Jhoanmy Luque’s white flag was not a sign of surrendering, although it would have been hard to blame her if she had passed up the long jump competition Friday in rainy, 40-degree weather.

With frozen hands and feet, and a cold pit of sand in front of her, the Iowa State junior jumper proved again why she is one of the best jumpers in Cyclone track and field history.

Her first leap, 20 feet and 1 inch, was good enough for first place and her first Drake Relays championship flag.

“Finally I got my white flag,” Luque said. “This is my third year here, and I finally got it. Last year I was second … right now I really feel happy because I won the event. That’s all that matters.”

While not satisfied with her performance, Luque’s teammate, senior Allanah McCorkle, said she was still pleased considering the conditions.

By the time McCorkle stepped outside after about 10 minutes of jogging indoors, she said she felt loose and warmed up. She had three pairs of pants, a sweatshirt and a coat, and, in her own words, she was dripping in sweat.

But as fast as the temperatures had dipped a night earlier, McCorkle began losing feeling in her body. 

“… Our feet got numb so quick,” McCorkle said. “You couldn’t really feel your feet. I could still guide myself and get to the board – I only fouled one time – but it was freezing.”

McCorkle still managed to jump 19 feet and 6 ¼ inches on her third jump, finishing third overall.

“I’m not upset, I’m never satisfied, but I’m pleased with how the day went,” McCorkle said. “We had a pretty good series for it to be as cold as it is out there. I always want to be runner-up to [Luque], but it was fine.”

The Cyclones added a third top-three performance in the 4×800-meter relay.

A team consisting of freshman Larkin Chapman, sophomore Erinn Stenman-Fahey, junior Evelyne Guay and sophomore Jasmine Staebler ran strong in all four legs, finishing second overall in 8:41.10. The time was the fastest a Cyclone 4×800 team has ran since 1978. 

“I thought overall we got in really good position right away,” Staebler said. “Larkin led off with a great leg, and then Erinn had a great leg and got us into really good position. Ev was able to maintain, and I thought we had a really solid race overall.”