Men’s track record shattered at Drake Relays

Central College

DES MOINES—The Central College 4×1600-meter relay team of Eli Horton (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS), Drew Jackson (junior, Johnston), Jamie Vander Veer (junior, Knoxville) and Austin O’Brien (senior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) needed only one year to break the school record by more than 21 seconds at Thursday’s Drake Relays.

The Dutch foursome placed ninth in the 14-team race, which featured 11 Division I schools, besting teams from Iowa, South Dakota State, Wis.-Milwaukee and South Dakota. Its time of 16:56.05 shattered the previous record of 17:17.17 set by Jackson, Kyle Nuehring (sophomore, Waukee), Cole Decker (sophomore, Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) and Horton in 2013.

The University of Washington’s quartet won the relay in 16:21.46.

Distance teammate Isaac Steffensmeier (freshman, St. Paul, Fort Madison HS) capped the evening with a 27th-place finish in the 10,000-meter run in 31:14.15. The time ranks No. 31 in Division III.

Competition resumes Friday at 8 a.m.

Friday’s Dutch competitors
Women’s 4×100-meter relay team (Ruiz, Davis, Mc. Zimmerman, Kibbee)
Men’s distance medley relay team (O’Brien, Zimmerman, Jackson, Horton)
Women’s 4×400-meter relay team (McBroom, Davis, Kibbee, Ruiz)
Men’s 4×400-meter relay team (Zimmerman, Powell, Witt, Sump)