The Keokuk High School boys 4×100 meter relay team broke a 31 year old school record this season and qualified for the Drake Relays where they could rewrite history if they also beat that same 1994 team’s time at Drake. Individual runner, Ryan Bair, qualified for Drake to run the 100 meter dash and placed 15th and beat a 93 year old school record this season for the 200 meter dash.
The current relay team’s record is 43.49 seconds, which beat the 1994 record of 43.8 seconds and includes runners Tramell Smith, Kurt Joy, Ryan Bair and Drew Campbell. The 1994 team included Dustin Johnson, Larry Roberts, Mark Woodring and Denico Billingsley and they also made it to Drake but in 1994 and ran 45.25 seconds, which didn’t beat their own school record.
Both of the boys and girls 4×100 meter relay teams qualified for the coveted Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, and are currently set to race on April 26.
“We have a lot of seniors with experience and a lot of talent throughout our teams,” Wood said.
And the girls team is also poised to break a record and includes Layonna Stewart, Kelly Takorbisong, Alaya Carr and Ada Wood and their best time is 50.65. The current school record is 49.58 seconds from 2018. The 2018 team included Lindsey Campbell, Megan Giesler, Miracle Ailes and Ya’Mia Ailes-Primes, but the team that went to the Drake Relays ran 51.17 and placed 31st and included Lillia Tate, Megan Geisler, Miracle Ailes and Ya’ Mia Ailes-Primes.
The boys 4×100 meter relay team is ranked 44th in Iowa and 13th in class 3A, and the girls relay team is ranked 37th in Iowa and 16th in class 3A.
Individually, Bair had a personal record in the 100 meter dash at Drake with 10.93 seconds, which is so close to beating the 10.83 seconds time of Bob Hemingway set in 1932 at KHS, which is the current school record and was hand timed. Bair already beat Hemingway’s other 93 year old record of 22.27 seconds in the 200 meter dash this season when he ran it in 22.15 seconds.
The total KHS runners at the Drake Relays, which include alternates are Layonna Stewart, Violet Shead, Alaya Carr, Kelly Takorbisong, Ada Wood, Drew Campbell, Ryan Bair, Kurt Joy, Antonio Crockett, Travarius Smith, Tramell Smith, Quintin Vanderpool and Brenton Hoard.
As a team, so far this season the girls have won first place at the Clark County Relays, Central Lee Hawk Relays and WMU Pankoke Relays at Winfield-Mount Union and the boys have won first place at Clark County Relays and Central Lee Hawk Relays.
For the schedule of events at the Drake Relays, go to: https://godrakebulldogs.com/documents/2025/4/24/Relays_Schedule_Tentatitive_4.24.pdf
For info to watch the Drake Relays, go to https://godrakebulldogs.com/news/2025/4/21/drake-relays-how-to-watch-relays-week-2025.aspx.
