Monmouth track at Drake Relays
Patrick Curry - Staff Writer
Drake Relays in Iowa hosts professional, college, high school, and middle school track athletes.
To compete, participants must hit a qualifying standard in their event whether it's running, jumping, or throwing.
This year, the track team had multiple qualifiers. Three of them were throwers Maddie Boley, Caleb Toberman, and Shane Anderson, and two relay teams qualified: the men's 4x100 and the men's sprint medley relay (SMR). Except, Boley ended up the only thrower who’d compete. Toberman and Anderson decided to sit out and rest because of injuries.
It’s different from your normal track meet. “The competition is completely different. You have a lot of high-level schools there and you really get to see for yourself that there’s levels to this,” said Adrian Outlaw.
At a normal track meet, participants might see a lot of the same teams year after year. Drake Relays differs from a normal track meet. Participants can compete against professional athletes and some of the top competitors in the nation.
Many teams love qualifying because it sets them up to run a “qualifying time” for meets in the future like nationals. The atmosphere is another thing It’s also something that a lot of people like to experience because of the atmosphere.
“Everybody was there for a purpose and seeing the setup with jumbotrons around to show the track was all professional,” said Outlaw.
Boley placed ninth in discus at Drake Relays with a throw of 45.16m. The men’s SMR (Davon Patterson, Patrick Curry Jr, Adrian Outlaw, and Eli Newton) placed sixth overall with a time of 3:30:47. The men’s 4x100 (Johnny York, Patterson, Outlaw, and Elijah Cherelus) placed 25th overall with a time of 42.86.
Some people might not like competition, but Outlaw said, “getting the experience was the best part, and shockingly seeing one of my old middle school teammates be on the winning 4x400 and win Drake Relays.”
The track team competes at home on Saturday, May 3rd.