DES MOINES, Iowa - The Wartburg track & field competition opened competition at the Drake Relays Thursday evening, with Joe Freiburger headlining the Knights' performance with an outdoor school record 5,000-meter run time.

Freiburger, a senior from Holy Cross, Iowa, broke his outdoor 5K personal best by 25 seconds, breaking the Wartburg outdoor school record and setting the 10th-best time in Division III history at 14:00.69. He took second of 17 runners, competing mostly against Division I athletes. 

The previous Wartburg outdoor men's 5K record was held by Brian Chenoweth, a time of 14:19.29 set in 2009.

Female distance runners Carina Collet and Natalie Paulson took part in the women's 10,000-meter run, taking 15th (36:03.12) and 18th (36:27.18), respectively. 

Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn broke into Wartburg's outdoor top-five all-time in the men's 10K, setting a personal best time of 30:29.36, good for 9th of 17 runners.

Wartburg is sending a group of nearly 40 student-athletes from the men's and women's squads to compete at the blue oval April 22-24. The Knights will continue competition tomorrow morning.

The Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom has served as "America's Athletic Classic" since its first running in 1910. The annual competition is recognized internationally as a destination for the world's premier track & field athletes across multiple professional and amateur divisions. In 2021, the Drake Relays was named a Silver Level event on the World Athletics Continental Tour, one of only two meets in the United States to earn Silver Level status. For more information, visit drakerelays.org.

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