ISU 4x400 Hot at Drake

DES MOINES, Iowa ? They were waiting for good weather. Iowa State's men's track and field Cyclones got it Friday at the Drake Relays. They took advantage of beautiful conditions to post strong performances in Drake Stadium.

Early in the day, the ISU 4 x 1600-meter relay got off to a good start, as the Cyclones led after the first two legs. Iowa State ended up third for the second straight year. Sophomore Kevin Born and junior Jayden Russ opened with splits of 4:07 and 4:06, respectively. Sophomore Johnny Reel ran the third leg and sophomore Brandon Rooney anchored. Missouri's Marcus Mayes edged past Rooney down the stretch for second place.

“Kevin and Jayden did a great job leading us off,” Iowa State men's distance coach Corey Ihmels said. “We beat some good programs, but no one is celebrating being third. We talked before the race about pacing ourselves, but we got a little too excited on the third leg.”

The Tigers' runner-up time was 16:38.06. Iowa State was clocked in 16:46.63. Notre Dame won the relay in 16:21.27.

The Iowa State 4 x 200-meter relay of senior Elijah Braimah, junior Tony Stanfield, senior Jared Graham and junior Jared Lewis raced to a fourth-place finish with a 1:23.88 clocking. Baylor won the race in 1:21.65.

Hours earlier, the same Cyclone quartet put together a 4 x 400-meter relay team that ran Iowa State's best time in several years, clocking a 3:07.50 effort to win their heat and advance to a very tough final with the third-fastest preliminary clocking. Seven of the nation's top 10 times were posted over the four preliminary heats. Baylor won the first heat in a round-best 3:05.95. Nebraska was runner-up to the Bears in the initial preliminary and the Huskers' time of 3:06.76 was the second-fastest overall.

After Iowa State got an opening leg of 47.8 from Stanfield, junior Jared Lewis' 46.6 second stage set up senior Elijah Braimah. Braimah pulled to the lead in a field that included Northern Iowa and Minnesota. Braimah's 46.3 split gave anchor Jared Graham a comfortable lead. When UNI's Ryan Grenko closed the gap and pulled almost even with the Cyclone at the start of the home stretch, Graham put it in a higher gear and pulled away to the win with a 46.5 anchor split.

“We finally got a chance to run with good conditions,” Iowa State head coach Steve Lynn said. “(Graham) is a senior and knew how to handle the lead. I knew he would take care of business. This was a really tough field.”

Graham had no set strategy to bring ISU home.

“There was no set plan,” Graham said. “I always run better when I'm chasing someone. We didn't have to do that today.”

Iowa State's Drake Relays Men's Results

4x1600-meter relay

1. Notre Dame, 16:21.27; 3. Iowa State (Born, Russ, Reel, Rooney), 16:46.63

4x200-meter relay

1. Baylor, 1:21.65; 4. Iowa State (Braimah, Stanfield, Graham, Lewis), 1:23.81

Men's Javelin

1. Andy Vogelsberg, Emporia State, 229-8; 16. Neil Hines, Iowa State, 179-1; 17. Stefan Tauber, Iowa State, 173-2

110-meter hurdles

Ht. 1) 1. John Kent, Louisiana Tech; 3. Eric Parker, Iowa State, 14.59

4x400-meter relay

Ht. 3) 1. Iowa State (Stanfield, Lewis, Braimah, Graham), 3:08.05

Players Mentioned

Elijah Braimah

Jared Graham

Jared Graham

Neil Hines

Eric Parker

Eric Parker

Johnny Reel

Brandon Rooney

Jayden Russ

Tony Stanfield

Tony Stanfield

Stefan Tauber

Stefan Tauber

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics