Hawkeyes clinch both team crowns at the 2026 Drake Relays; men's team scores 40 points

Iowa left the 2026 Drake Relays with both university team trophies, winning the men’s Drake Relays Cup with 40 points and the women’s with 37. (hawkeyesports.com) (results.drakerelays.us) The meet ended Saturday, April 25, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, where the university team standings showed Iowa ahead of Kansas State, Iowa State and Oklahoma State in the scored relay competition. (results.drakerelays.us) (hawkeyesports.com) Iowa won six of the 10 scored relays, the total that decided both Cups. Director of track and field Joey Woody said the Hawkeyes “came away with both the men’s and women’s Drake Relays Cups” after “tremendous performances.” (hawkeyesports.com) The women repeated as Cup champions, while the men claimed their first Drake Relays team title since 2022. That gave Iowa a full team sweep at one of the country’s best-known relay meets. (hawkeyesports.com) The scoring came from sprint events as much as depth. Holly Duax won the women’s 100 meters in 11.52, and Kalen Walker won the men’s 100 in 10.30 for his first Drake Relays flag. (hawkeyesports.com) Iowa also swept the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The men’s 4x100 team of Blake Nyenati, Jordan Gross, Jaylin Holmes and David Akhalu ran 39.72, and the women’s quartet of Jailya Ash, Alexandria Edison, Alivia Williams and Duax ran 44.04. (hawkeyesports.com) That 44.04 moved Iowa’s women to No. 3 on the program’s all-time list. Woody said Duax won three flags in about two hours during Iowa’s closing push. (hawkeyesports.com) In the 4x400 relays, Iowa’s women ran 3:31.05 with Damaris Mutunga, Olicia Lucas, Gabby Cortez and Chioma Nwachukwu, and the men closed in 3:05.25 with Tyrese Miller, Landon Fontenot, Prior Ochonogor and Terrick Johnson. (hawkeyesports.com) The women added another 10 points in the sprint medley relay, where Duax, Williams, Mutunga and Leanna Lewis won in 3:44.68. That time ranks second in Iowa program history. (hawkeyesports.com) The men added silver medals in the shuttle hurdle and sprint medley relays, and the shuttle hurdle group set a school record at 56.25. Those extra points helped create the 10-point margin over second-place Kansas State in the men’s Cup race. (hawkeyesports.com) (results.drakerelays.us) By the end of Saturday, the Hawkeyes had turned a relay meet into a team statement: repeat on the women’s side, a return on the men’s side, and both Cups heading back to Iowa City. (hawkeyesports.com)