DES MOINES, Iowa — Friday and Saturday are the biggest and busiest days of the week at the 115th Drake Relays where many white victory flags are handed out, and even some records are broken.

The high school boys sprint medley, Norwalk put up a fight finishing second, but Dowling Catholic had almost a four second advantage as they won first with Sam Drexler, Jackson Miller, Travis Lembechwa and Owen Wolfe. The winning time was 3:25.35, a new season’s best, and 1:50.78 for the anchor Wolfe, a Drake Relays record.

“It’s nothing less than amazing. It’s something we knew we could do coming into today. We have to run 3:26,” Wolfe said. “We’ve always had a lot to look up to. Our school record is 3:25. Just to be a part of history of something, you always want as an athlete. To finally be able to say we wrote our names in history books, it’s nothing short of amazing.”

In girls 100 meter hurdles, Valley West Des Moines’ Emma Havighurst looked to dominate. She was the top seed and she proved it finishing in 13.82 seconds, which is a new Drake Relays and state record. She’s the fastest 100m girl hurdler in Iowa prep history.

“It was so awesome. I knew I had goals at the end of the season to do that. I’m just so happy I got to do it so early in the season. I can keep cutting it down from there,” Havighurst said. “It was just a surreal feeling, I knew I just wanted to work hard in this final and make it pretty and have fun with it so.”

In the girls 4×200 relay, Pella Christian was chugging along, but they finished just behind Waukee Northwest. The wolves victorious with Avery Winter, Avery Vogt, Aunya Van Zetten and Katie Willits. A winning time of 1:40.97, a four-peat.

“I would just say it gives you a lot of pressure and it makes you run faster that everybody is after you,” Willits said.

“It’s an amazing feeling every year. It’s never the same,” Van Zetten said.

In the boys 4×200, it was another close one. Newton right there next to Ankeny Centennial, but the Jaguars got the advantage and win it 1:26.55. That’s a Drake Relay record. That team was made up of Robert McGhee, Cael Woods, Caleb Reed, Braeden Jackson.

In the boys 100 meter final, a few guys looking shoulder to shoulder, but it’s Dowling Catholic’s Luke Nevitt getting there just a tad faster to win it at 10.57.

“It felt great. To have all that hard work pay off, I knew god was with me,” Nevitt said. “You just have to trust your technique, trust all the hard work and make sure it pays off. This is my first year being at Drake in the sprints. It’s awesome.”

In college action with the women’s 800 final, Drake’s own Emilie Meyer winning 2:03.95, a personal record.

Meanwhile, the pros compete on Saturday but some checked out the blue oval on Friday.

Olympic gold medalists Tara and Hunter Woodhall spoke to the media. Tara won gold in the long jump in Paris, and her husband Hunter won the 400 at the Paralympics.

“Oh boy, it’s insane out there. The fans are here, they’re ready for a show tonight, a show tomorrow,” Tara said. “It’s exciting for us to be here. I haven’t been here since 2018. I was also here when I was just a young pup competing at the Jr. Olympics. It’s exciting to be back and be back with our coach who is from here.”

“I just like looking around. I feel like the energy is building,” Hunter said. “Just looking around seeing the stands all the way around, the cement. It’s so sick. I can’t wait to see it tomorrow. Hopefully we can go out there and give them a show.”

Friday’s action continues with the evening session and then the grandest day begins on Saturday morning.

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