DRAKE RELAYS

Iowa schools battle slick conditions in final day

Chris Cuellar
ccuellar@dmreg.com
Iowa sophomore Elexis Guster runs the baton in the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay at the Drake Relays on Saturday.

With three of their four members returning from last year's impressive 4x100-meter Drake Relays championship corp, Iowa's women wanted to again take the blue oval by storm.

Mississippi, Purdue and Saturday's weather washed the Hawkeyes — and the state's top collegiate chance for a final day title — back into the pack.

Iowa finished third in the women's university 4x100 in 45.20 seconds.

"Not winning is very humbling," said sophomore anchor Brittany Brown. "It shows that we have to fight, that it's not going to come easy. But we're going to fight. We've still got Big Ten (Championships) and Purdue beat us today and they'll be out there."

Brown, Lake Kwaza and Elexis Guster returned to the relay group and have been rearranging their order since adding sophomore Kassidy Ellis. The Hawkeyes expect to find this season's competitive edge.

"I think we could have done better, but considering the weather and with how we've been changing legs, we did alright," Brown said.

Iowa Central qualified its men's and women's relay teams for the college division 4x100, finishing fifth and fourth.

The day's top individual finish came from Iowa senior Sam Fourman, who came in second in the men's 1,500. A 3:44.50 in a fast-paced pack came with the aid of Drake sophomore George Webb, who was a rabbit for the race's first two laps.

Iowa's Marta Bote Gonzalez comes up out of the water hazard during the women's 3,000 steeplechase on Saturday at the Drake Relays.

In a longer race more representative of the weekend's soggy conditions, Iowa State junior Colleen Riley finished third in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Over and through water, Riley broke a school record in 10:25.83.

"I think the conditions helped because they played to my strengths," Riley said. "I like crappy weather like this. It throws everyone else off a little bit. Training in Iowa, we're used to this."

Slips and scrapes were the in-state theme for hurdles as finals qualifiers literally fell short of victories. Northern Iowa senior Sebastian Barth clipped his first hurdle on the first leg of the men's shuttle hurdle relay, and sported fresh wounds and bruises in the tunnel after a disappointing race.

"You have to get everything out of the race to have a chance to win here," Barth said. "I did a little bit too much."

Northern Iowa sophomore Jon Rus clears a hurdle in the shuttle hurdle relay at the Drake Relays on Saturday.

Barth had a chance to redeem himself in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing sixth. But to his left, Iowa sophomore Aaron Mallett toppled over in coveted lane five.

A Panther and Hawkeye managed to finish together in the men's university 100-meter final. Northern Iowa's Brandon Carnes finished fourth in 10.49 and Iowa's Vinnie Saucer came in seventh in 10.59.

Iowa Western's women closed the state's collegiate meet with a fourth-place finish in the college 4x400.