Two of Iowa’s best take aim at Drake Relays history
Shelby Houlihan, Karissa Schweizer look to break a 50-year-old record in the women’s mile
Shelby Houlihan, Karissa Schweizer and Francie Larrieu-Smith have one big thing in common: distance.
Sure there’s the connection that they are all distance runners. Or that their distance-running skills have sent them around the globe to compete.
And on top of that, there is the metaphorical distance of time. Iowa natives Houlihan and Schweizer are separated from Larrieu-Smith by 50 years and a race this weekend at the Drake Relays will build a bridge that connects those five decades.
On Saturday afternoon, Houlihan and Schweizer will headline a top invitational field in a mile race. Houlihan, from Sioux City, and Schweizer, a former West Des Moines Dowling star, have been among the nation’s top distance runners in the past decade with both making Olympic appearances.
They’ll try to top a mark of 4:40.2 set by Larrieu-Smith exactly 50 years before the Saturday race – April 26, 1975.
“I was surprised to find out I had any records left,” said Larrieu-Smith, a four-time Olympian. “That’s an exciting thing for Karissa and Shelby and the other competitors, to work toward breaking that. And I think it will be broken. Records are made to be broken.”
This record has been stuck in a holding pattern since Larrieu-Smith won in 1975. The mile used to be a standard for distance running, but by the next year the Relays switched to 1,500 meters. The mile hasn’t been run since on the track.
That doesn’t mean a record belonging to Larrieu-Smith isn’t still a big deal. She was one of the U.S.’s premier runners in the 1970s and early ’80s. She ran the 1,500 in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, the 10,000 in 1988 and the marathon in 1992. She was the U.S. flag-bearer at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
“Usually we’d run the 1,500 at Drake,” Houlihan said. “So the fact we get to run a mile is such a privilege.”
They’re doing it twice, in fact. On Tuesday night, both participated in the Grand Blue Mile road race in downtown Des Moines. Winner Krissy Gear of Flagstaff, Ariz., finished in a U.S.-record 4:23.98, Schweizer was second in 4:24.40 and Houlihan finished fourth in 4:25.06.
Houlihan is coming off a silver-medal finish in the 3,000 at the world indoor championships in China last month. She’s the U.S. record holder in the 1,500 and a 12-time national champion. The silver-medal finish shows a return to form after serving a four-year ban that cost her a shot at the Tokyo Olympics (that were held in 2021 because of the pandemic) and the Paris Olympics. She tested positive for the banned substance nandralone and made headlines for the claim it came from a burrito from a food truck.
In an interview with the website LetsRun.com, Houlihan said that indeed it sounded “ridiculous,” but that she and her team were trying to find answers in a short amount of time. Her ban was controversial because other athletes facing a similar situation had little to no punishment.
(The Des Moines Register’s Tommy Birch wrote an excellent profile of Houlihan and her comeback this week.)
Houlihan said in a Zoom press conference last week with Larrieu-Smith and Schweizer that the race in China helped her let go of her anger about the situation.
“Anger is not a very good motivator for me,” she said. “I thrive on having fun. [Anger] can be a good fuel but it’s not sustainable.”
Saturday’s race will be this year’s debut for Schweizer, who took off the indoor season to deal with injuries. She had a great 2024 as an Olympic finalist in the 5,000, where she finished 11th, and the 10,000, where she finished 12th.
The mile race is a much shorter distance than she’s been competing in, but Schweizer welcomes the challenge.
“There are many good 1,500 specialists and I like the challenge of trying to stay with them,” she said. “I get so much more nervous for races like this and not a 5K or 10K because I think I’ve got to get out with them and hang tight.”
Drake’s blue oval is familiar territory for both runners.
Schweizer won 13 Drake Relays titles in high school and while running at Missouri. Houlihan won eight Drake titles as a high school runner, including three in 2011, but her Arizona State team did not run at Drake. However, when Drake Stadium played host to the U.S. outdoor national championships in 2018, Houlihan won the 1,500 and the 5,000 (Schweizer was third). Houlihan won those two races again in Des Moines the following year, with Schweizer was second in the 5,000.
“It’s so crazy; we’ve been on so many big stages and racing at the Olympics and huge stadiums,” Schweizer said, “but I still remember the feeling of racing at Drake in high school and there’s nothing more nerve-wracking than that.
“I would be sick to my stomach as a little high schooler because it was such a big stadium and such a big opportunity.”
Houlihan agreed.
“It’s the biggest stadium for a high schooler, it’s just terrifying,” she said. “I remember coming out to the track and thinking, ‘Don’t look at the crowd.’”
Saturday they’ll have the crowd in their hands, shooting for a piece of history and a moment shared with a legend of their sport.
“It’s so cool it’s the exact day 50 years later,” Houlihan said. “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be fun.”
Gold medalist leaps into Relays lineup
Tara Davis-Woodhall, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the long jump, leads a strong field in the event at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Joining Davis-Woodhall will be Ese Brume, the Nigerian national record holder and three-time Olympian, and Quanesha Brooks, a 2021 Olympian in Tokyo. Also in the field are Arianna Passeri, the defending champion, and Sydney Willits, who won 2024 NCAA indoor title competing for Iowa State.
Davis-Woodhall’s husband, Hunter Woodhall will also compete in the men’s invitational 400 meters Saturday afternoon. Hunter Woodhall won a gold medal in the event in the Paris Paralympics. Despite his T62 Paralympic status (amputations below the knee in both legs and competing with prostheses), Woodhall will run in the open race that features other world-class runners.
The high school girls’ high jump on Thursday night will also feature a top competitor. Linn-Mar’s Abby Mecklenburg, a defending state champion, became the first Iowa girl to jump farther than 20 feet on April 14 with leaps of 20-3 and 20-8 ¼. She won her event by more than 3 feet.
The Drake Relays begin Thursday with high school field events in the afternoon and the distance carnival in the evening. There are day and night sessions on Friday before the races conclude on Saturday. For a complete schedule, click here.
Jane Burns is a former sports and features writer for the Des Moines Register, as well as other publications and websites. She’s a past winner of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Mel Greenberg Award for her coverage of women’s basketball. Over the course of her career she’s covered pretty much everything, which is why her as-yet-to-be-written memoir will be called “Cheese and Basketball: Stories From a Reporter Who Has Covered Everything.”