Defending champions lower division all-time mark, eclipse 1974 meet record with 7:22.17 effort that ranks among top 25 overall programs in NCAA history; Mullins becomes first Drake female athlete to win any title since 1995 with 3,000 steeplechase victory, Kurgat, Ma and Nowak also triumph
By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor
Photos by Ava Kitzi
DES MOINES, Iowa – Loras College is no stranger to its pursuit of NCAA Division 3 relay records, ranking in the top two all-time in the division in both the men’s indoor and outdoor 4×800, as well as the indoor and outdoor distance medley relay.
But just because the Duhawks already set the Division 3 outdoor 4×800 relay record last year at Jim Duncan Track, it didn’t mean Loras lacked any motivation Thursday returning to Drake Stadium for the 113th Drake Relays.
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Wyatt Kelly, Ryan Harvey, Carter Oberfoell and Mike Jasa not only lowered their division all-time mark by more than six seconds with a 7:22.17 performance, but the Loras quartet also achieved the meet record in the collegiate division.
Prairie View A&M ran 7:23.7 in a 2-mile relay in 1974, before the meet switched to its current 4×800 format in 1978.
The Duhawks also elevated to the No. 24 program in collegiate history, with only NCAA Division 1 lineups ahead of Loras on the all-time rankings.
Loras also became the first men’s program to repeat in the 4×800 at the Drake Relays since Oklahoma Baptist won three in a row from 2013-15, with Wisconsin-Parkside ascending to No. 15 in Division 3 history by placing second in 7:37.24.
Following their 9:39.80 DMR performance Feb. 10 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University to set the Division 3 indoor record, the Duhawks are pursuing the all-time outdoor division mark of 9:53.78 set in 2000 by North Central in Illinois in Saturday’s final.
Loras took second last year at the Drake Relays in 9:54.45, trailing only Augustana of South Dakota, which produced the Division 2 outdoor DMR record of 9:53.62.
Brooke Mullins, representing Australia, became the first female athlete from Drake to win any event at the meet since Gina DeWitt secured victory 1995 in the 800 meters, producing a lifetime-best 10:13.94 to triumph in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Illinois State’s Mattison Plummer placed second in 10:19.74, with early leader Amanda Montplaisir of Minnesota State taking third in 10:19.85.
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