Ainsley Herron Dives At Finish Line Past Notre Dame's Gretchen Farley To Give Oregon State First Drake Relays Title; Iowa Men's 4x800 Relay Run World Lead; Sophie Novak Takes Down Steeplechase Meet Record

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Caroline Larson and Lily Dozier photos

RACE VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS

DES MOINES, Iowa – As far as first impressions come, the Oregon State women haven’t disappointed in their Drake Relays debut.

In fact, the Beavers may have been a part of one of the greatest races and finishes in meet history.

Clashing with Notre Dame in the women’s 4x1,600 meter relay, Oregon State didn’t bow out of a heavy-hitter fight, taking the Irish to the very end in an all-out sprint with anchor Ainsley Herron battling the Irish’s Gretchen Farley.

The result: five hundredths of a second in favor of the Beavers.

Herron anchored the final 1,600 in 4 minutes, 45.21 seconds, diving at the line to lead Oregon State past Notre Dame in 19:04.83 to deliver one of the biggest upsets of the meet on Friday afternoon at Drake Stadium.

Oregon State sat behind Notre Dame in second the entire race. Abigail Pradere split 4:45.73 on the first leg, got 4:48.17 from Maya Baechler on second and 4:45.74 from Ruby Broadbent before ultimately setting up Herron to finish.

“The other Notre Dame runners were running really strong, but watching my other teammates run before me, I was really inspired,” Herron said. “They put it all out there and I was like, ‘now it’s my turn to try my best’.”

Last year, en route to winning the Drake Relays title, Notre Dame broke the collegiate record with 18:44.15, featuring NCAA steeplechase great Olivia Markezich, now with On Athletics, as the anchor.

Of the four that ran on that team, only one returned for this year’s relay in Siona Chisholm, who led off for the Irish in 4:44.30. This year’s team featured freshman Isabel Allori (4:47.56), Emily Covert (4:45.74) and Farley (4:45.78).

“I knew coming into that last leg that Oregon State was right there,” Farley said. “It was going to be a tactical race and then that last lap give it all you got. I could feel (Herron) right on my shoulder in that last 100. It was just giving it all that we had, and Oregon State had it.”

Oregon State’s head coach Louie Quintana has seen and been a part of his fair share of relays, dating back to his collegiate days at Villanova, competing at the Penn Relays, and coaching Arizona State athletes at the Drake Relays. None compared to what he witnessed on Friday.

“It was maybe the race of the meet to this point,” Quintana said. “It was just so exciting. Just as a fan, I was really excited to watch that finish.”

A Drake Relays win adds to a year full of emotions for Oregon State that has seen the Pac-12 Conference disappear due to conference realignment. The Beavers also won their first conference indoor title while opting to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

“It doesn’t really change what we are doing,” Baechler said. “We’re still going to give it our all. It is what it is, but we just love to run.”

Oregon State wasn’t the only Pacific Northwest school with representation at Drake. Rival Oregon took care of business themselves, winning the women’s university 4x800 relay during the afternoon session of the meet.

Polish Olympian Klaudia Kazimierska anchored the Ducks in 2:06.24, leading to a time of 8:30.12 for a 10-second win over Iowa State.

Oregon also collected a win from Juliet Cherubet in the women’s university/college 1,500, running 4:13.11.

The Iowa men’s 4x800 relay team posted a world-leading time of 7:21.88 in the university race, taking down in-state rival Iowa State, who finished second in 7:23.10.

Former Notre Dame runner Sophie Novak led 10 women under the meet record of 9:52.37 in the women's 3,000 steeplechase, winning in a time of 9:28.98. Elise Thorner, former New Mexico standout, finished second in 9:30.41.

Drake’s own Emilie Meyer needed a lifetime best of 2:03.95 to win the women’s university/college 800, beating Oregon’s Ella Nelson in 2:04.50.

Bradley’s Jaxson Copelin and Jamie Phillips went 1-2 in the men’s university/college 800, with Copelin winning in 1:49.02 and Phillips in second in 1:49.29.

Zach Turner of Doane (Neb.) won the men's university/college 400 hurdles in 50.81.

Kansas State’s Safhia Hinds hung on to win the women’s university/college 400 hurdles in 58.04.

South Dakota's Sara Reifenrath, who's been awarded many medals in past Drake Relays, earned a coveted first place for the first time in her career at the meet, winning the women's university/college 400 in 53.63.

Iowa Western Community College's Michael Francois closed the gap on Kansas State's Tavon Underwood in the final 50 of the men's university/college 400, winning in 46.44.

South Dakota's Caleb Rivera closed in 57.34 on the final lap to take the men's 1,500 university/college race in 3:45.62.

Iowa State’s men’s 4x1,600 relay team, anchored by Devan Kipeygo in 4:07.30, ran 16:38.06 to claim the university/college title.

Kentucky's women's 4x200 relay team ran 1:34.45 to beat Southern Illinois in the women's university/college section.

Southern Illinois, anchored by Christian Donatelli in 20.45, won the men's university/college 4x200 relay crown in 1:25.49.

Minnesota State's men's and women's sprint medley relay teams each won their respective titles, with the men running 3:23.14 and the women running 4:00.86.

Out in the field, Iowa Western's Lebon Attoungbre and Mercy Honesty won both the men’s and women’s triple jump championships. Attoungbre jumped a wind-aided 16.13 meters (52-11) in the men’s championship, winning by over one meter. Honesty also jumped a wind-aided mark, too, of 13.07 (42-10.75) to earn the women’s title.

Nebraska tallied three wins in the field events: Kalynn Meyer in women’s discus (57.96m/190-2); Tyus Wilson in men’s high jump (2.21m/7-3); and Lishanna Ilves in women’s long jump (6.34m/20-9.75).

Mitchell Weber, a U.S. Olympic Trials competitor last summer, won the men’s championship discus competition, throwing 60.80m (199-6)

Minnesota’s Isaiah Schafer’s fourth-round throw of 19.18m (62-11.25) carried him to win the men’s championship shot put competition.

Northern Iowa’s Katie Fare came through in the clutch with a big sixth-round throw of 17.23m (56-6.5) to earn the win in the women’s championship shot put.