By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The 111th Drake Relays presented by Xtream are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Jim Duncan Track in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Here are 10 professional and college storylines to keep an eye on at one of the most prestigious meets in the country:

Shot put king returns to the ring

When Ryan Crouser competed Aug. 29 at the Drake Blue Oval Showcase, he became only the second shot putter in history with six 22-meter marks in the same series, joining Italy’s Alessandro Andrei from 1987.

Crouser, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, will be seeking another career milestone Saturday as part of the USATF Journey to Gold series, looking for his 100th career outdoor 22-meter performance.

Crouser, who will be making his outdoor debut after setting the world indoor record with a 74-10.50 (22.82m) effort Jan. 24 at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., has achieved 113 career marks of at least 22 meters, including 98 outdoors.

He achieved 22-meter performances 32 times outdoors last year and another four marks indoors. No other shot putter in the world even had one.

This year, Crouser accumulated nine more 22-meter efforts in his three indoor meets. Joe Kovacs, the 2019 World Outdoor gold medalist, achieved one performance Feb. 13 of 72-4.25 (22.05m) in Ohio.

In the past 14 months, Crouser has achieved 22-meter marks 45 times and the rest of the world has done so once.

Crouser, who is equal to the No. 4 all-time outdoor competitor with his 75-2 (22.91m) performance July 18 at the American Track League event in Marietta, Ga., is still looking to join fellow American Randy Barnes and Germany’s Ulf Timmerman by surpassing the 23-meter barrier.

American Nick Ponzio elevated to the No. 3 outdoor competitor in the world this year with his 69-9.75 (21.28m) performance April 16 at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific, with Canada’s Tim Nedow right behind at 69-3.25 (21.11m).

Harrison strives for five

Keni Harrison is looking to extend one of the most impressive streaks in meet history Saturday in the USATF Journey to Gold women’s 100-meter hurdles, looking to secure a fifth consecutive victory, which would surpass fellow American Lolo Jones (2005-08) for the longest run of success in the event.

Harrison ran an all-conditions meet record with her wind-aided 12.37 in 2018 and is looking to eclipse the wind-legal fastest mark in meet history of 12.40, achieved in 2015 by Jasmin Stowers.

Harrison is scheduled to square off against fellow Americans Christina Clemons, Dawn Harper-Nelson and Gabriele Cunningham, along with sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Sember from Great Britain, along with Bahamian standouts Pedrya Seymour and Devynne Charlton.

Harrison opened her outdoor season with a wind-aided 12.38 performance April 10 at the Miramar Invitational in Florida.

Sandi Morris has also won four in a row in the women’s pole vault (2016-19) and is seeking a fifth consecutive victory Saturday, which would also be the longest streak in that event in meet history.

Christian Cantwell won seven straight shot put competitions at the Drake Relays from 2002-04, 2006-08 and concluding with a victory in 2010.

Kellie Suttle prevailed in five consecutive women’s pole vault events from 1998-2001 and again in 2006, with Jeff Hartwig winning the men’s pole vault from 1995-2001 and again in 2007.

Aggies aim for all-time collegiate mark, Houston in the hunt for relay record

Not only will North Carolina A&T and Houston look to bring out the best in each other in the university men’s 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays, but they will also be motivated by their own record pursuits.

North Carolina A&T, which already had Ellijah Stokes, Randolph Ross, Trevor Stewart and Daniel Young run 3:00.23 in the 4x400 relay March 27 at the 93rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, is motivated to eclipse the collegiate record of 2:59.00 achieved in 2018 by USC at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships.

Southern Illinois set the men’s 4x400 meet record of 3:00.78 in 1984.

North Carolina A&T, making its Drake Relays debut, is also looking to become the first Historically Black College or University to win the men’s 4x400 since Texas Southern in 1974.

Houston has already run 38.48 in the men’s 4x100 at Texas Relays, with Nichols Alexander, Travis Collins, Edward Sumler and Shaun Maswanganyi, but the Cougars enter the meet after being edged by LSU by a 38.82 to 39.00 margin April 17 at the Boots Garland Invitational in Baton Rouge.

Houston is attempting to take down the 1983 meet record of 38.96 achieved by Alabama. The Cougars are also trying to rebound from a third-place finish in 2019 in 40.72 in order to win the event for the first time since 2006.

Stars align in steeplechase

One of two USATF Journey to Gold events to conclude Friday’s schedule, the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase features the return of Israeli national record holder Adva Cohen, also the collegiate meet record holder, to Jim Duncan Track, as well as several other collegiate standouts looking to battle a group of emerging professional athletes.

Cohen, a senior at New Mexico, ran 9:52.37 in 2018 competing for Iowa Central Community College. She has since lowered her personal-best effort to 9:29.74, but will be running her first steeplechase race since July.

Cohen will be joined by fellow NCAA Division 1 All-American Gabrielle Jennings from Furman, as well as Division 2 standout Eilish Flanagan of Adams State. New Mexico will also have Elise Thorner from Great Britain and Andrea Modin Engsaeth from Norway entered in the race.

The collegiate athletes will look to challenge themselves against professional competitors Leah Falland, Mel Lawrence, Paige Stoner and Grayson Murphy from the United States, along with British standouts Aimee Pratt and Lizzie Bird, as well as Poland’s Alicja Konieczek.

Falland boasts the fastest time in the field at 9:18.85, but that performance came in 2016. The stadium record is 9:17.70 by Emma Coburn at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships.

Flanagan has run 9:51.72 to capture a silver medal at the 2019 European Under-23 Championships, but hasn’t run the event since. She has the potential to eclipse the Division 2 all-time mark of 9:47.72 established in 2018 by Konieczek, a former Division 2 champion at Western Colorado.

Konieczek has run 9:36.09 in 2019 in Finland, the fastest performance at any time of the year achieved by a Division 2 competitor.

Let’s run it back

Following their first national title victories Wednesday in the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships presented by Toyota, Eric Avila and Rachel Schneider are both scheduled to return Saturday to the Blue Oval for the USATF Journey to Gold 1,500-meter races.

Avila took second in the Grand Blue Mile in 2018 and came back to win the 1,500 at Jim Duncan Track later in the week.

Schneider had finished second in the 1,500 at the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships in 2010 in Des Moines, as well as runner-up in the 5,000 at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium, before finally securing her first championship.

In addition to Avila, the men’s 1,500 is expected to include third-place road mile finisher Clayton Murphy, fourth-place Abe Alvarado, fifth-place Daniel Herrera, sixth-place Colin Abert and seventh-place Brett Meyer.

Joining them Saturday will be international competitors Carlos Villarreal of Mexico, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Canada, and Nanami Arai of Japan.

Along with Schneider, women’s runner-up Shannon Osika and third-place finisher Heather Kampf are also scheduled to return for the 1,500, with fellow Americans Josette Norris, Amanda Eccleston and Danae Rivers, representing Penn State, all arriving fresh after not competing Wednesday.

In addition, Jamaican standout Aisha Praught-Leer is entered, as well as Canadian Mariah Kelly, Sweden’s Yolanda Ngarambe and Mexico’s Laura Galvan.

Lightfoot looks to get pro career off on right foot

KC Lightfoot, who won his final 14 collegiate pole vault competitions at Baylor, before deciding to turn professional earlier this month and sign with PUMA, will receive a significant test in his first outdoor competition since making the transition when he participates in the USATF Journey to Gold event Saturday.

Lightfoot, the collegiate indoor record holder at 19-8.25 (6.00m), is scheduled to square off against Sam Kendricks, who had triumphed at Drake Relays in 2015, 2017 and 2018, before Chris Nilsen prevailed with a meet-record 19-2.25 (5.85m) in 2019 in Des Moines.

Nilsen, a former collegiate indoor record holder at South Dakota, is also entered in the competition, along with fellow Americans Scott Houston, Andrew Irwin, Matt Ludwig, Nate Richartz, Cole Walsh, Audie Wyatt and Jacob Wooten.

In addition to Sandi Morris seeking a fifth Drake Relays victory in the women’s competition, she expects to be challenged by fellow U.S. champions Katie Nageotte and Jenn Suhr, along with rising American competitors Bridget-Guy Williams and Olivia Gruver.

Emily Grove and Kortney Oates are American athletes also scheduled to compete, along with Canadian national record holder Alysha Newman.

Morris holds the women’s meet record of 16 feet (4.88m) from 2018, with Suhr boasting the stadium record of 16-0.50 (4.89m) since 2010.

Magnificent middle-distance matchups

The seeded sections of the men’s and women’s university 1,500-meter races Friday showcase exciting matchups in both races, with the potential for meet records in each competition.

The women’s race is highlighted by Air Force’s Mahala Norris, Iowa State’s Cailie Logue, North Dakota State’s Jennie Baragar-Petrash, Notre Dame’s Katie Wasserman, Northern Illinois’ Ashley Tutt and Toledo’s Petronela Simiuc.

The women’s meet record of 4:12.15 set by Georgia’s Carly Hamilton has stood since 2013, but could be challenged with the right pacing early in the race.

In the men’s field, Air Force’s duo of Sam Gilman and Cole Lindhorst will look to build off strong performances at both the Stanford Invitational and Hayward Premiere when they square off against Oklahoma State teammates Ryan Schoppe and Isai Rodriguez, along with Furman’s Ryan Adams and Cameron Ponder and Texas Tech’s Takieddine Hedeilli.

The men’s university meet record of 3:41.74 established by Iowa State’s John Nuttall has survived since 1990. Steve Scott boasts the all-time fastest performance at the meet, clocking 3:38.27 in 1984.

Lumberjacks travel in packs

With teammate Luis Grijalva scheduled to compete Saturday at the USATF Grand Prix at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., members of Northern Arizona’s national championship cross country lineup Blaise Ferro, Abdihamid Nur and Nico Young are scheduled to compete Friday in the men’s 5,000 meters as part of the USATF Journey to Gold series.

The Lumberjacks will have the opportunity to test themselves against professional competitors Clayton Young, the reigning USATF road 15-kilometer champion, 2019 champion and Drake University graduate Reed Fischer of Tinman Elite, along with American standouts Leonard Korir, Girma Mecheso, Frank Lara and Dillon Maggard.

Australia’s Morgan McDonald, Germany’s Sam Parsons, Malta’s Jordan Gusman, Japan’s Hyuga Endo, along with Canadian athletes Ben Flanagan and Kieran Lumb, are also entered. They are all chasing the 1977 meet record of 13:27.20 set by Nick Rose of Mason-Dixon Track Club

Big 12 bragging rights at stake in distance relays

Oklahoma State and Iowa State have built quite a cross country rivalry in recent seasons, with the distance depth of both programs expected to be on display again Friday and Saturday in several relays.

Iowa State dominated the men’s distance relays in 2019, with the Oklahoma State women achieving similar success.

Both teams will square off in the men’s 4x800, 4x1,600 and distance medley relays. Oklahoma State and Iowa State are scheduled to also match up in the women’s 4x800 and DMR, but the Cyclones decided not to compete in the 4x1,600 this year.

Oklahoma State’s most promising lineup could be in the women’s 4x1,600, with Gabby Hentemann, Taylor Roe, Sivan Auerbach and Heidi Demeo expected to compete.

Roe is scheduled to anchor the DMR for Oklahoma State, with the opening three legs of the lineup expected to be Molly Born, Kaytlyn Larson and Michaela Travers.

Air Force is scheduled to anchor with Mahala Norris, Notre Dame with Katie Wasserman, Iowa State with Cailie Logue and North Dakota State with Jennie Barragar-Petrash.

The men’s showdowns could be some of the most memorable of the entire meet, with Iowa State attempting to defend its DMR title with a lineup consisting of Jason Gomez, Roshon Roomes, Daniel Nixon and Festus Lagat.

Roomes and Lagat were members of the 2019 championship quartet that clocked 7:20.77.

Oklahoma State and Iowa State lead the entries in the 4x1,600 relay, with Air Force and Miami (Ohio) –featuring brothers Sean Torpy and Chris Torpy – expected to be formidable challengers.

The Air Force DMR quartet of Scott Johnson, Luke Zuluaga, Cole Lindhorst and Sam Gilman could upstage both 2019 winner Iowa State and Oklahoma State, which captured this event title in 2015 and 2017. 

Hurdling with an eye on history

Academy of Art equaled the collegiate record in the women’s 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay in 2013 by clocking 52.50 seconds at the Drake Relays. Texas A&M had also run 52.50 in 2010 at the Penn Relays.

Texas A&M, Illinois, LSU and Academy of Art are the only four programs to run under 53 seconds in collegiate history, but North Carolina A&T has the potential to join the quartet Saturday, with Paula Salmon, Breanne Bygrave, TeJyrica Robinson and Madeleine Akobundu scheduled to compete for the Aggies.

Akobundu, Robinson and Salmon have all run under 13.10, with Bygrave clocking 13.38, giving North Carolina A&T a significant opportunity to challenge the collegiate record.

All four competitors are entered Friday in the 100-meter hurdles prelims as well, looking to advance to Saturday’s individual final in the women’s university division.

Iowa State won the women’s 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay in 2019 with four Canadian athletes, but decided not to field a lineup this year. Indiana State, the 2018 Drake Relays winner, is entered in the competition.