Collegiate Storylines To Watch At The 115th Drake Relays

The Drake Relays presented by Xtream welcome one of its most intriguing fields of collegiate and professional competitors to Drake Stadium this week, April 23-26, in Des Moines, Iowa, for the 115th edition of “America’s Athletic Classic.”

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Here are some collegiate storylines to follow.

Ayyildiz, Nielsen Take On Professional Field

Shelby Houlihan, a native of Sioux City, makes her return to the Blue Oval for the first time since 2019 when she won a pair of USATF titles in both the 5,000 meters and mile races.

Since serving her four-year ban for testing posting for nandrolone, Houlihan’s return to racing has been nothing but impressive, earning silver at the World Indoor Championship in Nanjing, China, in the women’s 3,000 meters, and finishing top five in both the 1,500 and 3,000 at the USATF Indoor Championships on Staten Island. Houlihan has won eight Drake Relay titles in her career.

Karissa Schweizer, a two-time Olympian and native of Urbandale, will look to add a 14th Drake Relays medal to her name in her return to Des Moines for the first time since finishing second at the USATF Outdoor Championships in the 5,000.

In the six times Houlihan and Schweizer have raced against each other in the 1,500/mile discipline, Houlihan has never lost to Schweizer. Their most recent race against one another was when they were teammates for the Bowerman Track Club back in 2020 in an intrasquad meet. Houlihan ran 4 minutes, 2.37 seconds to Schweizer’s 4:02.81.

Both Houlihan and Schweizer are also entered in Tuesday’s USATF 1-Mile Championships at the Grand Blue Mile.

Defending USATF 1-Mile champion Rachel McArthur enters both races, along with Krissy Gear, Dani Jones, Eleanor Fulton and Jenn Randall.

Oregon’s Silan Ayyildiz, the collegiate indoor mile record holder, and Wilma Nielsen, the NCAA indoor mile champion, are the top collegians entered.

Collegiate Record Watch In Women’s 4×800 Relay

In less than a year, the collegiate record in the women’s 4×800 relay has been broken twice.

Washington first broke it at the Penn Relays in April of 2024, running 8:17.28. Most recently Arkansas lowered it to 8:16.12 at the Texas Relays in late march of this year.

Oregon has a chance to one up both those times this weekend with an elite lineup.

The potential lineup the Ducks could send to the track Friday night could include Polish Olympic finalist Klaudia Kazimierska, NCAA indoor All-Americans Ella Nelson, Ali Ince and Mia Barnett or Big Ten indoor scorer Samantha McDonnell.

Kazimierska, a sub-4-minute 1,500 runner, owns a personal best of 2:00.23, which is fifth all-time in Oregon history. Ince is the second fastest in 2:03.17, a time she ran in high school as a junior, followed by Nelson (2:03.21), Barnett (2:03.78) and McDonnell (2:05.96).

Deep Hammer Fields Assembled

If Camryn Rogers’ season opener at the Mt. SAC Relays this last weekend is any indication of how the hammer will play out this year, be prepared for more fireworks.

The Drake Relays have assembled world-class line-ups for both the men’s and women’s competitions, headlined by Rudy Winkler and Brooke Anderson.

Winkler, the American record holder in hammer, returns to Des Moines for the first time since winning the Drake Relays hammer title in 2023, throwing 76.70 meters (251-7). Since then, Winkler’s gone on to compete at the Budapest World Outdoor Championships and last summer’s Paris Olympics, where he finished sixth overall.

Collegians Angelos Mantzouranis and Kostas Zaltos of Minnesota are the top two returning competitors from last year, finishing first and second, respectively. Brock Eager, third last year, returns, too.

Talent All Over Javelin Competitions

Olympians Curtis Thompson and Rhema Otabor both began their outdoor seasons with respectable marks in the javelin, hoping to continue that success in Iowa.

Thompson opened the year with a world-leading throw of 87.76m (287-11) at the Texas Relays last month, the furthest throw by an American in 18 years.

Otabor, the collegiate record holder representing Nebraska, begun her post-collegiate stint with a win at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational in Ramona, throwing 60.03m (196-11) for her best opener ever.

Thompson will compete alongside reigning champion Arthur Petersen of Nebraska, as well as two of Petersen’s teammates Keyshawn Strachan, a two-time Bahamas national champion, and Dash Sirmon, plus Baylor’s Chinecherem Nnamdi, a Nigerian Olympian and Nigerian national champion, and Iowa’s Mike Stein

2023 U.S. champion Maddie Harris, now in her senior season at Nebraska and a former teammate of Otabor, is the top collegian entered. Her current teammate Eniko Sara, Mississippi State’s Sarah Blake, Missouri’s Erin Zimmerman and Iowa’s Lizzy Korczak are other collegiates competing, too.