Work to do for Iowa relay

DES MOINES — The gap was closing in the final strides and Iowa's Brittany Brown was making the push.

Soggy conditions and a constant breeze made for less than ideal sprinting conditions, but Brown was doing all she could to defend the Hawkeyes' women's 400-meter relay. That gap just didn't close quickly enough.

'I think not winning is very humbling and it just shows us we still have to fight,' Brown said. 'It's not going to come easy.'

Iowa finished third in the relay it won a year ago, this time in 45.20. Mississippi won the event in 44.72.

Injuries have forced the Hawkeyes to toy with the lineup for the relay and even had a switch between Friday's preliminary and Saturday's final at Drake. Montayla Holder filled in for Kassidy Ellis and joined Elexis Guster, Lake Kwaza and Brown.

Brown feels the team is peaking at the right time and gave credit to the performances leading into the Drake Relays. Now she said the attention turns to making the necessary improvements before the Big Ten meet.

'We wanted a flag, obviously, but we didn't get that,' Brown said. 'Our coach told us to fight, so we fought. We knew it would be a little hard, but as long as we fought, that's all you can ask for.'

Northern Iowa senior Alex Wilson was a late entry in the women's 1,500-meter run, but the suddenness of her race didn't diminish her performance. The Lisbon native ran to third place and a personal record of 4:20.49, while Hannah Fields of Oklahoma Baptist won in 4:17.59.

Wilson's time put her ahead of Missouri Valley Conference competition by seven seconds. Her name is also at the top of four individual UNI records between the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Iowa State junior Colleen Riley notched a third-place finish in the women's 3,000-meter Steeplechase in 10:25.83. Riley's mark set an ISU school record and was also a personal best for Riley. Maddie Van Beek of North Dakota State won in 10:15.03.

UNI sprinter Brandon Carnes nabbed a fourth-place finish in the men's 100-meter dash final in 10.49. Carnes' mark maintains his spot at the top of conference standings.

'The field was fast and good,' Carnes said. 'The competition pushed me. The weather conditions weren't the best, but oh well. It's Iowa.'

A Drake Relays record fell in the women's 1,600 Sprint Medley Relay when Arkansas ran 3:43.64. The mark bested the previous record of 3:45.48 by the Razorbacks in 2012. Iowa finished sixth in 3:53.29.

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