DES MOINES, Iowa – Rebekah Topham and Zack Penrod combined to sweep the 110th Drake Relays seeded 1500m races, Friday night at Drake Stadium.
 
Griswold, Iowa, native Rebekah Topham came out on top in front of her home crowd winning the women's 1500m seeded race with a season best time of 4:24.76. Her time ranks No. 3 in the American Athletic Conference.
 
Topham ran her first 300m in 55.48, she then moved up to seventh at the 700m mark with her second split being 1:11.16. The redshirt junior wasn't done, she moved up five spaces clocking her third split at 1:11.85, before running her last split in 1:06.28 to run across the line as champion.
 
She now has finished top-3 in her last four races, including a Herm Wilson Invitational 1500m title in 4:30.45.
 
Zack Penrod followed suite winning the men's 1500m seeded race with a personal best and third fastest time in Shocker history of 3:42.96. The Raytown, Mo., native bettered his conference leading time and currently sits No. 20 in the nation.
 
Penrod shot out of the gates running his first 300m in 45.09, at the 700m mark Penrod was in third with a second split time of 1:00.71. He continued to push running his third split in 59.17, before making his final move on the last lap into first place with his final split being 58.01.
 
He has placed in the top-5 of his last three 1500m races, including a victory on April 12, at the John McDonnell Invitational in 3:44.72.
 
The Shocker distance crew continues its hot streak on the track at the Drake Relays Saturday, April 27 with both men and women entering distance medley relay teams. The women's DMR race is set for 11:10 a.m., followed by the men's DMR race at 12:51 p.m.