Topham second in 3,000 at Drake Relays

 DES MOINES — Griswold’s Rebekah Topham had four top five finishes during last weekend’s Drake Relays at Drake University in Des Moines.

Topham’s best finish came in the 3,000-meter race, when she placed second with a time of 10:00.09. 

Topham finished behind Stephanie Jenks of Linn-Mar, who ran a time of 9:26.87, which shattered the 2010 Drake Relays state record held by Katie Flood of Dowling Catholic (9:43.39).

Topham was three seconds ahead of third place’s Karissa Schweizer of Dowling Catholic.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Topham took third as she ran a time of 65.29 seconds,  placing behind Sarah Plock of Iowa City High and Carly Donahue of Pleasant Valley. She placed just a split second ahead of Erika Lewis of Waukee and Valerie Welch of Iowa City West.

Topham took fourth in the 1,500-meter race as she was edged out of the top three by both Kaley Ciluffo of Pleasant Valley and Karissa Schweizer of Dowling Catholic. 

The junior ran a time of 4:34.87, less than a second behind second and third place. Jenks won the race by running a time of 4:28.72, narrowly missing out on the Drake Relays High School girls record held by Flood.

Additionally, Topham took fourth in the 800-meter run when she ran a time of 2:12.17. Ciluffo, Jenks and Jasmine Staebler of Clayton Ridge all finished ahead of Topham.

It’s the second straight year Topham fell short of winning at the Drake Relays. As a freshman in 2012, Topham won two titles, the 3,000 and 1,500, at the famed Des Moines event.