Jesse Squire | On 23, Apr 2015

This is the best week of the year for a track and field and road running fan. The week started off with the Boston Marathon, the middle of the week has the fabulous Penn Relays and Drake Relays, and it ends on Sunday with the London Marathon.

Monday was the Boston Marathon.
Leading results | Kevin Sully’s 26 Takeaways from the Boston Marathon

Tuesday was the Grand Blue Mile.
Results | Let’s Run recap

Yesterday was the Vault on Court Avenue, a street vault in downtown Des Moines held in conjunction with the Drake Relays.
Results | Des Moines Register story

Today’s Action

The two big relay meets, the Penn Relays and Drake Relays, already started with their decathlons and heptathlons, but the meets get going in earnest today.

You can see all of the action live online, but you’ll have to pony up a few dollars to see it.
Drake Relays webcast link | Penn Relays webcast link (subscriptions required)

Here is a handy combined schedule of the two meets, so you know which feed to watch and when. Note that the Drake Relays are in the Central time zone and the Penn Relays are in the Eastern time zone, which is why the listed times are different from each other by one hour.

PDF version

Other key links:
Drake Relays schedule and live results | Penn Relays schedule and live results
Des Moines Register coverage of the Drake Relays | Philadelphia Inquirer coverage of the Penn Relays

Highlight Events

10:00am ET: Penn College Women’s 400 Hurdles Championship
The top two seeds are both from Jamaican colleges: Janieve Russell (UTech) and Rushell Clayton (UWI Mona). Leading the way for the US colleges is Tia-Adona Belle, from D-II St. Augustine’s.
Start list/live results

1:10pm ET: Penn College Women’s 4×100 heats
Favorites to get to the final include Texas A&M (winners of the last 6 in a row), UTech (Jamaica), Texas, LSU, and Oregon.
Start list/preview/live results

5:10pm ET: Drake High School Girls’ 3000 meters
Stephanie Jenks (Marion Linn-Mar HS) is the two-time defending champion, the meet record holder (9:26.87), and one of the nation’s fastest milers. As with all of Drake’s high school competitions, only Iowa schools will compete.

5:25pm ET: Drake High School Boys’ 3200 meters
Thomas Pollard (Gilbert HS) is the Iowa state record holder (8:50.43).

5:30pm ET: Penn College Women’s Distance Medley Championship of America
If you only watch one race on Thursday, it should be this one. The favorites include Stanford, Georgetown, and Villanova. The Wildcats just edged out Stanford last year, and this year’s race looks like another great battle.
Start lists/preview/live results

5:40pm: Drake University/College Division Women’s 4×1600 meter Relay
The top entries appear to be Oklahoma State, Washington and Minnesota.

5:55pm ET: Penn High School Girls 3000 meter Championship
Defending champion Hannah DiBalsi (Staples, CT) is expected to get a challenge from a trio of top Canadians.
Start lists/preview/live results

6:05pm ET: Penn High School Girls Mile Championship
Four entrants have PRs between 4:50 and 4:53, so this rates as a toss-up.
Start lists/preview/live results

6:05pm ET: Drake University/College Division Men’s 4×1600 meter Relay
Oklahoma State is a clear favorite and has the personnel to attack the meet record of 16:09.45, which dates from 1981. Syracuse has an ace anchor in freshman Justyn Knight. Other contenders include Iowa State, Washington and Indiana (although the Hoosiers are also entered in this event on Saturday at the Penn Relays, and it’s not clear whether they’ll run an ‘A’ team here).

7:30pm ET: Penn College Men’s Steeplechase Championship
In terms of 2015 times, the top entries are Joshua Roche (Indiana), Isaac Spencer (Texas A&M), and Matthew Howard (Georgetown).
Start lists/live results

7:30pm ET: Penn College and Olympic Development Wen’s Steeplechase Championship
The heavy favorite in the college race is Princeton’s Elizabeth Bird, who broke 10:00 last weekend. Among the club runners, Carmen Graves (Brooks/Roanoke Valley Elite, 9:47.28 PR) will try to avenge her loss to Bird last week.
Start lists/live results

8:30pm ET: Penn College Women’s 3000 meters Championship
If the top entries run, then this should be an unusually good race. Emily Sisson (Providence) broke the collegiate indoor 5000 meter record (15:12.22) in February. Liv Westphal (Boston College) already has a 15:33.33 to her credit this season. The meet record of 9:03.8 was set thirty years ago.

8:40pm ET: Penn College Women’s 5000 meter Championship
The top entries are Megan Curham (Princeton), Tori Gerlach (Penn State) and Chelsea Blaase (Tennessee).
Start lists/live results

9:10pm ET: Drake Men’s 10,000 meters
Washington’s Aaron Nelson was 21st at the NCAA cross country championships.

9:30pm ET: Penn College Men’s 5000 meter Championship
The biggest name in the race is Craig Lutz (Texas), but freshman Jacob Thomson (NC State) could turn heads.
Start lists/live results

10:05pm ET: Drake Men’s 5,000 meters
John Mascari (Indiana State) finished 11th at last year’s NCAA 10,000 meters.

10:15pm ET: Penn College and Olympic Development Women’s 10,000 meters
The top entries are Lauren Sara (U Conn), whose 33:48.48 PR was set two years ago, and Laura Paulsen (GBTC), an Olympic Trials marathon qualifier.
Start lists/live results

10:55pm ET: Penn College and Olympic Development Men’s 10,000 meters
Three names to watch are Brendan Martin (NYAC), Aaron Dinzeo (California/PA), and Ty McCormack (Auburn). Martin is a 2:16 marathoner and former Hanson’s team member who is now pursuing a Ph.D. at Stony Brook. Dinzeo was runner-up at the D-II cross country championships and has a 28:40.88 PR.
McCormack has a 13:55.31 PR and this appears to be his debut track 10k.
Start lists/live results