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≡ DRAKE RELAYS ≡
The 16th Grand Blue Mile, the featured road race of the Drake Relays, once again incorporated the USA Track & Field National Road Mile Championship, this year selecting the team for the World Athletics Running Championships later this year (somewhere).
The women started at 7:15 p.m. local time, with World Indoor 3,000 m silver winner Shelby Houlihan the headliner in the field, along with two-time 5,000-10,000 m Olympian Karissa Schweizer, the 2024 Fifth Avenue Mile winner.
Both were in contention, but a late surge by 2023 U.S. Steeple champ Krissy Gear got her to the line first in 4:23.98, way ahead of the American Record of 4:28 (4:27.97) by Nikki Hiltz in winning the 2023 title at the Grand Blue Mile.
It was close, with Schweizer right behind at 4:24.40, then Gracie Morris (4:24.73) and Houlihan (4:25.06). Both Gear and Schweizer qualified for the U.S. team for the World Running Champs.
The men’s race had two-time winner Vincent Ciattei, victorious in 2022 and 2024 and hunting for a spot on his first national team at age 30 after finishing a too-close fourth at the 2024 Olympic Trials 1,500 m, running a lifetime best of 3:31.78.
Knowing the course perfectly, Ciattei was at or near the front the entire way and stepped away in the final strides to get his third USATF title and a trip to the road Worlds in 3:54.55, the fastest of his Des Moines wins.
Road mile debutante Sam Ellis, the 2023 Pac-12 800 m winner for Washington, chased Ciattei home and also made the road Worlds team in 3:54.95, ahead of 2019 U.S. 1,500 m champ Craig Engels (3:55.09) and Josh Thompson (3:55.14).
Prize money for both races was $10,000-5,000-3,000-2,500-2,000-1,000-600-400-300-200 for the top 10 places, and Gear scored an additional $5,000 for the American Record.
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Two of the highest-profile athletes who will complete at the Drake Relays will be the husband-and-wife team of Hunter Woodhall, the 2024 Paralympic gold medalist in the men’s T62 class and Tara Davis-Woodhall, the Paris women’s Olympic long jump champion.
They chatted with reporters from their Manhattan, Kansas home on Monday before heading to Des Moines, excited about the opportunity to compete in the same meet on Saturday. Said Hunter:
“I feel like I’m in a really good spot and that’s the awesome part about a season opener. There’s not too much stress, just go out there and have a good time, break the dust off, it’s been a minute since we raced, so just have a good time, enjoy the environment.”
Hunter will be competing in the men’s open 400 m, not in a Paralympic race, something he relishes for the opportunity to face better competition.
Asked about how she is approaching the seasonal schedule with the U.S. Championships at the end of July and the World Athletics Championships in September, Tara explained:
“I trust Coach [Travis] Goepfert’s opinion on everything, so I allow him to create the schedule, based on our training, and, you know there’s a lot of meets and Diamond Leagues that are set really well for that late of a national championships. So we’ll be going off to Europe in June and compete on that little circuit and then be at Nationals.
“I think this year is a bit of a different type of year for us athletes to try to peak on the right timing. I think where we’re headed, we’re going to be just fine. … Nationals is way later than it’s ever been and I’m honestly OK with that, coming off the Olympics and how dedicated we were for this training, and allowed us to kind of take a mental break, do things, basically capitalize on our Olympic moment.”
Both were asked about the new opportunity to compete essentially together at what will be a combined USATF Championships that will now include Paralympic track & field. Davis-Woodhall exclaimed “It’s going to be epic,” and Hunter added:
“It’s going to be great. In contrast, last year, my nationals was in Miami and Tara was in Eugene, so we couldn’t have been farther from each other … and we compete better when we’re together.
“This is what we love to do and we don’t think that a physical disability or the cards that we were dealt should separate those two things. … [T]here’s room for everybody, and I think also as far as bringing money into the sport, the stories that come from the Paralympics, the adversity a lot of these athletes fight through is such a great opportunity for USATF and the athletes themselves to market that and share those stories, and really get people involved.
“I think that people outside of the die-hard track & field fans are looking for stories, are looking for a way to connect to people, they are looking for a way to motivate themselves through sport. They are not necessarily just the fastest times and the biggest jumps and everything in the world. I think it’s going to be great all around.”
Hunter was also asked about the continuous improvement of his prosthetics and the advancements he is seeing. It’s complex:
“We kind of look at the Paralympic side of things close to F1 than track & field. I’m the driver and we’re trying to build a set-up that helps me do what I need to do … prosthetics are improving and we’re finding new ways to improve set-ups.
“Last year, I actually changed my entire set-up. Started from the ground up, had to re-learn how to run, and change my gait and stride, which was a huge risk, but it’s working out in a positive way. And that comes from working with rule changes within the sport. Things are always changing and making new rules to keep things fair across the board and keep allowing us to compete on the able-bodied side.
“It’s kind of a balancing game, trying to work within the rules and still come up with the best set-up possible. But I think at the end of the day, the thing you have to realize that, just in any sport, there’s no secret answer, there’s no magic pill. So I could have the best set-up in the world, if I’m not doing the things I need to do and being disciplined in training, it’s not going to help me run faster.”
And all of these items are handmade, one at a time, as Hunter pointed out, “very small margins that make a really large difference.”
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