Kearney, Neb. - Nebraska-Kearney's Dane Tobey had a season-best throw to win the men's shot put at the 42nd Annual Drake Relays Friday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Drake Relays is one of the largest and most important track meets in United States, attracting top university and professional talent every year.

In his fifth attempt, Tobey (Waco) had a throw of 59-6.75.  The effort allowed Tobey to come in ahead of 22 other throwers, including athletes from such Division I schools as Georgia, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Notre Dame. 

Finally, the toss moves him up to third on the Division II national list.

“It's a big deal. We looked at it as a meet that will prepare me for the Division II national meet in North Carolina," said Tobey.  "We compete against the University of Nebraska quite a bit, so I'm used to throwing against some pretty good competition. It was a surprise, somewhat, because I didn't throw well last week. The winning throw was not my best, but for the weather conditions, I feel pretty good about it. It's definitely an honor to come to a meet with this prestige and win it, so I was happy with it.”

Also in Des Moines, senior Sam Murphy (Franklin) and both 4 x 400 relay teams competed.

The women's foursome of junior Cameron Smith (Sterling, Colo.), sophomore Erica Pirog (Imperial) and freshmen Shelby Hamilton (Broken Bow) and Karley Piper (Lincoln) ran a 3:55.00 to place ninth out of 31 schools. The Lopers beat, among others, Central Missouri, Minnesota State and Minnesota-Duluth.

Eight schools advanced to the finals; Wisconsin-River Falls came in eighth at 3:53.78.

The UNK men's 4 x 4 squad ran a 3:18.10 to place 21st out of 30 schools. The team included freshmen Scott Nannen (York) and Cornell Leffler (Lincoln), sophomore Alex Paul (Gothenburg) and junior Mitchell Sasek (Wilber).

Finally, Murphy placed 16th in the women's shot with a season-best throw of 45-10.50. Aja Evans of Illinois was the winner at 51-7.

UNK will compete Saturday at the Hastings Last Chance meet.