The Iowa men’s track and field program won the Drake Relays Cup on Saturday in Des Moines for the first time since 2018. The Hawkeyes captured two relay titles on their way to a 36-point total.

Iowa’s James Carter Jr. was the Hawkeyes’ biggest individual point scorer. He won his second career Drake Relays long jump title with a lifetime best jump of 7.84 meters. He also won the triple jump with a mark of 15.79 meters. 

Carter Jr. is the first men’s collegiate athlete to sweep the Drake Relays jumping events in 16 years.

“When there’s pressure on the line, I tend to pick up my energy a bit more,” Carter said in a release. “… I take a lot of pride in being a combo horizontal jumper because it’s hard to do both, and it’s hard to do well at both. I’m proud that I’m able to keep improving in both events.”

Iowa’s first relay victory came in the 4×100-meter shuttle hurdle when the team of sophomore Grant Conway, senior Josh Braverman, freshman Kalil Johnson, and sophomore Gratt Reed earned gold with a school-record time of 56.74 seconds.

Next, the Iowa men won the sprint-medley relay. Sophomores Austin Kresley and Khullen Jefferson, along with juniors Julien Gillum and Alec Still, raced to a time of 3:18.06. It was the fifth-best mark in school history.

Several Iowa throwers competed at the Kip Janvrin Open hosted by Simpson College in Indianola on Saturday, as well. 

Sophomore Ianna Roach won the women’s shot put with a 14.49-meter toss, and Quinton Lyons placed third on the men’s side with his 17.07-meter throw.

Up next

The Iowa track team will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, next weekend for the Wisconsin Twilight Invite on May 6. It will be Iowa’s first time traveling to another meet hosted by a Big Ten institution this outdoor season.