Sophomore Jack Bergstrom took the 400 hurdles title at the Drake Relays on Saturday. Bergstrom finished with a time of 52.9, his personal best.

The 104th annual Drake Relays took place April 24-28. The relays are a place where hundreds of athletes come together from all over the world to compete against one another. Olympians as well as college and high school athletes gather at the blue oval each year to race.

After being disqualified from the 4×400 preliminaries, Bergstrom took full advantage of his second chance.

“I wanted to win the race so bad for my teammates on the 4×4 team after our DQ,” Bergstrom said.

The 4×400 team got disqualified after an apparent mishap on the final leg of the race. Bergstrom was coming around the final straightaway when he tried to make a move to pull into first place. The runner beside him was bumped and fell which ultimately caused Johnston to be disqualified.

Bergstrom used the disqualification to his advantage and motivated himself to win the 400 hurdles race.

“It still hasn’t hardly sunk in that I’m a Drake champion. It’s such an amazing honor,” Bergstrom said. “Being on the Drake podium was like a dream.”

Winning the 400 hurdles was unexpected for Bergstrom. “I would have never believed that I would be the Drake champion in the 400 hurdles as a sophomore,” Bergstrom said. “It was the greatest moment of my life.”