A tale of two weather systems shaped the story Saturday at the fifth and sixth stops on the 2026 USATF Tour. Traditionally the nation's two largest relay carnivals, the Drake Relays in Des Moines and Philadelphia's Penn Relays this year offered more than 20 World Athletics Continental Tour Silver events that attracted some of the hemisphere's top track and field stars.
Drake Relays events
Breezy sunshine blessed the athletes and spectators at Drake, but damp and chilly weather at Penn put a kibosh on any hopes of stellar performances in Philly. That didn't stop the athletes from entertaining wildly appreciative crowds, though.
Twelve years after placing 16th in his first trip to the Drake Relays as a Wisconsin-Eau Claire junior, World Indoor Championships bronze medalist Roger Steen won his second straight title in the men's shot put with a fourth round blast of 21.93/71-11.5. It was the fifth best throw of his career and the top outdoor mark by an American in 2026. Nigeria's Chuk Enekwechi took the lead with a 20.75/68-1 opener and improved on that in the next two rounds to 21.74/71-4, adding some gymnastic moves in between throws, but he couldn't respond to Steen's big throw and ended up second. 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Rajindra Campbell of Jamaica hit 21.72/71-3.25 on his final effort to claim third.
Facing a strong wind in the women's 100 hurdles, USATF Indoor Championships 60H gold medalist Alia Armstrong gained a lead by the fifth barrier and held on to win in 12.77, with Danae Dyer running the second fastest time of her career to place second in 12.82. The wind calmed down a bit for the men's 110H and world leader Jamal Britt powered out of the blocks and took a lead he never relinquished on the way to a 13.22 victory, with Jamar Marshall second in 13.31. Britt, who ran collegiately for Iowa, won at Drake in 2023 and was the runner-up last year.
Shifting winds were troublesome for the women's pole vaulters, and Sandi Morris needed three attempts at 4.65/15-3 to ensure her victory. Morris, the No. 2 all-time U.S. performer and one of only two Americans to have cleared five meters in her career, opened with a first attempt make at 4.45/14-7.25 and then snaked over 4.55/14-11 on her first try. After her winning height she took three attempts at 4.80/15-9 but was unsuccessful. Emily Grove took two attempts to get over 4.55/14-11 and claimed runner-up status.
The opening height of 5.47/17-11.25 in the men's pole vault produced more exes than even Henry the Eighth could dream of as nobody in the field had a clean card and seven athletes no-heighted. That left only four contenders as the bar was raised to 5.62/18-5.25, and Jacob Wooten staked a quick claim to supremacy with a first-attempt clearance. The three highest vaulters in U.S. history, KC Lightfoot, Sam Kendricks, and Chris Nilsen, were unable to muster a clearance at that height, leaving Wooten alone at the top of the podium.
A tightly packed group of runners in the men's 1500 came to the bell in 2:40.17 with Waleed Suliman in the front. On the backstretch Cooper Cawthra put the hammer down and pulled away around the final bend to sail to victory in a meet record 3:35.22. Cawthra covered the final 400 in 54.87 and staved off a late challenge by Frenchman Titouan Le Grix, who ended up second in 3:36.11, with Suliman third in 3:36.54.
Annika Reiss was fourth in the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships on the streets of Des Moines Wednesday, but on the track she dashed past road mile champion Addy Wiley in the final 150 to win in 4:25.52, an outdoor PB by almost four seconds. Wiley held the lead at the halfway point after the pacemaker dropped off, and she continued to lead at the bell, but Reiss was on her heels and poised to pounce. Reiss' 64.36 final lap gave her the victory over Wiley, who was second in 4:25.96.
Dinedye Denis of Cote d'Ivoire had an early lead in the women's 400 hurdles, half a stride up on two-time World Championships silver medalist Shamier Little, but Little started to take over around the final turn and pushed down the homestretch to win in 54.72. Aliya Garozzo turned in a huge lifetime best of 54.90 in second, taking .79 off her previous PB.
Much the same scenario unfolded in the men's 400H when Jamaica's Assinie Wilson sprinted to an early lead that he lost around the final bend. Paris Olympian CJ Allen patiently worked his way through the barriers and handled the final three hurdles very well to take the victory in 48.94. Allen also won at Drake in 2019 and 2023.
Friday night's women's 3000 steeplechase went to Gracie Hyde, the runner-up in the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships two days previously. Hyde set a lifetime best of 9:22.19 to knock more than two seconds off her previous best and win by more than six seconds.
Penn Relays events
Teammates on the U.S women's 4x400 that took gold at this year's World Indoor Championships, Rosey Effiong and Bailey Lear battled for individual glory in the 400. Effiong slowly made up the stagger on Lear to her outside and she eased through the finish in 51.74 to beat Lear by .2 seconds, with Talitha Diggs third in 52.35. Two more gold medal relay teammates from the World Indoors went 1-2 in the men's 400 as Justin Robinson never saw his challengers on the way to a win in lane nine with a 46.03 clocking ahead of Demarius Smith's 46.54 in second.
A pair of similar scenarios unfolded in the 800, resulting in comfortable victories for McKenna Keegan and Darius Smallwood. Keegan, who helped her Villanova team to a win in the 4x800 in 2018, took the lead in the women's race after going by the bell in 59.20 and was never really challenged as she cruised to the win in 2:01.41. Former Penn State star Darius Smallwood was also in the lead at the bell in the men's race, going through in 50.64 and holding off a late challenge by Nigerian record holder Edose Ibadin to win in 1:46.06.
Two years ago, Victoria Bossong helped her Harvard team set a collegiate record in the distance medley relay, and she enjoyed victory again today as she opened up a sizable lead in the women's 600 with a 26.79 first 200 and maintained her lead to win by more than two seconds in 1:26.25. Michaela Rose was second in 1:28.27. In the men's 600, Gabriel Moronta of the Dominican Republic used his 45.01 400 speed to dominate, covering the final 400 in 51.46 to win in 1:16.08.
In spite of a medium opening pace in the men's mile, the field was stretched out in single file after the first lap. Eric Holt held the lead at the half mile in 2:01.4, with Aidan Ryan a stride behind. At the bell Ben Allen made a move to challenge Holt and those two led into the final backstretch. Eric Gibson surged past them with 250 to go and was at the front coming off the bend, but Ireland's Charlie O'Donovan went wide and outkicked him in the final 50 to take the victory in 3:59.61, with Gibson .02 back in second.
Eleanor Fulton shared the lead with Mexico's Lorena Rangel before she broke away over the final lap of the women's 1500 and won in 4:12.11 with a 63.82 closing lap. Kenya's Flomena Asekol also closed well to nab second in 4:13.96.
Unfriendly conditions hampered most of the athletes in the field events, but a pair of Jamaican men shone. World Indoor Championships silver medalist Jordan Scott bounded 17.23/56-6.5, his sixth best jump ever, to take the triple jump, while two-time NCAA indoor and outdoor champion Romaine Beckford went over 2.26/7-5 on his second try to win the high jump. Reigning Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica won the women's triple jump with a wind-aided 14.39/47-2.5, and USATF Indoor champion Charity Hufnagel took the high jump title over Sanaa Barnes on the basis of fewer misses at the winning height of 1.84/6-0.5.