Des Moines - Darold Williamson of Baylor University has probably run more races against 2004 Olympic 400m champion and former Baylor teammate Jeremy Wariner than anyone. And according to a recent compilation, Williamson is also the only human being who has won more races against Wariner than he has lost.

Williamson got the edge on his training partner again, for the second time in just over a week in the 400 metres at the Drake Relays. Running just slightly behind Wariner coming into the homestretch, Williamson took the lead 50 metres from home to win, 45.24 seconds to 45.42, excellent early-season times in cold (11-12 degrees Celsius), windy weather. Williamson, who has been racing against Wariner since their Texas high school days, now holds a 13-9 lifetime record over the Olympic champion.

The two athletes came off the final turn virtually side by side and then gutted it out down the home straight, with Williamson edging ahead 50m from the line to win by a bit less than 2m.

Said Wariner, who works out with Williamson almost every day, "I'm not upset when I lose to Darrold. He's my teammate, my training partner and my friend. He's been running more than I have lately, and I'm not going to be upset if I lose to him at any point."

Williamson came back scarcely an hour later to anchor a winning 3:05.19 4x400m victory by Baylor, running Tantalus-like, no faster than he had to win, a 45.5 carry.

Cantwell and Felicien defeated

Reese Hoffa out-duelled Christian Cantwell, Jamie Beyer and Dan Taylor to win the men's Shot. On the final put of the competition, Cantwell had a chance to better Hoffa's fifth-round 20.99, but fell short by two centimetres at 20.97. Also over 20m were Beyer, at 20.35, and Taylor, at 20.12.

The University of Wyoming's Shauna Smith won the women's 400m Hurdles in 55.45, and ran a leadoff leg of 52.4 on Wyoming's winning 4x400m relay team. Kamiesha Bennett, a 2004 Tennessee graduate who was fourth in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, won the women's 800m in 2:04.95.

In the women's 100m Hurdles, Lolo Jones, a former Louisiana State star, won in 12.93, with 2003 World Champion Perdita Felicien (CAN) a distant third in 13.46. The men's 100m Hurdles were won by Anwar Moore in 13.39, just ahead of Arend Watkins (13.41) and Antwon Hicks (13.42).

Curacaonan Churandy Martina (AHO), who posted a slightly windy (+2.2) 9.93 two weeks ago in El Paso, won a special 100m here, running a respectable 10.31 into a 1.9m/s headwind.

Good jump marks were posted (and good scalps collected) by Aarik Wilson, winner of both NCAA indoor horizontal jumps, who added to his Long Jump victory here Friday with a 16.59m pop into a 1.4 m/s headwind and beat internationalist Tim Rusan's 16.52; and pole vaulter Jacob Pauli, whose 5.71m beat Jeff Hartwig, Toby Stevenson, Derek Miles and Justin Nordberg, all of whom cleared 5.61m.

The top relay effort of the day was a very fast 8:29.13 victory by Arkansas in the women's 4x800m, sparked by a 2:04.3 anchor leg by Aneita Denton (JAM), the NCAA indoor 800m champion.

Jim Dunaway for the IAAF