The Week Ahead- (Apr. 21-27)

April 23, 2008

The time has finally come this weekend will host two of the biggest track meets in the country. Yes, there will be other meets and events going on, but by far the Penn and Drake Relays will headline this weekend. They are some of the biggest if not the biggest track meets held each year in our country. Every year athletes have to make the tough decision on, which one to go to, but if your a fan don't worry they both will still be stacked. The Drake Relays will start a little earlier on Wednesday, but both meets will go through Saturday. There will be thousands and I mean thousands of athlete of all ages and nationalities that will fall upon Penn/Drake looking to become champions. It is the dream of every athlete young and old to have the opportunity to compete in front of these huge crowds. I have actually spoken to different individuals who have all told me the same thing that running there is an experience you will never forget. These individuals went on to tell me that they didn't even really have to try to run fast, that the environment pushed them through the race. Wouldn't it be nice to have a race like that every weekend?

For those that are interested Flotrack will once again be giving in depth coverage of the Penn Relays, so make sure to check out www.flotrack.com for the latest results and videos. However, I want to give you a short highlight of this weekend's Drake Relays. Drake has once again assembled a very diverse field of athletes of all ages and ability levels. The official count is 7,908 competitors made up of high school athletes to pro athletes. The United States will be heavily represented at this 99th running of the Drake Relays. Pretty much every southern state will be represented there except New Mexico with a total of 34 states competing this weekend. They have also brought many of our top pro USA track and field athletes to compete by the names of Alan Webb, Allen Johnson, Christian Cantwell, Reese Hoffa, April Steiner, and LoLo Jones just to name a few (www.godrakebulldogs.com). This doesn't include all of the top International athletes that will be there competing against our athletes in this Olympic year. However, like I said before these are just two of the meets that are going on this weekend.

This 2008 Outdoor track season has finally crested the hill and is making its dissent. With conference meets and regional meets just around the corner crunch time has set in. Athletes have only another month to get their qualifying times or to improve upon them. This doesn't mean that there will not be opportunities to get those times, because there is still a few chances. A few highlighted meets this weekend are the Oregon Relays, Nebraska Open, Washington State Cougar Invitational, Oklahoma Sooner Open, Missouri Southern Bill Williams/Bob Laptad Invitational, and BYU Robison Invit. Hopeful if they haven't gotten their times yet this will be the weekend.

Please write your thoughts on this track season and what you think is going to happen this year at the trials. It is coming upon us really fast we only have 64 days until it kicks off. Plus give me your predictions about this weekend. Who will win the boy's 4x400 or the men's DMR at the Penn Relays?

Good luck to all the teams/individuals competing this weekend be safe and run fast! Always make sure to check out the News and Results on the Flotrack Website for any extra information!

Nathan Haskins

â€œNews and Results Guyâ€