Some of the world’s top track and field stars came out Saturday afternoon as one of the most decorated professional fields in 101 years of the Drake Relays showcased its talents for a sold-out crowd at Drake Stadium.

The field consisted of 53 former Olympians — three shy of the all-time record of 56.

Of the 16 invitational events of the day, the featured event was on the track at 3:05 p.m. as three of the world’s top female hurdlers were in the field for the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Headlining the field was former Des Moines Roosevelt prep and 2008 Olympian Lolo Jones. Jones, a five-time Drake Relays champion, faced stiff competition from the fourth-place finisher at the 2008 Olympics, Damu Cherry, and the gold medalist at the 2003 World Championships and 2010 Drake Relays Hall of Fame inductee, Canada’s Perdita Felicien.

Unlike every other race of the day in which the field was announced in ascending order of lane position, the hometown favorite, Jones, in lane four, was introduced last and to a standing ovation from a crowd — which sold out Drake Stadium for the 45th consecutive year.

The crowd held its breath and when the gun went off; Cherry and Jones quickly separated themselves from the pack. With two hurdles remaining, the two were neck and neck as it came to a final lean at the finish line, where Cherry edged out Jones by a mere three-hundredths of a second to earn her first Drake Relays title in her first attempt.

“It was happening so fast that I’m not like, ‘OK, she’s winning, I’m losing.’ You’re just like attack, attack, attack, attack and then at the end it’s just whatever day it is,” Cherry said.

Cherry is familiar with close finishes as she finished fourth, failing to make the podium at the 2008 Olympics when she was edged at the line by one-hundredth of a second by Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep.

“Well I’ve lost a lot by .01, so I was like I need to work on my finish a little bit, so that was really a big goal of mine,” Cherry said. “I am one of the shorter hurdlers, so I do have to probably dive across the line a little more, so I’ve been working on that.”

Cherry’s time of 12.65 seconds broke Jones’ Drake Relays record of 12.74 set in 2008 and also gave her the fastest time in the world this season.

“[The world leading time] means a lot to me right now because I am a little bit faster, normally I’m at about 12.7 at this point in the year,” Cherry said. “For me to be at 12.6, it’s huge for me.”

Jones’ 12.68 finish was good enough for the third in the world this season and was a fitting return for Jones, who in last year’s race suffered a mid-race injury that prevented her from crossing the finish line.

“I wasn’t really imagining anything negative from last year, I was just more focused in on having a good, clean hurdle race,” Jones said.

In the coming months, Jones will travel to a number of meets in Europe before returning to Des Moines for the USA Track and Field Championships where she hopes to better her time from this weekend.

“[Cherry] will be the one who always runs 12.4 early in the season, I’m the one who takes seven races to kind of get into the groove of things,” Jones said.

Another Drake Relays record was broken as high jumper Chaunte Lowe cleared 6 feet 5 inches to capture her second consecutive title in the women’s invitational high jump.

“I’ve been looking at that record for so long and it’s been within my grasp for so long that I feel truly blessed,” Lowe said.

After clearing the 6-foot-5-inch mark, Lowe failed to clear 6-07.25, but it didn’t seem to upset Lowe one bit. Following her last miss, Lowe did a back flip on the high jump landing and paraded around the stadium, high-fiving fans and posing for the camera. The two-time Olympian’s celebration included what she called a “shock-a-locka-boom dance.”

“Starting in college, my coach had a motivational speech for our conference championships and he told us I want you to go out there and shock-a-locka boom on those other jumpers,” Lowe said. “So that was my shock-a-locka-boom dance.”

Of the 17 total Drake Relays records set this year, five were set throughout the 16 invitational events Saturday that featured professional competitors from around the world. In addition to Cherry and Lowe, three other women set invitational records at the Relays. Female discus thrower Becky Breisch, a 2005 graduate of Nebraska, set a new distance mark at 211-03, Germany’s Nadine Kleinert threw 61-03 to break the women’s shot put record, and Lashauntea Moore crossed the line in 11.06 seconds for the Drake Relays 100-meter record and the fastest time in the world this year.

On the men’s side, crowd favorite and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Christian Cantwell picked up his seventh Drake Relays title in the men’s shot put, throwing 71-02. Cantwell, a 2010 Drake Relays Hall of Fame inductee, had his third-best performance at the Drake Relays and on his last throw, could have broken his own Drake Relays record of 72-06.

“I got excited. I have been throwing so good and I was ready to throw a big one, and I just watched it for a second,” Cantwell said.

Cantwell’s seventh title ties him with former ISU star Danny Harris for fourth on the all-time Drake Relays title list.

Highlighting the men’s sprint races was American Wallace Spearmon, who made his Drake Relays debut blazing past the rest of the field en route to a Drake Relays title in the men’s 200-meter invitational. Spearmon’s time of 20.25 seconds beat Guyana’s Adam Harris by a margin 57-hundredths of a second, but just missed the Drake Relays record of 20.05 set by Michael Johnson in 1997.

“It was a little disappointing. I definitely expected to run sub-20, but it just didn’t happen today,” Spearmon said. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, I just had high expectations.”

Spearmon will look ahead to next weekend when he will run against a close friend and the world record holder in the 200 meters, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt.

“Next week I run against Bolt in Jamaica, so 20.20 definitely isn’t going to cut it, that’s almost a second back from his [personal record],” Spearmon said. “I have some things to work on, but I’ll get it all squared away.”

Many of the top Americans that competed this weekend will return to Drake Stadium this summer for the USA Track and Field Championships.

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Top athletes reflect on the Drake Relays:

Lolo Jones: “I used to walk to Drake Relays and the state track meet was here. To be a part of it now as a professional, I just can’t believe that I’m still doing this and that I’m one of the top athletes in the world, so for me it means so much,” Jones said. “I came from Des Moines, Iowa. When you think of track stars, normally they’re from Florida or California, but I’m from Iowa, I just think that’s awesome.”

Christian Cantwell: “In the U.S. it’s hard to find an atmosphere like this,” Cantwell said. “I always look forward to [the Relays]. My wife says that I get just as cranky this week as I did the week of the World Championships. So that’s a sign that I take it serious.”

Bernard Lagat: “When Brian Brown initiated the invitation to my agent and he said, ‘Really, I’d like to have Bernard come,’ to me that sends a message that the meeting organizer and the fans of Drake Relays like to see their best athletes,” Lagat said. “They appreciate my running here over the time [I have run at Drake], and I wanted to come and do the best I can.”

Chaunte Lowe: “It was the craziest thing: I was sitting down there shaking and I was thinking, ‘I have never been nervous for the high jump, what is going on?’ And I think it was just because the crowd is so awesome and I really wanted to come out here and give them a show,” Lowe said.

Wallace Spearmon: “As far as the track and the atmosphere, it’s going to be what track and field needs,” Spearmon said about the USA Track and Field Championships being held at Drake Stadium. “We need people to come and support us and the people here actually seem to know about track, they seem to pay attention to the sport. They seem to know who’s who and I actually enjoy going to a place where the people watching actually know about the sport; it makes it a lot more fun for the athletes.”