Drake Relays

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Drake Relays
200px
Sport Track and field
Founded (First held in April of 1910)
Country Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Qualification Top Track and field Athletes
Related competitions Penn Relays
Official website drakerelays.org

The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee) 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 Caitlyn Jenner (as Bruce),[lower-alpha 1] Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Frank Shorter, Gwen Torrence, and Jeremy Wariner.[6] Hundreds more Drake Relays competitors have gone onto compete in the Olympic Games, including 113 former athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games.[7]

In 2006, a Friday night session was added for the first time.[8] In 2010, the Grand Blue Mile, a one-mile road race in downtown Des Moines, was added as the first athletic event.[9] 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[10] 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.[11] The 2013 field saw 25 Olympic medalists in total.[12]

In addition to serving as a track meet, the Relays serves as a second homecoming for the university[13] and sees wider community events, such as a student street painting and a downtown Des Moines block party.

Drake Stadium

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Main article: 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.[8]

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. Drake's live bulldog mascot, Griff, is named for him.
  • 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, later became head football coach at the University of Iowa and 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 held the Drake Relays record in the high jump until 2014. For his first eight years as director, Brown had attempted to have his record broken by recruiting some of the best high jumpers in the country.

Meet Records

Men

Event Record Athlete Nationality Date Ref
100 m 10.01 (+1.9 m/s) Harvey Glance  United States 24 April 1976 [14]
200 m 20.02 (+1.7 m/s) Wallace Spearmon  United States 28 April 2012 [15]
400 m 44.08 Kirani James  Grenada 29 April 2016 [16]
800 m 1:45.86 Randy Wilson  United States 28 April 1978 [17]
1500 m 3:38.27 Steve Scott  United States 28 April 1984 [18]
Mile 3:51.71 Alan Webb  United States 28 April 2007 [19]
5000 m 13:27.20 Nick Rose  United Kingdom 29 April 1977 [20]
10000 m 28:07.40 Kipsubal Koskei  Kenya 26 April 1980 [21]
110 m hurdles 13.08 (-0.1 m/s) Omar McLeod  Jamaica 30 April 2016 [22]
400 m hurdles 48.28 Danny Harris  United States 25 April 1986 [23]
3000 m steeplechase 8:31.02 Henry Marsh  United States 30 April 1977 [20]
High jump 2.40 m (7 ft 10​1⁄4 in) Derek Drouin  Canada 25 April 2014 [24]
Pole vault 5.81 m (19 ft 0​1⁄2 in) Jeff Hartwig  United States 28 April 2007 [19]
5.82 m (19 ft 1 in) i Sam Kendricks  United States 25 April 2015 [25]
Shawnacy Barber  Canada
Long jump 7.95 m (26 ft 0​3⁄4 in) Ralph Boston  United States 29 April 1961 [26]
Triple jump 17.12 m (56 ft 2 in) Christian Taylor  United States April 2013
Li Ning  China
Shot put 22.10 m (72 ft 6 in) Christian Cantwell  United States 29 April 2006 [27]
Discus throw 64.31 m (210 ft 11​3⁄4 in) Mac Wilkins  United States 28 April 1978 [17]
Hammer Throw 72.77 m (238 ft 8​3⁄4 in) 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 [29]
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 [30]
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 [31]
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 [18]
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 [32]
4×110m Shuttle hurdles relay 52.94 USA Blue
Jason Richardson
Aleec Harris
Aries Merritt
David Oliver
 United States
 United States
 United States
 United States		 25 April 2015 [25]

Women

Event Record Athlete Nationality Date Ref
100 m 11.06 (0.0 m/s) LaShauntea Moore  United States 24 April 2010 [33]
200 m 22.40 (+0.7 m/s) Gwen Torrence  United States 30 April 1994 [34]
400 m 50.13 Francena McCorory  United States 25 April 2015 [25]
800 m 2:00.03 Ajee' Wilson  United States 24 April 2015 [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 [38]
5000 m 15:31.18 Cathy Branta-Easker  United States 27 April 1985 [32]
10000 m 32:57.38 Patti Murray  United States 28 April 1988 [39]
100 m hurdles 12.40 (+1.5 m/s) Jasmin Stowers  United States 25 April 2015 [25]
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 [38]
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 50.50 USA Blue
Brianna Rollins
Dawn Harper-Nelson
Queen Harrison
Kristi Castlin
 United States
 United States
 United States
 United States		 24 April 2015 [35]

Future dates

  • 108th Annual Drake Relays: April 26-29, 2017

Notes

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References

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External links

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  10. ↑ http://alumni.drake.edu/s/1287/relays/start.aspx?sid=1287&gid=2&pgid=716
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ http://www.godrakebulldogs.com//pdf8/940885.pdf?SPSID=319753&SPID=8142&DB_OEM_ID=15700
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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