DES MOINES, Iowa – For the first time since 2016 the Red Hawks made the trip to Des Moines for the Drake Relays, competing against top-talent from across the nation in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays.  The 112^th running of America's Athletic Classic saw two school records set by Ripon as well as two more Top-10 All-Time Performances.
 
The women's 4x100 relay of Jenna Erickson, Payton Rahn, Emma Spalding and Kara Block kicked off the competition Friday morning running the second fastest time in school history of 49.12 seconds to finish 19th out of 32 NCAA DII and DIII schools.
 
The women and men qualified in the 4x400 relay, with the women's quartet of Spalding, Rahn, Grace Engebretson and Makaila Weddle turning in a season best and MWC-leading time of 4:10.27.  The men were just off of their top-3 all-time performance as Andrew Fuhrmann, Wyatt Lowrance, Jacob Jumbeck and Dameco Walker ran 3:23.22, which would rank top-5 in school history.
 
The 4x200 relays lined up under the lights to finish the day and both the men and the women made some history turning in school record times.  Not traditionally ran outdoors, the last time the Red Hawks raced the 4x200 outdoors was 1996, and 26 years later both teams debuted in a big way.  The women's relay of Rahn, Erickson, Block and Spalding lowered the previous record by seven seconds finishing with a time of 1:44.72.  Electronic splits were provided for each leg with Rahn opening in 26.67 seconds, Erickson second running 26.34 seconds, Block third running 26.85 seconds and Spalding anchoring in 24.88 seconds.
 
The men saw similar success as they lowered the previous school record by over four seconds.  Fuhrmann and Walker teamed up with Ben Fisher and Jaden Watt-Martin to run a time of 1:29.02.  Fisher ran lead-off in 23.67 seconds, Watt-Martin second in 22.65 seconds, Walker third in 21.49 seconds and Fuhrmann on anchor in 21.23 seconds.