Clear Lake junior track star Reese Brownlee is off to one of the best starts of her career this spring. She has set multiple schools records and has qualified three events for the Drake Relays next week.
Brownlee broke the long jump record (previously held by herself) at the North Iowa Indoor Track and Field Championships. She most recently set the school record in the 400 meter hurdles in Algona last week in her debut in the event.
Brownlee started early this season setting records in the long jump with a leap of 19-00.25, the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.76, the open 400 meter with a time of 56.6 and the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.95.
Track is a sport that she loves because of the individual aspect but also the team aspect.
“Running, you are able to put everything you have out there. You are able to set a lot of goals. It’s an individual sport but also a team sport so you get all aspects of it,” said Brownlee. “I think it’s fun to see how far you can push yourself and with running you can gauge that with different marks and PRs so you can see your progress and how much your hard work has paid off.”
Brownlee has been training for the hurdles since last June and enjoys it more than the open 400 meter run, the other event she qualified for the Drake Relays.
“I started running hurdles this past summer and I really enjoy it a lot. I think it’s better than the open 400 because there’s 10 hurdles you get to go chase,” said Brownlee. “They keep you occupied during the race because it is really hard.”
Throughout practice, she wasn’t entirely sure how fast she would be, but shattered the school record by five seconds. Being one of the fastest girls in the state in the first timed meet wasn’t something she expected, despite having lofty goals.
“I really didn’t know [I would be so fast]. I wanted to go under 1:06 which is the Blue Standard,” said Brownlee. “We did that and it was really reassuring, going to Drake in a couple of weeks.”
The Drake Relays, billed as America’s Athletic Classic, is held at Drake University in Des Moines and was recently named a Silver Level event on the World Athletics Continental Tour, one of two in the United States to earn Silver Level status.
Brownlee is no stranger to the Blue Oval, having ran in the Drake Relays before. The state meet is also held at Drake University and she has qualified for the long jump, 400 meter run and the 400 meter hurdles.
“I’m a junior now so I’ve been there a couple of times now and State is there so I’ve ran there four times,” said Brownlee. “It gets easier as you get older and more comfortable with it but there is always nerves, pressure and expectations you set for yourself. Track is hard so it is daunting.”
