Hawkeyes own Drake Relays sprint medleys

DES MOINES - The Iowa women's sprint medley team was just finishing talking to reporters after a victory lap Saturday when they turned their attention to the television set over their shoulders.

Bethany Praska, Tiffany Hendricks, Ashley Liverpool and Erin Jones got to catch the final lap as the Hawkeye men's sprint medley group finally broke its string of runner-up finishes and took its third Drake Relays title in this event and first since 1992.

The ladies let out a quiet cheer as anchor Erik Sowinski crossed the finish line first in 3 minutes, 16.18 seconds.

A few minutes earlier Iowa's women were making history, winning their first title in this event in the 22 years it has been run at Drake Stadium.

“Being able to fuel off that made it that much more exciting for us,” Sowinski said. “That was awesome. The girls have made big strides. It's good for our program.”

Praska had a fine anchor leg, coming from behind to overtake runner-up Arkansas with a little more than a lap to go.

“The first two legs set me up perfectly,” Praska said. “It was kind of a waiting game and going out and taking a chance.”

Praska and Hendricks are seniors. The other two are freshmen. It was the first time they'd run this event together.

The men had a late lineup change, having senior Zeke Sayon lead off. Justin Austin, Steven Willey and Sowinski ran subsequent legs.

“We threw a good group together,” Sowinski said. “We knew Baylor was going to be tough competition, but we went in with the mindset that we were going to win.”

Willey, the defending Big Ten 400-meter champion, and Sowinski were on last year's team that finished second to Eastern Illinois.

“I knew if I got the baton to Erik and we were in the lead we were going to win,” Willey said.

The sun-soaked crowd helped carry them across the finish line.

“This is basically a home meet for us,” Sowinski said.

The Iowa men finished second in the 1,600 relay with Willey, Sowinski, Ethan Holmes and Chris Barton in 3:07.23.

In the college division, Coe finished second in the 1600 sprint medley with Stefani Wright, Alisa Denny, Hanah Breitbach and Keelie Finnel in 3:58.27. Iowa State's Kianna Elahi finished second in the 400 hurdles a second straight year, finishing in 56.73 seconds.

Iowa's Jeff Thode was runner-up in the men's 1,500 in 3:46.15.