Drake Relays to Feature Top Women Runners

DES MOINES, Iowa —  The University of Alabama women’s track team is one of the early entrants in the 77th Drake Relays, and a Relays official says the defending NCAA champions will be joined by some other strong runners.

“This particular year there seems to be an abundance of outstanding women who will be coming here,” Relays director Bob Ehrhart said. “The University of Alabama women ran here last year, and they’re coming back as NCAA champions.

“They won the NCAA indoor title last month. Texas Southern has a couple of girls who broke records at our place last year and they’ll be back,” Ehrhart said.

“Georgia will bring the best women’s sprinter in the country--Gwen Torrence, the NCAA indoor champion and record holder. That’s just for starters. There are other strong teams coming in, too, so we’re looking forward to some great races,” Ehrhart said.

Leading Alabama at this year’s Relays, which are next Friday and Saturday, are Evelyn Adiru, a standout half-miler from Uganda; Lillie Leatherwood, who set Drake’s 400-meter record as a freshman two years ago; all-America sprinter Pauline Davis; and Liz Lynch, a distance runner from Scotland.

Adiru won the women’s 800 at the 1985 Drake Relays, but Leatherwood was hurt and couldn’t defend her 400 title. Ehrhart said Alabama could threaten Texas Southern’s 400-meter relay record of 3 minutes 32.21 seconds set last year.

The relays also is expected to feature some top individual talent. Veteran Cindy Bremser, the former Wisconsin distance runner, celebrated her induction into Drake’s Hall of Fame a year ago by winning a fifth straight Drake 1,500-meter race and the sixth overall.

Bremser, 32, became the first athlete in the long history of the Relays to win one event six times. She’ll be back this year but may not try to make it seven.

“I talked to her . . . and she’s enthusiastic about running here again,” Ehrhart said. “But she’s undecided whether to run the 1,500 again or go up to 5,000 meters.”

The added distance makes Bremser more of an international threat, and she could be one of the country’s top contenders at 3,000 meters at the 1988 Olympics.

A 1,500-meter bid would pit her against Alabama’s Lynch, who won both the mile and two-mile events in the Southeastern Conference indoor meet.

Another top runner, Iowa State’s Nawal El Moutawakel, was unable to defend her Drake championship in the 400-meter hurdles last year because of an injury that cut short her outdoor season.

El Moutawakel is healthy again, attested by her victory in the Sun Angel meet at Tempe, Ariz., last weekend. he is expected to compete at the relays this year but will have to compete unattached because she loses her collegiate outdoor eligibility next week on April 15, when she turns 24.

El Moutawakel set a Sun Angel meet record of 55.7, which was close to the Drake mark of 55.37 she ran in 1984. Texas Southern’s Anita Epps, last year’s winner (57.02), should offer the main competition.