Track teams compete in running of Drake Relays

The 98th running of the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa this weekend will play host to the Hoosier track and field squads as they look to fill that bus headed for the NCAA Mideast Regional the weekend of May 25 and 26.\nSo far, the Hoosiers have eight athletes headed to Columbia, Mo., for the regional, but the Hoosier squads could add to that total in bunches at the Drake Relays. That is because this weekend’s meet is primarily made up of relay events for the runners. \nAssistant coach George Freeman said the Drake Relays are historic and very traditional in that sense.\n“(The meet) became popular in the mid-’50s,” Freeman said. “Back then it was almost like an extravaganza, sort of like a carnival. The lines of the (dirt) track used to be perfectly painted on, now it just has a really nice track with a rich history.”\nOther than nostalgia, the relays will provide IU with a level of competition they have not come up against this year. The competition will be similar to what they will be facing at the Big Ten championships May 11-13.\nFreeman said that he hopes the strong level of competition will push his athletes harder, and that more of them will qualify for the regional meet. \nBoth the men’s and women’s 4x100-meter relay teams and 4x400-meter relays teams are on the cusp of qualifying.\n“I think both teams should qualify this weekend,” Freeman said. “We should also qualify in the four-by-two, which is an odd event for us, because we normally don’t run it.”\nThis will be the first time all year that IU has competed in the 4x200-meter relay.\nSophomore John Gunnell will be running a leg of the 4x400-meter relay team. Gunnell did the same last weekend at the Cardinal Invitational in Louisville, where he ran the anchor leg of the relay and the squad ran a time 3:13.75.\n“3:10 is qualifying. I’m hoping we will run a 3:07,” Gunnell said. “In order to do that everybody has to be good, and we will have to have good handoffs, not like last weekend. Last weekend we almost ran out of our lane on the handoff.”\nGunnell said that the team wasn’t worried about handoffs this week and spent time running shorter distances and taking longer rests to focus on speed. \nThe 4x100-meter relay team will be missing a key member this weekend. Sophomore Wil Glover has an injured hamstring and coach Freeman said that he is considering redshirting Glover for the rest of the year so he can fully recover.\n“We might just let him rest for the rest of the year – we aren’t sure,” he said. “We would be disappointed if we had to, but we don’t want to hurt him. He has worked so hard to get to that next level of performance, but his hamstring just hasn’t been able to hold up.”\nGlover was replaced by two-sport athlete junior Marcus Thigpen last weekend, and will be again this weekend. Thigpen’s teammate from the Hoosier football team, senior Tracy Porter, began working out with the track squads this week as well.\n“Porter is out here now, and we are anxious to see how his speed is,” Freeman said.