DES MOINES, IOWA – Renny Quow from Trinidad and Tobago, who was ranked third in the world in 2009, heads the list of athletes who will be competing in the Drake Relays men's invitational 400-meter dash at 4:25 p.m. during the Saturday, April 24 session.
The race will feature a strong foreign flavor including three other 2008 Olympians in Erison Hurtault from Dominica, along with Michael Mathieu and Ramon Miller who ran legs on the Bahamas 4x400 relay which captured a silver medal in Beijing, China. Greg Nixon who ran legs on U.S. gold medal winning 4x400 relay teams at the 2008 and 2010 World Indoor Championships, also will run in the invitational 400 at Drake.
Quow, 22, ran the second fastest 400 time in the world last year with a 44.53 clocking in the semifinal round of the World Outdoor Championships. He would finish third in the World Championships, improving on a seventh-place finish in the 400 at the 2008 Olympics. He won the gold in the 400 at the 2006 World Junior Championships.
Mathieu, who also ran a leg on the Bahamas' 4x400 silver medal relay at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships, ran a personal best of 45.17 in the 400 at the 2008 Olympics,
Miller, 23, ran a personal best of 44.99 at the 2009 World Outdoor Championship, which ranked 10th best in the world. A senior at Dickinson State, Miller has won nine NAIA track titles in his career, being named the outstanding performer of the 2009 NAIA Outdoor meet after winning the 400 while running the anchor on the winning 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
Nixon, 28, who won the 2008 Drake Relays invitational 400, was third in the 400 at the 2010 U.S. Indoor Championship. He was ranked No. 9 in the U.S. in 2008 when he ran a personal best of 45.20 seconds.
Hurtault competed in the 400 at both the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Outdoor Championship. He owns a personal best of 45.40 in the 400, en route to a third-place finish at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships as a junior at Columbia University. He was third in the invitational 400 at the 2009 Drake Relays.
