Track teams off to big meets

The last weekend in April is an important time for the IU track and field teams.\nThe men will be attending two meets, while the women attend three. Both teams will travel to the Drake Relays in Iowa and the Purdue Relays, and the women are also attending the Penn Relays. \nThe Penn Relays is one of the biggest meets of the year. Talented athletes from all over the country come to compete. It isn't only a collegiate meet, either. The best high school runners in the country and relay teams from around the world also compete.\nThe highly touted 4x100-meter relay team will compete at the meet. In recent years, the relay team has not performed up to expectations, but it expects to do better this year. And the relay is not the only event in which IU feels it can do well.\n"I think everyone is pretty excited," junior Rose Richmond said. "We have the potential to finish in the top five in all events."\nThe Drake Relays is also a meet in which some of the best collegiate talent from around the country come to clash against one another. This year, 33 current or former NCAA Champions will be competing. With that much talent, the times and marks at the meet should rank among the best performances in the country this season.\nThe IU men's team will send some of its best to compete against the championship-caliber athletes at the Drake Relays. The women will send jumpers who are not running on a relay team at the Penn Relays. The Drake Relays should be the one of the best opportunities to attempt to earn a provisional or automatic mark for the NCAA Championships.\n"Drake is the competition we will see all season beside nationals," senior Wasyl Fedoriw said. "I will be interested to see how well we do."\nThe Purdue Relays will not have the feature athletes that the Drake and Penn Relays do, but the competition should be just as fierce. Many of IU's young athletes who did not qualify for the other meets will go to this meet, which will give them a chance to gain experience and battle against athletes at their level.\n"Since we are split up and going to three different places, we just want high-level performances," coach Randy Heisler said. "We are looking to have everyone who competes have a (personal record)"