Clear Lake's Reese Brownlee, among nation's elite runners, finally cracked through at Drake Relays
When Clear Lake junior Reese Brownlee was just a freshman in 2022, she reached the qualifying times for 400-meter freshman division and the emerging elite high school division for long jump at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
It's quite an accomplishment to be able to head to Eugene, Oregon to compete against the nation's best high schoolers. Just three girls in the state of Iowa — one being Brownlee — would have met the qualifying standards for the 2024 Nike Outdoor Nationals in the long jump based on competition so far this season.
When Brownlee went, she took fourth place in the high school division with a leap of 17 feet, 8 3/4 inches. In the 400-meter dash, she took first in the freshman division with a time of 56.5 seconds.
It was there she announced to the track and field world that she was an elite talent. But if you ask Brownlee, all she remembers is the beautiful Hayward Field facility. The large track, the tower in the backdrop and the sights of anything and everything being the color green.
The accomplishment of getting there, let alone how she finished, is often an afterthought to her.
"Honestly, I don't think I knew any better," Brownlee said.
Despite qualifying for the Nike event again on different occasions in different events, Brownlee hasn't gone back, focusing instead on her success here in Iowa. She's done a pretty good job of that according to Athletic.net, holding Clear Lake school records in the:
200-meter dash
400-meter dash
400-meter hurdles
4x100-meter relay
4x800-meter relay
Long jump
She also has won two state championships, winning the class 2A long jump title as a freshman and taking the 400-meter dash title in class 3A as a sophomore. In short, there isn't a ton Brownlee hasn't accomplished on the track and field scene, except for winning an event at the Drake Relays.
The Relays, being a best-on-best event and not just the best-of-class like the state track meet, is a title Brownlee has aiming for since her freshman year. She took fifth in long jump in her first outing on the Blue Oval and was a runner-up in 2023, keeping her inches away from getting the coveted white champions flag.
"Getting a white flag, that's like what every kid in Iowa wants to get," Brownlee said.
On Friday afternoon, Brownlee finally broke through for that goal, jumping 18 feet, 3 3/4 inches to capture the white flag. There's still more in the tank for the state meet next month, too since she's already posted a jump of over 19 feet earlier this season.
"It gave me the confidence of, 'I am one of the best girls in the state and I can do this,'" Brownlee said.
From there, she had two more events, the 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles. She took second in the 400-meter dash, running a 55.93, less than half a second behind Waukee's Anjelena Carder's Drake Relay record time of 55.45. Even though Brownlee took second, she was thrilled to compete with top-tier talent.
"I'm almost glad that she was leading," Brownlee said. "Now I know that I can (run in high 55s) and when it comes to next month in May, I know can run (low 55s) and PR, even better. If I was alone out there in the end, I probably still would have been in the 56's."
On Saturday afternoon, Brownlee capped off her Relays with the 400-meter hurdle. She claimed another white flag with a time of 1:00.75, another personal record for the Clear Lake junior.
"The fact that I got two and a PR in two out of my three events this weekend, that's more than I could have imagined for this weekend," Brownlee said.
She'll take a moment to celebrate breaking through on her dream, planning on visiting Dave and Buster's with her brother and devouring some chicken before turning her attention to winning what could be multiple state titles next month.
"May is what matters," Brownlee said. "No matter how fun this is, May is what matters."
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 2024 Drake Relays are paced by Clear Lake's Reese Brownlee
