DES MOINES, IOWA — The Drake Relays men's invitational pole vault field will feature both an Olympic gold medalist and an Olympic silver medalist as well as the American indoor and outdoor record holder when the event starts at 2 p.m. during the Saturday April 29 session at Drake Stadium.

The lineup includes Nick Hysong, who won the gold medal at the 2000 Olympics; Toby Stevenson, who earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens; 2004 Olympian Derek Miles, who was ranked No. 5 in the world last year; and Jeff Hartwig, the American indoor and outdoor record holder who was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2002.

The foursome also has combined to win 10 of the last 11 titles in the Drake Relays invitational pole vault. Stevenson won the 2004 Drake Relays title. Hysong won the 2003 Drake Relays crown, while Miles captured the championship in 2002. Hartwig, who competed in the 1996 Olympics, won seven straight Drake Relays titles from 1995-2001 and owns the meet record of 19-0 ¼ in 1998.

“This will be a great field...as good as any Drake Relays field that has ever been assembled,” said Hartwig, a seven-time Drake Relays champion. “We've heard about the renovations in Drake Stadium. It should be great for spectators watching us perform.”

Eight athletes are entered in the invitational including Tye Harvey, who was ranked No. 9 in the world in 2001 and won a silver medal at the 2001 World Indoor Championships; Justin Norberg, who was fourth at the 2005 U.S. Outdoor Championships; Giovanni Lanaro, the reigning Mexican national champion; and John Russell who was third at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Stevenson, 29, was ranked No. 2 in the world in 2004 after enjoying a banner season that also included a runner-up finish in the 2004 Olympics at 19 feet 4 ½ inches, as well as the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. He cleared 19 feet 10 times during the 2004 outdoor campaign, including a personal best of 19-8.25 to win the Modesto Relays.

Stevenson, who won the pole vault (18-5 ½) at the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday, was ranked eighth in the world and No. 3 in the U.S. in 2005. He placed third at the 2005 U.S. Outdoor Championships, while owning a season best of 19-4.25 at the Prefontaine Classic.

Hysong was second (18-6.50) at the 2005 U.S. Outdoor Championships and fifth (18-0 ½) in the 2005 World Outdoor Championships. He had a 2005 season best vault of 18-8.75 indoors at Flagstaff, Ariz.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Hysong became the first American since Bob Seagren in 1968 to win the Olympic gold in the pole vault with a personal best of 19-4.50, an astonishing feat for an athlete who had never placed higher than second at a U.S. outdoor championship. He finished in Sydney with only one miss during the course of competition.

Hysong, 34, finished third in the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with a season best 19-2.25. He was fourth in the 1999 World Championships. He was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2000 and No. 6 in the world in 1999, 2001 and 2002 and was ranked No. 3 in the U.S. in 2001 and 2002.

Hysong was ranked No. 4 in the U.S. last year, No. 5 in the U.S. in 2003 and No. 7 in 2004. He tied for fourth at the 2004 U.S. Indoor Championships and was fifth in the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Championships and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Hysong won the 1995 U.S. Indoor Championships and was second in the 1999 U.S. Outdoor Championships and third in the 2001 and 2002 U.S. Outdoor Championships.

Miles, 33, was seventh at the 2004 Olympics at 18-10 ¼. He was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. last year, while posting personal indoor (19-2.50) and outdoor (19-0 .75) marks.

He won his first U.S. title at the 2003 Indoor Championships. He was involved in a three-way tie for sixth, including U.S. teammate Tim Mack, at the 2003 World Outdoor Championships. He also finished fifth at the 2003 World Indoor Championships. He owned the best outdoor vault of any American in 2003 of 19-0 3/4. He also was second in the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Championships.

At 34 years old, Hartwig became the oldest athlete ever ranked No. 1 in the world in the pole vault in 2002.

Hartwig, now 38, was second at the 2006 U.S. Indoor Championships. Hartwig, who won five indoor meets this winter including the Millrose Games, owns a season best of 19-2.50 in Vermillion, S.D.

Hartwig is a four-time U.S. Outdoor champion (1998, 1999, 2002, 2003). He was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 9 in the world in 2003. He was fourth in the 2003 Grand Prix Finale and then second in the 2004 U.S. Indoor Championships.

Hartwig set the American outdoor record of 19-9.25 in 2000. His latest American indoor record of 19-9 at Sindelfingen, Germany, March 10, 2002, gave Hartwig a share — with Russian Rodion Gataullin — of the No. 2 best indoor performance ever. His hot streak of rewriting the American indoor mark began Feb. 24, 2002, in Donets'k, Ukraine, when he leaped 19-8.25 on his first attempt. He set the American mark again on March 8, 2002, in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, at 19-8.50.

He competed in 30 meets around the world in 2002, winning the pole vault title at 15 events, including the Millrose games, the U.S. Outdoor Championships and capped the season by winning the Grand Prix Final in Paris, France.

The American indoor and outdoor record holder, Hartwig vaulted over 19 feet 13 times in 2002. He was named the 2002 Track and Field News Indoor Athlete of the Year after setting three American records in a 15-day span.

Hysong combines power and speed, owning a personal best of 10.27 in the 100 in 2000. As a senior at Arizona State, Hysong won the 1994 NCAA outdoor title and also won the Pac-10 Conference championship.

Stevenson won the 2004 U.S. Indoor Championships at 19-0.25 to cap an indoor season in which he also won the Millrose Games as well as setting a personal indoor best of 19-0.75 to win the Washington Invitational.

Stevenson won the gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He won the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships, as a sophomore at Stanford to become the school's first NCAA pole vault champion since Ward Clemens in 1929.

He set the Pac-10 Conference all-time record in the pole vault at 18-9.25 as a senior at Stanford in 2000.

Hartwig owned the best pole vault mark in the world in both 1998 and 2000. He had four of the top five outdoor marks in the U.S. in 2001, with a season best of 19-4.25. He was ranked second in the world in 2001 and No. 1 in the U.S. Hartwig also was No. 2 in the world and No. 1 in the U.S. in the pole vault in 1998 and 1999.

Hartwig, cleared 19 feet in the pole vault 19 times in 1999. He cleared 19 feet 22 times in 1998, including 13 meets in a row. Both of those figures broke records held by history's greatest vaulter, Sergei Bubka of Russia, who set the world record of 20-2 in 1993.

Hartwig set two American outdoor records in 1998 and continued his torrid pace with two American indoor marks in 1999.

Hartwig owned the highest vault in the world in 1998 of 19-8.25— a U.S. outdoor record he set en route to winning the gold medal at the Goodwill Games. It marked the first time since 1978 an American has held the distinction in leading the world.

Hartwig set his first U.S. outdoor record in the pole vault of 19-8.25 in St.-Denis, France, in 1998. He cleared 19 feet in all of his seven 1999 indoor meets, including a first-place victory in the U.S. Indoor Championships in Atlanta, Ga., at 19-5; and a silver medal finish (19-6.25) at the World Indoor Championships in Maibashi, Japan. He set the American indoor record in both meets.

Harvey, 31, owns a personal best of 19-5.50 to place second at the 2001 U.S. Indoor Championships. He was fifth at the 2005 U.S. Outdoor Championships.
He was ranked No. 6 in the U.S. in 2004 and ranked No. 4 in the U.S. in 2000 and 2001.

Lanaro, 24, was second (18-1.75) at the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday. He vaulted a personal best 18-8.75 in Flagstaff, Ariz., earlier this year.

Norberg, 28, has a personal best of 18-10.50 last year. Russell, 22, who graduated from Akron last year, owns a personal best of 18-2.50.