Drake Relays facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Drake Relays

Sport	Track and field
Founded	(First held in April of 1910)
Country	Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Qualification	World Athletics Silver Level
Sponsor(s)	Xtream powered by Mediacom
Related competitions	Penn Relays

The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as America's Athletic Classic, it is regarded as one of the top track and field events in the United States. In 2020, the Drake Relays was named a Silver Level event on the World Athletics Continental Tour, one of only two competitions in the United States to earn Silver Level status.

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.

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

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. Hundreds more Drake Relays competitors have gone onto compete in the Olympic Games, including 113 former athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games.

In 2006, a Friday night session was added for the first time. In 2010, the Grand Blue Mile, a one-mile road race in downtown Des Moines, was added as the first athletic event. The current week of festivities begins with a parade on Saturday, continues with a Beautiful Bulldog Contest (Drake's mascot) on Sunday, the Grand Blue Mile on Tuesday, and an indoor pole vault on Wednesday 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 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 live-action coverage were aired on ESPN2 and an additional two hours on ESPN3. The 2013 field saw 25 Olympic medalists in total. Currently NBCSN airs 2–3 hours of coverage on Saturday with live coverage via NBCSports.com throughout the event.

Among other recent enhancements, in January 2018 Drake Relays unveiled the Blue Standard. Iowa's top high school athletes can now automatically qualify for the relays based on their times in their respective events. The Blue Standard is based on the historical data of the top 25 percent of accepted entries from past Drake Relays.

In March 2020, Xtream powered by Mediacom was named the new presenting sponsor of the Drake Relays in a partnership that quickly enhanced and elevated the international reputation of the Drake Relays. Xtream's partnership allows the Drake Relays to maintain its status as one of the world's premier track and field events while serving as a springboard for the future growth of the event to be known as the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom.

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

Drake Stadium

Drake Stadium during the Saturday session of the 2014 Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee

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. Another renovation following the 2016 relays saw a new track installed, constructed of the same material used for tracks in Beijing and London for the Summer Olympics.

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.

• John L. Griffith 1910–1918
  Griffith was the founder of the Drake Relays. He remained director for nine 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 2006–2016
  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.
• Blake Boldon 2017–present

Meet records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	10.01 (+1.9 m/s)	Harvey Glance	United States	24 April 1976
200 m	20.02 (+1.7 m/s)	Wallace Spearmon	United States	28 April 2012
400 m	44.08	Kirani James	Grenada	29 April 2016
800 m	1:45.86	Randy Wilson	United States	28 April 1978
1500 m	3:38.27	Steve Scott	United States	28 April 1984
Mile	3:51.71	Alan Webb	United States	28 April 2007
5000 m	13:27.20	Nick Rose	United Kingdom	29 April 1977
10000 m	28:07.40	Kipsubai Koskei	Kenya	26 April 1980
110 m hurdles	13.04 (+1.8 m/s)	Omar McLeod	Jamaica	29 April 2017
400 m hurdles	48.28	Danny Harris	United States	25 April 1986
3000 m steeplechase	8:31.02	Henry Marsh	United States	30 April 1977
High jump	2.40 m (7 ft 10.36318898 in)	Derek Drouin	Canada	25 April 2014
Pole vault	5.85 m (19 ft 2.18996063 in)	Chris Nilsen	United States	27 April 2019
Long jump	8.26 m (27 ft 1.07185040 in)	Anthuan Maybank	United States	24 April 1993
Triple jump	17.12 m (56 ft 1.89074804 in)	Christian Taylor	United States	27 April 2013
Shot put	22.10 m (72 ft 5.95374016 in)	Christian Cantwell	United States	29 April 2006
Discus throw	64.59 m (211 ft 10.78838583 in)	Reggie Jagers	United States	28 April 2018
Hammer Throw	72.77 m (238 ft 8.83562993 in)	Libor Charfreitag	Slovakia	27 April 2002
		Cory Martin	United States	26 April 2008
Decathlon	8198 pts	Kip Janvrin	United States	25 April 1996
	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
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
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
Sprint medley relay (2,2,4,8)	3:12.19	Alabama State University Lamar Smith Calvin Smith Terry Menefee William Wuyke	United States  United States  United States  Venezuela	30 April 1983
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
Distance medley relay	9:30.45	Southern Methodist University Rob Topping Russell Mitchell Ben Bor Paul Rugut	United States  United States  Kenya	30 April 1983
4×110 m 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

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	11.06 (0.0 m/s)	LaShauntea Moore	United States	24 April 2010
200 m	22.40 (+0.7 m/s)	Gwen Torrence	United States	30 April 1994
400 m	50.13	Francena McCorory	United States	25 April 2015
800 m	2:00.03	Ajee' Wilson	United States	24 April 2015
1500 m	4:03.35	Jennifer Simpson	United States	26 April 2013
Mile	4:40.2	Francie Larrieu-Smith	United States	27 April 1975
3000 m	8:56.03	Suzy Favor-Hamilton	United States	27 April 2002
Two miles	9:16.78	Jennifer Simpson	United States	27 April 2018
5000 m	15:23.21	Karissa Schweizer	United States	26 April 2018
10000 m	32:57.38	Patti Murray	United States	28 April 1988
100 m hurdles	12.40 (+1.5 m/s)	Jasmin Stowers	United States	25 April 2015
400 m hurdles	54.41	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	27 April 2013
3000 m steeplechase	9:52.37	Adva Cohen	Israel	26 April 2018
High jump	1.98 m (6 ft 5.82775591 in)	Chaunte Lowe	United States	28 April 2012
Pole vault	4.88 m (16 ft 0.00098426 in)	Sandi Morris	United States	28 April 2018
Long jump	6.78 m (22 ft 2.80413386 in)	Aisha James	United States	26 April 2003
Triple jump	13.79 m (45 ft 2.78838583 in)	Shani Marks	United States	26 April 2003
Shot put	19.37 m (63 ft 6.47342520 in)	Tia Brooks	United States	29 April 2016
Discus throw	64.38 m (211 ft 2.52066930 in)	Becky Breisch	United States	24 April 2010
Hammer throw	72.51 m (237 ft 10.59940945 in)	Brittany Riley	United States	28 April 2007
Heptathlon	6040 pts	Diana Pickler	United States	21–22 April 2009
	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)
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
4 × 200 m relay	1:31.96	Texas Southern University Linda Eseimokumoh Beatrice Utondu Dyan Webber Mary Onyali	Nigeria  Nigeria  United States  Nigeria	28 April 1989
4 × 400 m relay	3:28.42	Purdue University Chole Abbot Brionna Thomas Symone Black Jahneya Mitchell	United States  United States  United States  United States	28 April 2018
Sprint medley relay (2-2-4-8)	3:43.64	Arkansas State University Regine Williams Daina Harper Taylor Ellis-Watson Chrishuna Williams	United States  United States  United States  United States	25 April 2015
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
Distance medley relay	11:03.59	Stanford University Lindsay Hyatt Katie Hotchkiss Lauren Fleshman Malindi Elmore	United States  United States  United States  Canada	25 April 2003
4 × 100 m 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

Drake Relays Results

Future dates

• 112th Annual Drake Relays: April 21–24, 2021
• 113th Annual Drake Relays: April 27–30, 2022
• 114th Annual Drake Relays: April 26–29, 2023