
Des Moines, Iowa, April 25-28—A little bit of track, a little bit of field and a little bit of relays proved a winning formula for Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer and Ohio State’s Zach Bazile, the outstanding athletes of the Drake Relays.
Throw in a bit of history as well.
Schweizer, a native of suburban Urbandale, bided her time through a mile behind the pacesetter but then made the race her own—and then some—romping to a 15:23.21 collegiate-leading 5K performance on Thursday’s distance night. And as if that weren’t enough, she powered her distance medley quartet to an 11:07.59 victory two days later with a come-from-behind-in-4th 1600 effort in 4:32.19.
Not a bad 6600M of racing, and it made the 5-time NCAA champ a near-unanimous choice as the meet’s woman MVP.
“I knew it was going to be all me after a mile,” the Tiger senior said. “It feels awesome to be back home and have the home crowd cheering me on. The last lap was hard and they pushed me forward. My goal was to go for the record and not let external factors bother me. I just tried to kick it into another gear the last couple of laps.”
Ohio State senior Bazile won the long jump with a windy 25-3¼ (7.70) on his third jump; he skipped his next attempts to run the 100. Also historically noteworthy is that he became only the second Buckeye man to win the LJ; Olympic legend Jesse Owens first did so in ’35.
Not content to just jump, Bazile also took 3rd in the 100 (10.78 into a stiff 2.3 breeze) and then anchored Ohio State’s 4×1 to a 39.69 win over Purdue (39.74) and Illinois (39.89).
Also notable—and remarkable—was Schweizer teammate Megan Cunningham, who won the 10K in 33:19.25 about an hour before Schweizer’s race. Cunningham suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in a near-fatal vehicle accident in the summer of ’15. Committed to winning and not simply racing, she has captured an SEC crown and now a Drake title.
Iowa’s men won the Hy-Vee Cup with 32 points for its top relay finishes, with a win in the 4×4 and runners-up finishes in the 4×8 and sprint medley, enough to edge in-state rival Iowa State (28), which won the 4×8 and sprint medley.
Purdue women dominated the relays for their Cup win, taking the 4×1, 4×2, 4×4 and sprint medley. Their 1:32.24 in the 4×2 now stands as the U.S. leader.
Des Moines, Iowa, April 25-28—
DRAKE UNIVERSITY MEN’S RESULTS
(4/26—St; 4/27—100h, 200, 4×8, 4×16, HJ, TJ, SP, JT)
Teams: 1. Iowa 32; 2. Iowa State 28; 3. tie, Illinois & Ohio State 18; 5. tie, Purdue & Tulsa 13.
100(-2.3): 1. Riak Reese (Kent) 10.63;… 3. Zack Bazile (OhSt) 10.78. Heats: IV(2.6)–1. Reese 10.14w.
200(3.8): 1. ***Eric Harrison (OhSt) 20.59w.
800: 1. *Erik Martinsson (UTA) 1;49.16; 2. **Alexander Lomong (OhSt) 1:49.88.
1500: 1. *Kyle Burdick (SDSt) 3:46.22.
St: 1. Riley McInerney (EnIl) 8:55.18.
5000: 1. Reed Fischer (unat) 13:53.32.
10,000: 1. John Mascari (unat) 29:41.13.
110H(-1.5): 1. Justin Veteto (Pur) 13.91.
400H: 1. David Kendziera (Il) 49.94; 2. *Chris Douglas (Ia) 50.52; 3. Landon Huslig (OkCh) 50.53; 4. **Jacob Smith (NnIa) 50.94.
Relay Evnts
4 x 100: 1. Ohio State 39.69 (Mott, Harrison, Asemota, Bazile); 2. Purdue 39.74; 3. Illinois 39.89.
4 x 200: 1. Purdue 1:24.50 (Dotson, Hollis, McLaren, Williams’).
4 x 400: 1. Iowa 3:05.05 (Frye, Hofacker, Thompson, Harris); 2. Ohio State 3:06.78; 3. Illinois 3:07.64.
4 x 800: 1. Iowa State 7:27.98 (Lagat, Roomes, Hayes, Dennison); 2. Iowa 7:28.37.
4 x 110H: 1. UT Arlington 57.93 (Gustafsson, Fincher, Moore, Nwangwu); 2. Kent State 59.71.
4 x 1600: 1. Air Force 16:49.97 (Wojciechowski, Sullivan, Johnson, Bilvado); 2. Bradley 16:52.26.
SpMed: I–1. Iowa State 3:17.73 (Schneider, Berry, Dennison, Roomes); 2. Iowa 3:18.11; 3. Illinois 3:22.54. II–1. Central Missouri 3:22.47.
DisMed: 1. Tulsa 9:42.75 (Tully, Stewart, Howard, Middleton); 2. Iowa State 9:42.95.
Field Events
HJ: 1. ***Rahman Minor (Pur) 7-1 (2.16).
PV: 1. **Ethan Bray (SD) 17-8½ (5.40); 2. Luke Winder (NCen) 17-8½.
LJ: 1. Bazile 25-3¼w (7.70).
SP: 1. *Reno Tuufuli (Ia) 60-8½ (18.50).
DT: 1. *Ben Hammer (SD) 191-3 (58.30); 2. Tuufuli 190-6 (58.07); 3. *Payton Otterdahl (NDSt) 188-1 (57.32).
HT: 1. Sean Donnelly (IronW) 234-5 (71.47); 2. Colin Dunbar (IronW) 223-11 (68.27); 3. Steffan Stroh (NDSt) 217-9 (66.39); 4. Erik Escobedo (Bethel) 213-9 (65.16).
JT: 1. Michael Shuey (Vel) 247-0 (75.28).
Dec(4/25-26): 1. Derek Jacobus (unat) 7198.
DRAKE UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S RESULTS
(4/26—St, 5K, 10K, Hept; 4/27—200, 4x1h, 4x4h, 4×8, 4×16, SP, DT)
100(0.3): 1. ***Anavia Battle (OhSt) 11.60.
200(3.1): 1. Brionna Thomas (Pur) 22.99w; 2. Maggie Barrie’ (OhSt) 23.20w.
800: 1. **Annie Ubbing (OhSt) 2:07.97.
1500: 1. **Julia Rizk (OhSt) 4:25.22; 2. Madeline Strandemo (Mn) 4:26.46.
St: 1. ***Adva Cohen’ (IaC) 9:52.37 JCR.
5000: 1. Karissa Schweizer (Mo) 15:23.21 (CL; out AL).
10,000: 1. Megan Cunningham (Mo) 33:19.25.
100H(-0.2): 1. Savannah Roberson (Pur) 13.20.
400H: 1. Sommer Sharpe (Ia) 59.73.
Relay Events
4 x 100: 1. Purdue 44.62 (Bracey, Roberson, Love, Charlton’).
4 x 200: 1. Purdue 1:32.24 (AL) (#10 school) (Love, Abbott, Thomas, Roberson).
4 x 400: I–1. Purdue 3:28.42 (Abbott, Thomas, Black, Mitchell); 2. Ohio State 3:31.33 (Winters, Wilson, Richardson, Barrie); 3. Iowa 3:39.74. II–1. Lincoln 3:38.83.
4 x 800: 1. Iowa State 8:36.51 (Chapman, Guay, Staebler, Logue); 2. Ohio State 8:41.48; 3. Utah 8:44.72.
4 x 1600: 1. Kansas State 19:22.42 (Wren, Melgares, Collins, Wedekind); 2. Iowa State 19:26.25; 3. Minnesota 19:26.92.
SpMed: I–1. Tulsa 3:51.41; 2. Marquette 3:55.77; 3. South Dakota 3:57.34. II–1. Purdue 3:47.99 (Abbott, Dorsey, Mitchell, Miller); 2. Illinois 3:48.49; 3. Northern Iowa 3:52.73.
DisMed: 1. Missouri 11:07.59 (Halamicek, Joseph, Liz, Schweizer); 2. Indiana State 11:18.03; 3. Iowa State 11:19.26.
4 x 100H: I–1. Indiana State 55.74 (Ince, Morgan, Redmon, Dziekonska); 2. Kent State 56.46. III–1. Purdue 56.00.
Field Events
HJ: 1. *Janae Moffitt (Pur) 5-10¾ (1.80); 2. Stephanie Ahrens (NbO) 5-10¾; 3. *Alexus Henry (UTA) 5-10¾.
LJ: 1. Jhoanmy Luque’ (IaSt) 20-11¼ (6.38).
TJ: 1. Luque’ 44-11 (13.69); 2. Jahisha Thomas’ (Ia) 43-8½w (13.32); 3. *Jehvania Whyte’ (NnIl) 42-10¼w (13.06) (42-9¾/13.05); 4. Amber Hughes (unat) 42-7½ (12.99).
SP: 1. **Laulauga Tausaga (Ia) 54-11¼ (16.74); 2. Courtney Pasiowitz (NDSt) 53-9¾ (16.40); 3. **Bailey Retzlaff (NDSt) 52-8 (16.05).
DT: 1. Micaela Hazlewood (Pur) 188-1 (57.34); 2. *Gabi Jacobs (Mo) 181-3 (55.26).
HT: 1. Carly Fehringer (unat) 212-5 (64.76); 2. **Maddy Nilles (NDSt) 205-8 (62.69); 3. Gabrielle Figueroa (Kent) 200-5 (61.10); 4. Michaela Dendinger (WayneSt) 199-8 (60.87).
Hept(4/25-26): 1. Rose Jackson (TND) 5537.