The 2006 Drake Relays will be remembered by many for cold rainy weather – and for Cyclone fans, several near misses and one surprise.

The highlight of the weekend for both the men’s and women’s team was the 4×110 shuttle hurdle relay, ran by Sterling Frison, Eric Parker, Kellen Burl and R.J. Sumrall, returning to the team after spring football to run at Drake. After narrowly having the fastest qualifying time in preliminaries, the team ran a 57.48 to win the finals.

“It was fun because we didn’t have any hammer in there, we had nobody make finals in the open race and we didn’t have anybody that’s run under 14.5 [single leg] in an open race – and we averaged 14.4,” said coach Steve Lynn. “It was really a fun deal for us to have those guys all compete really well.”

David Rotich finished second in the 1500-meter run, with a time of 3:48.72. Rotich led with about 200 meters to go, but got boxed-in and shuffled back before making a charge on the final straightway.

“I just ran bad. I thought I was going to win it easy, but it turned out to be bad,” Rotich said. “I learned a lesson that you don’t have to get stupid out there, and things can turn unexpectedly.”

Dan Taylor and Brandon Rooney finished ninth and 12th in the same race, respectively.

Taylor, who led on the final lap before being shuffled back, was disappointed that Iowa State couldn’t make a statement.

“Our tactic was to get one to win, go 1-2-3, and it was working – until the last few meters,” Taylor said. “We don’t accept mediocrity. This isn’t a good day right now, but we’ll get over it and get ready for Big 12 [Outdoor Championships] in two weeks.”

Elsewhere, Chase Madison took second in the discus throw with a distance of 55.95 meters. Madison, who was scratched from the shot put because of the rainy weather, led the discus going into the final competitors throw, but was beaten by Westley Stockbarger of Florida.

“I feel okay, considering the conditions, and just a good thrower beat me on the last throw,” Madison said. “We’ve got Big 12s, regionals and nationals coming up, so just hoping to do well there [and] throw as well as I can.”

Neil Hines finished second in the decathlon, and was first among college competitors.

Elsewhere, the 4×400-meter run team of Parker, Tony Stanfield, James Robinson and Elijah Braimah failed to make finals with a time of 3:14.84. The 4×200-relay team of Isaac Hinton, Stanfield, Gabe Kimpson and Braimah finished fifth with a 1:26.17. The 4×1600-meter team of Rooney, Taylor, Rotich and Jory Zunich finished second with a time of 16:33.04.

For the women, Erica Lynns’s second-place heptathlon finish of 5,386 points, the best collegiate score, should get her into NCAA Nationals, coach Dick Lee said.

“That was exciting, we feel pretty confident that that’s going to get her qualified for nationals,” Lee said.

Ada Anderson finished third in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:09.12, but said she felt the run should have been better.

“I’m tired of second and third place finishes,” Anderson said. “I thought I could catch them, but that last 100 – that’s always been the weakest part of my race – and I just need to lighten up a little bit and work on the ending part of my race.”

In the 1600-meter sprint medley, the team of Lynn, Anderson, Whitney Bynum and Sara Boisen finished fourth, in a race they felt they should have won amidst the pouring rain.

“We all just wanted a flag today, but we put our best out there and this is how we did,” Anderson said. “We made the most of what we could do.”

Elsewhere, Boisen finished ninth in the 400-meter hurdles, Nicole Teitsworth finished 14th in the javelin, and Leigh Wagner failed to make the first jump of the high jump.

The Cyclones run at Wisconsin next week before the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Waco, Texas, on May 12, 13 and 14.