DES MOINES, Iowa - One of the most popular Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee events will move back indoors this year, Relays director Brian Brown announced Friday, March 11. A special men's and women's invitational pole vault will be staged in the atrium of Capital Square, located in downtown Des Moines.
The event will feature 10 of the top pole vaulters in the world launching themselves toward world record heights inside the popular downtown venue on Wednesday, April 27. Last year, many of the same competitors dazzled thousands of fans in the first Court Avenue Vault. Prior to that, the one-of-a-kind event was hosted at Jordan Creek Town Center.
Reprising their roles from last year will be the likes of Shawn Barber and Demi Payne. Payne, a collegian, captured last year's Court Avenue Vault by clearing 15-1.5 and owns a personal best of 16 feet. Barber is the reigning World Champion in the pole vault and recently cleared the six-meter (19-8) mark indoors to break his own Canadian national record.
Joining Barber in the men's competition will be Sam Kendricks, the 2015 USA Outdoor Champion, plus Mike Arnold and Carlo Paech. The women's competition will also see Olympian Katerina Stefanidi take to the runway along with Sandi Morris, a USA Championship silver medalist and the NCAA indoor record holder. Relays regular Becky Holliday, an Olympian herself that owns a personal best of 15-1, will also challenge for the Capital Square Vault title.
Those same vaulters will also compete inside Drake Stadium during the pole vault competitions that will be two of the 12 Rio Olympic Games Previews that Brown announced. Each of those 12 events will feature some of the world's top competitors in what Brown anticipates will be a season-opening preview of the field in this summer's upcoming Olympic games. Currently, 29 Olympians are committed to begin their road to Rio at Drake Stadium including eight gold medalists, 15 World Champions and six individual American record holders.
Those events include the 400 meters, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, pole vault, triple jump and high jump for the men's field and a 1,500 meters, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, pole vault, long jump and shot put for the women's competitors. Additionally, an elite men's 800 meters and a co-ed shuttle-hurdle relays will be contested on the Blue Oval. The fields for those events will be announced in the upcoming weeks via the Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee website (www.DrakeRelays.org) and social media accounts (@DrakeRelays).
The Rio Olympic Games Previews aren't the only addition to the slate this year as Brown unveiled an enhancement to the high school competition at Drake Stadium. For the previous two years, college competitors have raced for the Hy-Vee Cup, given to the team with the highest score across various relay events. This year, high school teams will compete for a high school Hy-Vee Cup with points awarded to the top finishers in the 4x100, 4x800, 4x400 and sprint medley relays.
Single-session tickets for the 2016 Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee go on sale to the general public on March 24 at 9 a.m. All-session and multi-session tickets are currently available by clicking here or by calling the Drake Athletic Ticket Office at 515-271-3647.
