizer and Houlihan will be available to national and local media in a Zoom press conference on the afternoon of Thursday, Apr. 17. Further details are to be determined.

Defending 1 Mile Road Race champion Rachel McArthur will be returning to Des Moines for a chance to repeat downtown. She won last year’s race with a personal best time of 4:32.20.

Other dual competitors in both the road mile and Drake Relays mile include 2024 Olympic Trials semifinalist Eleanor Fulton, 2023 U.S. steeplechase champion Krissy Gear, 2016 Olympic eight-place winner and 3-time World Championship qualifier Colleen Quigley, 2-time Olympic Trials 1500m finalist Dani Jones, and 2022 Road Mile runner-up Jenn Randall.

Alex Teubel, 3-time U.S. Championship steeplechase finalist and the current Head Cross Country and Assistant Track & Field Coach at the University of Northern Iowa, highlights the remainder of the women’s road mile lineup. Other road milers include 39-year-old 2024 World Masters 800m and 1500m champion Anna Connor, 2024 Road Mile fifth place winner Angelina Ellis, NCAA All-Americans Cailee Peterson and Taryn Rawlings, road mile veteran Maria Seykora, 3-time World Championship qualifier and 2023 Road Mile runner-up Sinclaire Johnson, and last year’s third place winner Micaela DeGenero.

World Record Way will also see three women make their debut as NAIA steeplechase star Hannah Eagon, NCAA Division III all-time leader in the outdoor 5000m and 10000m Kassie Parker, and Missouri Valley Conference champion Rachel Anderson will hit the pavement for their first shot at a road race title.

“We’re not only thrilled for the 1 Mile Championships,” Boldon added. “But we are also eager for the women’s mile and men’s 1500 to hit the Blue Oval. 2025 has been a year of celebration for women’s sports at Drake University, and the Drake Relays are proud to add to that recognition. Francie Larrieu’s brilliance 50 years ago has stood the test of time, but this crop of elite athletes are determined to rewrite history here at Drake Stadium.”

Houlihan and Schweizer will not be alone in their quest to reset the 50-year-old Drake Stadium record in the women’s mile. Polish steeplechaser Aneta Konieczek will pace the field that includes countrywoman and 4-time Polish national champion Eliza Megger. 2024 Olympic qualifier Kate Current of Canada, 19-time Luxembourg national champion and Olympian Vera Hoffman, Mexican Olympian Alma Cortes, and 11-time Swedish champion Hanna Hermansson will add more international flare.

Wilma Nielsen and Silan Ayyildiz, both current standouts for the track juggernaut that is the University of Oregon, will bring additional collegiate and global success to the Blue Oval. Nielsen, another Swede, won the NCAA Indoor Mile championship while Ayyildiz holds the Turkish national record in the mile at 4:23.46. 2024 Olympic Trials finalist Christina Aragon and NCAA All-American Flomena Asekol round out the women’s mile field.

The men’s Road Mile and 1500m in Drake Stadium will also see plenty of crossover. Defending champion Vincent Ciattei, who set a course record in his downtown victory a year ago, returns to attempt to maintain his crown. Ciattei finished fourth at both the 2025 US Indoor championships and 2024 Olympic Trials in the 1500. Shane Streich, a 3-time top seven Drake Relays finisher, Tanner Maier, who finished 11th in last year’s road mile, Craig Engels, a 2019 US champion, and Josh Thompson, a 2022 Indoor and Outdoor World Championship qualifier, will all be competing in both races.

Drake Bulldog fans will be able to witness a familiar face compete in both the USATF 1 Mile Road Championship and Drake Relays 1500m as Isaac Basten is set to make his USATF 1 Mile debut. Basten finished fifth in the 2024 Drake Relays WACT 800m while still a member of the Bulldogs’ track and field team. He was also a 3-time All-American and 6-time MVC champ. Damien Dilcher, Silas Winders, Gabe Sieperda, and Sam Ellis will also be making their road race debut.

The men’s 1 Mile Championship roster will also include returners like 2-time Des Moines road race winner Sam Prakel, 2023 runner-up Casey Comber, 2024 bronze medalist Alec Basten, 8-time US finalist Abe Alvarado, 2024 entry Nick Randazzo, and 2023 Pan America Games 5000m winner Kasey Knevelbard. Mikey Brannigan, the first Paralympi ambulatory athlete to break four minutes in the mile and a 2016 Paralympic gold medalist, is part of the road race roster. Olin Hacker, an NCAA champion at Wisconsin, and Riley Osen, a 2024 Drake Relays steeplechaser, round out the field.

The men’s 1500m in Drake Stadium will run on Saturday afternoon and that field is finalized with the inclusion of Qatari runner Hamza Driouch and the Canadian duo of Foster Malleck and Max Davies. Malleck qualified for the 2025 Indoor World Championships in the 1500 while Davis competed in the 2022 World Junior Championships in the same race.

USATF 1 Mile Field

Men

Abe Alvarado

Alec Basten

Isaac Basten

Vincent Ciattei

Damien Dilcher

Sam Ellis

Craig Engels

Olin Hacker

Kelsey Knevelbard

Tanner Maier