AUSTIN, TEXAS – Fifteen Drake Relays champions, led by double winners Faith Ross of Kentucky and Amira Young of Minnesota, will be performing in the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships that start Thursday at Mike A. Meyers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas.

Ross was named the outstanding women's performer of the Drake Relays after becoming the third collegian to sweep the 400m and 100m hurdles and first since 2004. Ross raced to a 58.21 time to win the women's university-college 400m hurdles marking the first Drake Relays victory for Kentucky since 1988. She returned Saturday to win the 100m hurdles by pulling away over the last half of the race to finish in 13.30 and edge Iowa's Jenny Kimbro, a three-time Big Ten indoor champion. 

Young, a freshman, won both the university-college 100m and 200m in her Drake Relays debut.

Ross, a three-time NCAA All-American, will run in both the 100m and 400m hurdles at the NCAA meet, while Young has qualified in the 100m.

Kentucky, making its first appearance at the Drake Relays in more than 30 years, won five women's titles at the 110^th running of America's Athletic Classic. The Wildcats, ranked No. 9 in the latest track and field poll, have finished in the top five at NCAA outdoors three of the last four years and were fourth with 46 points in 2018.

The Iowa women, which won the Drake Relays Hy-Vee Cup for the first time, have four athletes competing at the NCAA Championships led by junior Laulauga Tausaga, who was named the Midwest Women's Field Event Athlete of the Year.  Iowa State has three performers who have qualified for the NCAA Championship.

Drake Relays Champions Ready to Win Titles
There are opportunities for a Drake Relays champ to win an NCAA women's individual title in the 1,500m or discus. Oklahoma State junior Sinclaire Johnson is the collegiate leader in the 1,500m after running a school-record 4:09.50 to win the NCAA West Prelims which included defending champ Jessica Hull from Oregon.

Tausaga threw a school record 205-8 to register the highest discus mark at either the NCAA East or West Prelims May 23.

Joining Minnesota's Amira Young in the 100 at 8:16 p.m. Thursday will be Kentucky's Kianna Gray and Celera Barnes. Gray, who was second in the 100 at the SEC Championships, anchored Kentucky to victory in the 4x200 relay at Drake while Barnes ran the opening leg.

Kentucky freshman Abby Steiner, who also ran on that winning Drake Relays 4x200 relay team, has qualified for the 200m which will be held at 9:14 p.m.Thursday. The trio of Gray, Barnes and Steiner will join anchor Janie O'Connor in competing in the 4x100 relay qualifying that will be the first event run Thursday at 7:02 p.m.

Junior Chloe Abbott, who ran on leg on Kentucky's winning 4x200 relay at Drake, is in the 400m that starts at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The SEC Outdoor champ won the 400m at the NCAA East Prelims, running a personal best 51.32.

Ross will be running in three events during Thursday's opening session starting with the 100m hurdles at 8:02 p.m. where she will face Iowa State freshman Keira Christie-Galloway in the second heat.  Christie-Galloway arrived in Ames at the start of the second semester, setting a school record en route to winning the 60m hurdles at Big 12 Indoor Championship. She then became Iowa State's first ever Big 12 100m hurdle outdoor champ in a school-record 13.10.

Ross will be joined by Kentucky freshman Masai Russell in the 400m hurdles qualifying at 9 p.m. Thursday, along with Minnesota junior Rachel Schow. Russell placed third behind Ross in the Drake Relays university-college 400m hurdles.

Ross, Abbott and Steiner also will run legs for Kentucky in the 4x400 relay, which will have qualifying rounds at 10:18 p.m. Thursday. The Wildcats won the 4x400 at the SEC Championships in a season best 3:30.81.

Oklahoma State Well Represented in the 1500m
Johnson will run with two teammates in the 1500m at 9:26 p.m. Thursday who played a role in Oklahoma State winning the 4x800, 4x1600 and distance medley relay titles at the Drake Relays. Senior Molly Sughroue, who anchored the winning distance medley relay at Drake, won the Big 12 Outdoor 1500 title. Senior Jenny Celis, who ran on two winning relays at Drake, is coming off a personal best of 4:12.92 in the NCAA West Prelim in the 1500m.

Senior Dana Klein, who anchored San Francisco to third in the distance medley relay at Drake, also will compete in the 1500m after clocking a personal best 4:15.27 at the NCAA West Prelims.

The women's 800m at 8:44 p.m. Thursday will include San Francisco's Sadi Henderson and Iowa State senior Erinn Stenman-Fahey who both ran relays at Drake. Henderson ran a personal best 2:03.31 at the NCAA West Prelims which ranks seventh overall on the collegiate list.

Iowa junior Jenny Kimbro, who was second in both the Drake Relays university-college 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles, is in the heptathlon along with senior teammate Tria Simmons who ran a leg on Iowa's 4x400 which placed second at Drake. Kimbro and Simmons placed second and third at the Big Ten meet, respectively.

Thursday's opening round of competition features just one final running event – 10,000m – with two Drake Relays performers competing in Minnesota's Megan Hasz and Iowa State's Amanda Vestri. Hasz finished second in the 10,000m at the Big Ten Championships.  Vestri was second in the 5000m and 10,000m at the Big 12 Championships.

Megan Hasz' twin sister – Bethany – will run in the 5,000m finals Saturday. Bethany anchored the Gophers' 4x1600 relay at Drake.

The women's 3000m steeplechase at 7:32 p.m. Thursday will feature Wichita State redshirt junior Rebekah Topham who captured the Drake Relays university-college 1500 as well as South Dakota State senior Rachel King who finished second behind Topham at Drake. Topham, a native of Griswold, Iowa, punched her ticket to her first NCAA Championship after finishing 11th in the NCAA West Regional with an American Athletic Conference and school record time of 9:53.92.

Look for Top Throwers From the Relays
The 2019 outdoor season was packed full of highlights for Tausaga, setting Iowa records in the shot put, discus and hammer throw. She won her third-consecutive Big Ten discus title and was named Big Ten Outdoor Female Field Athlete of the Year after winning the discus, placing third in the shot put and seventh in the hammer throw.

Missouri senior Gabi Jacobs is making her third straight appearance in the discus at the NCAA Championships after recording back-to-back fifth-place finishes in  2017 and 2018. She finished second to Tausaga at the Drake Relays.

Missouri sophomore Sophia Rivera, who captured the Drake Relays women's javelin title, earned her first trip to the NCAA Championship. She will be joined in the women's javelin final Thursday by North Dakota State freshman Akealy Moton, who won the Drake Relays women's university-college shot put.

Moton will have a busy Thursday also competing in the finals of the women's shot put where she will be joined by Drake Relays competitors Tess Keyzers, a freshman from Minnesota, along with Iowa junior Nia Britt. Keyzers enters the NCAA meet seeded seventh and owns the nation's 11th-best mark this season. Britt is coming off a personal best throw of 55-7 ¾ at the NCAA West Prelim.

The women's hammer throw Thursday features four place winners from the 2019 Drake Relays led by Minnesota senior Temi Ogunrinde, who finished fourth. Other athletes are Missouri senior Becky Keating (sixth), North Dakota State junior Bailey Retzlaff (seventh) and South Dakota senior Lara Boman (18^th).

Ogunrinde returns to the NCAA Championships for the third straight time and is seeded fourth with a mark of 211-6, which earned her a runner-up finish at the NCAA West Prelim. Ogunrinde won her third-straight Big Ten title in the hammer with a season-best mark of 221-2 to become the first individual to three-peat as Big Ten women's hammer throw champion.

South Dakota junior Helen Falda, who captured the Drake Relays university college pole vault, will be aiming for all-American honors in pole vault finals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. She is ranked seventh on the collegiate list with a personal best of 14-5.25.

Kentucky junior Ellen Ekholm, who won the Drake Relays university-college high jump, advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the third year in a row. When the high jump finals take place Saturday Ekholm will be looking to add to her 2019 SEC title.

Kentucky senior Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile Excel won the Drake Relays university-college triple jump and will contend for the NCAA outdoor title in the triple jump Saturday. She finished second in the triple jump as a sophomore at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor meet, while placing third last year and at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championship.