Drake University on Monday named Quentin Nauman of Western Dubuque the recipient of the Robert Kramme Award for the high-school boys' Most Outstanding Performer at the 116th Drake Relays, alongside the Waukee Northwest girls relay programme as winners of the companion Gerry Cooley Award. The two awards are presented to the most decorated Iowa high-school athlete and team of the meet on the Blue Oval, and follow a long tradition of recognising performances that span multiple events and rounds across the three days at Drake Stadium.
Nauman closed his Drake Relays career with three individual or relay championships in 2026, lifting his total to seven across his four years at the meet. He won the boys' 3200 metres in 8:57.64, anchored Western Dubuque's 1600 sprint medley relay in 3:26.84, and took the Elite High School Boys' Mile in 4:05.18. Drake's award citation described the triple as the rare distance treble that scoops up both relay and individual hardware, and noted that Nauman had recorded points-paying finishes in every distance event he had entered at the meet across his high-school career.
The Waukee Northwest girls picked up championship flags in five of the six relay events they entered, missing only the sprint medley relay where they finished second. The Wolves set Iowa all-time bests in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 4x800 and shuttle hurdle relay, with eleven different runners contributing across the squads. Drake's selection committee said the volume and consistency of the bests across the throws-and-jumps-heavy Iowa championship slate had separated the team from a strong 2026 candidate pool that included repeat champions from Pleasant Valley and Iowa City West.
The Collegiate and Invitational division winners were announced separately on Monday, with French middle-distance runner Titouan Le Grix taking the men's award after finishing second in the WACT 1500 metres in 3:36.11 behind a 3:35.22 stadium record run. The women's award went to Sandi Morris, the world indoor pole vault medallist, who took the WACT vault title at 15-3 in her 2026 outdoor opener and is on the entry list for the Doha Diamond League meeting in June. Le Grix had earlier been announced as a Bislett Games entrant for the men's 1500 metres in Oslo on 10 June.
The Drake Relays' Most Outstanding Performer awards predate the second world war and have been used by Iowa athletics historians to track talent pipelines into the NCAA, with previous winners including Lolo Jones, Karissa Schweizer and Jaylen Slade. The 117th edition is already on the calendar for 22 to 25 April 2027, with Drake's athletic department announcing on Monday that ticketing for the Saturday distance carnival will open on 1 December and will continue last year's flat $20 single-day ticket for general bleacher seating.