DES MOINES, Iowa – Mahnee Watts provided a spark on a gloomy day, capturing the first 800-meter Drake Relays title in program history.

The 800-meter victory and winning time of 2:07.93 comes as a high point for the junior after sitting out the majority of the 2015 season.

“At this time last season I wasn’t even sure if I was still going to be competing because I had an injury,” Watts said. “It was a scary season last year and to be able to come back and win is like you know what I’m back, I can do this.”

Watts’s title didn’t come easily, the Bettendorf, native was boxed in the middle of pack, but eventually broke free, propelling to the lead in the final 100-meter stretch.

Immediately after crossing the finish line Watts hugged coach Jason Wakenight.

“Coach is my biggest supporter; I’m with him every day, he’s also one of my closest friends,” Watts said. “He has my back more than anyone and it’s nice to have someone like him to keep me going.”

Throughout the day the Hawkeyes struggled to find similar performances.

Starting in the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries, Jahisha Thomas finished 18th place with a time of 13.95. Thomas continued her day in the long jump, the sophomore finished seventh place with a leap of 5.87m.

Thomas was especially disappointed with her hurdle performance.

“Not great,” she said of her performance. “It was rocky, my beginning run wasn’t great and then it maintained. I just need to work on the first beginning bit.”

Back on the track, MonTayla Holder took fourth place in the 400-meter hurdles. Winning the event was 2015 Big Ten champion Symone Black (57.72).

During the race Holder got off to quick start, but lost steam mid-race trailing from the pack. The Indianapolis native was able to get back in contention with a burst of steam in the final 100 meters. She finished with a time of 58.64.

Director of Track and Field Joey Woody knows Holder will put together stronger performances going forward.

“We know she’s capable of running a lot faster,” he said. “I know she’s disappointed.”

Even after the fourth place finish, Holder remains at the top of the Big Ten standings with Black trailing her in second.

In the relay events, the Hawkeyes finished fourth in the 400-meter relay preliminaries with a time of 45.03. The tandem of Lake Kwaza, Elexis Guster, Taylor Chapman and Briana Guillory qualified for Sunday’s finals and will be seeded fourth trailing Baylor, Purdue and Texas.

“They ran good,” Woody said. “Lake got out really good, the first exchange was a little bit off, but Taylor ran well and we were running well at the end. Those are good teams that we’re in with. [Tomorrow] it’s just about having clean handoffs.”

Also in the relay events, the 1,600-relay team had a time of 3.33.65 in their heat for first place. The squad of Kwaza, Guillory, Holder and Guster qualified for Sunday’s finals and rank third behind Baylor and Purdue.

In the final event of the day for the women, the 3,200-meter relay team of Kaitlyn Nelson, Watts, Tess Wilberding and Jordyn Sindt finished 11th place with a time of 8:51.90.

The Hawkeyes return to the track tomorrow beginning at 10:00 a.m. with the sprint medley.

Follow @csindberg32 on Twitter for Iowa women’s track news, updates, and analysis.

Additional event results:

100-meter preliminaries- Lake Kwaza: 11.66 — qualified for Sunday’s finals.

Discus Throw- Dakotah Goodell: 47.29m (11th place)

Javelin- Kayla Hochhalter: 44.07m