Drake's men closed the 2026 Drake Relays with a flag-waving home win in the distance medley relay, running 9:40.73 to claim the Bulldogs' first DMR title at Drake Stadium since 2021. The Saturday finale capped a record-rich week in Des Moines, with the Drake Relays meet records falling in the men's 3000m steeplechase and the men's 5000m on the same afternoon and the women's pole vault clearing six metres for the first time at the meet.
Drake's anchor — fifth-year senior Isaac Basten — took a five-metre lead into the final lap from Iowa State and cruised through a 4:02.1 1600 split to defend the Blue Oval. The 9:40.73 took two seconds off Drake's previous best at the home meet and was achieved without the team's All-American 800 specialist, who was rested ahead of the Big 12 Championships. Iowa State's Cyclones took second in 9:42.11, with Iowa third in 9:43.05.
The men's 3000m steeplechase meet record fell to Texas Tech's Kenneth Rooks, the Olympic silver medallist, who ran 8:21.46 to lower Henry Marsh's 1981 mark of 8:23.10 — one of the longest-standing records on the Drake Relays books. Rooks crossed the line nearly six seconds clear of NCAA champion James Corrigan and pronounced himself "finally healthy after surgery" following a winter spent rebuilding from an Achilles operation.
On the women's side, Iowa State's distance medley relay quartet of Riley Beach, Josie Baker, Ashlyn Keeney and Bella Heikes finished sixth in 11:21.32 — the seventh-fastest time in school history. The women's 5000m saw NC State's Grace Hartman run 15:13.42, taking 11 seconds off the meet record set by Karissa Schweizer in 2018 and bouncing back from a fifth-place NCAA cross country finish in November.
Saturday also saw the Drake Relays Special Olympics 100m draw a Drake Stadium-record 35,000 spectators, with USA Track and Field president Vin Lananna confirming the 2027 meet would expand to four days for the first time in its 117-year history. Tickets for next year's edition, set for April 21-24, go on sale May 5 and are expected to sell faster than ever after a meet that delivered three world-leading marks and one American record across the closing week.