DES MOINES, IOWA — Three-time Olympian Jenny Simpson, who also captured a gold medal in the 1,500 at the 2011 World Championships, Aubrey Herring, a seven-time NCAA All-American hurdler from Indiana State, will be  inducted into the Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame. Lonnie Greene, whose athletes at Purdue and Kentucky have won 34 Drake Relays championships, will be inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame.
 
There will be an April 28 luncheon at the Courtside Club in the Shivers Basketball Practice Facility on the Drake campus.
 
If you are interested in purchasing a table or seats at the 2022 Hall of Fame Luncheon, please reach out to Ryan Severson at ryan.severson@drake.edu. Here is a brief schedule for the event:
 
11:00am- Doors open & Reception begins
 
11:30am- Lunch begins
 
12:05pm- Program begins
 
1:10pm- Program is scheduled to end
 
The induction of Herring and Simpson will increase membership in the Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame to 221. The Athletes Hall of Fame was established in 1959 during the Golden Anniversary of the Drake Relays with 72 charter members, including Jesse Owens, who was named the outstanding performer during the first half-century of the Drake Relays.
 
JENNY SIMPSON
Simpson, who was born in Webster City, Iowa, has been a crowd favorite at the Drake Relays, where she has never lost a race while capturing six titles -- the two-mile in 2018 and 1,500 in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017.

"Some of the most exciting moments in my time as Drake Relays director have been Jenny's performances," Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays Blake Boldon said. "The ovation for her American record in 2018 is something that thousands of fans will never forget."
 
She set the American record of 9:16.78 in her two-mile victory in 2018 and established the Drake Relays record in the invitational 1,500, running 4:03.35 in 2013.
 
A seven-time U.S. outdoor champion, Simpson was the premier middle distance runner in the U.S from 2011 to 2017, while also being ranked among the top 10 in the world during that same time period.
 
She captured the gold medal in the 1,500 at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, becoming the first American to win that event since 1983. Simpson became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal in the 1500 when she earned the bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.
 
Simpson also won the silver medal in the 1,500 at the 2013 and 2017 World Outdoor Championships. She won four straight U.S. Outdoor titles in the 1,500 from 2014-17 and was a four-time USA indoor champion.
 
The former Jenny Barringer was a four-time NCAA champion at Colorado, winning three steeplechase titles — including the 2008 crown at Drake Stadium — along with the 3,000 at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
Herring is the second athlete from Indiana State who will be inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame, joining seven-time NCAA women's sprint champ Holli Hyche, who was honored in 1999.
 
AUBREY HERRING
Herring won the university-college 110 hurdles in the 2000 and 2001 Drake Relays and invitational 110 hurdles in 2002. He also anchored Indiana State's shuttle hurdle relay team that set the Drake Relays and Drake Stadium record of 55.06 in 2001. No university-college team has come within a second of that mark since.
 
"Drake Relays was always a special place for me when I was competing, both collegiate and post-collegiately," Herring said. "To be inducted into the Hall of Fame is an honor for me and a moment of pride for everyone who helped me along the way."
 
The Indianapolis, Ind., native captured the 60-meter hurdles title at the 2001 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, while finishing second in the 60 hurdles at the 1999 and 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships as well as second in the 110 hurdles at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

"As an undergraduate at Missouri State, I watched Aubrey represent the Missouri Valley Conference at the highest levels in our sport," Boldon said. "He was an ambassador for the entire conference as he represented Indiana State at the Drake Relays and beyond."
 
Herring was undefeated in the Missouri Valley Conference, winning four straight indoor championships in the 60 hurdles and four straight outdoor titles in the 110 hurdles from 1998-2001. He still holds the all-time MVC indoor 60 hurdles record at 7.61 set in 2001.
 
Herring was a member of the 4x120-yard world record shuttle hurdle relay team (along with David Oliver, Joel Brown and Aries Merritt) that ran 53.31 in 2008.
 
LONNIE GREENE
Greene is in his fourth season as head of the track and field and cross-country programs at Kentucky after six seasons coaching the men's and women's teams at Purdue.
 
He will be the 89^th inductee into the Coaches Hall of Fame, which was established in 1977 with charter members John L. Griffith (Drake), Harry Gill (Illinois), Tom E. Jones (Wisconsin), Clyde Littlefield (Texas), Leo Johnson (Illinois) and Bill Easton (Drake and Kansas).
 
"I am extremely humbled by this great honor," Greene said. "To be enshrined into this great fraternity of coaches, athletes and educators is an awesome blessing. This is something I hope to talk to my children's children about for years to come. I have admired members of this hall of fame for years, and now to become a member of such an outstanding group of individuals, I am truly honored."
 
Greene will become the first Kentucky coach to be inducted and the third who coached at Purdue, following Dave Rankin in 1995 and Mike Poehlein in 1998.
 
The 34 Relays titles under Greene's tutelage all have come in a seven-year period starting in 2013, his first season at Purdue. He took the Kentucky job in the summer of 2018 and brought an outstanding group of athletes to the 2019 Drake Relays, the Wildcats' first appearance in the meet since 1988.
 
They made quite a splash.
 
Greene's athletes won eight events, highlighted by Daniel Roberts' victory over world and Olympic gold medalist Omar McLeod – his former training partner – in the World Showdown Invitational 110 hurdles.

"I have viewed Coach Greene as a role model since I was a teenager," Boldon said. "In addition to his many coaching accolades, he is one of the most personable coaches in the country and Drake Relays fans are always excited to watch his athletes perform."
 
Kentucky's Faith Ross became the just the third runner and first since 2004 to sweep the university-college 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles and was voted the Outstanding Performer in the women's division. The Wildcats also swept the men's and women's 4x200 relays. With All-American Abby Steiner anchoring the women's team, a Greene-coached foursome prevailed in that event for the fourth straight year. His Purdue teams won the women's 4x200 in 2016-17-18.
 
With Greene in charge, Kentucky athletes have earned All-America recognition 51 times at the NCAA Indoor Championships, including 23 this year, and 49 times at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
At this year's NCAA Indoor Championships, the Kentucky women had 13 first-team All-Americans, including Steiner, who won the 200 for the second straight year in a meet record 22.16 seconds.  The Kentucky women placed third in the team standings, matching the best finish in program history.
 
Greene's Kentucky athletes also have won nine Southeastern Conference indoor championships, including three by Steiner in the 200, and five outdoor titles. Steiner won the indoor 200 this year in a blazing 22.09, the fastest in U.S. history, the fastest in the world this year and the second-fastest ever, trailing only the 21.87 run in 1993 by Merlene Ottey, a member of the Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame.
 
Greene reinvigorated the track and field program at Purdue, coaching 38 athletes who earned a total of 86 All-America honors, including 21 who earned first-team recognition in 60 events. His athletes won 11 individual  men's Big Ten championships (four indoors, seven outdoors) and 20 individual women's titles (11 indoors, nine outdoors).
 
The Boilermakers also won six Big Ten women's relay titles during his tenure. He was the Big Ten women's indoor coach of the year in 2017 and guided Purdue to the women's conference outdoor championship later that year. His women's team finished eighth at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the school's highest finish ever.
 
At the Drake Relays in 2018, his Purdue athletes orchestrated one of the greatest performances ever at the meet by winning 11 events, including seven during the Saturday session.
 
The Purdue women won the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and sprint medley relays -- setting a meet record of 3:28.42 in the 4x400 -- and captured the Hy-Vee Cup. The Boilermakers also got victories from Brionna Thomas in the 200, Savannah Roberson in the 100 hurdles, Janae Moffitt in the high jump and Micaela Hazelwood in the discus.
 
On the men's side, Justin Veteto won the university-college 110 hurdles, freshman Rahman Minor won the high jump and Purdue won the 4x200. With the victories by Veteto and Roberson, Purdue became the first school to sweep the high hurdles races.
 
In all, Purdue athletes won 28 Drake Relays titles under Greene, including consecutive victories in the women's university-college 400 hurdles (2016 and 2017) by Symone Black. Black had a chance to become the first to win the event three times, but chose to run in the Invitational 400 hurdles in 2018. She finished seventh in 57.24, a time that would have won the collegiate race by 1 ½ seconds.
 
Greene, whose full name is Rolando, is a native of Nassau, Bahamas, and a graduate of Murray State. Prior to his stint at Purdue, Greene spent 16 seasons with the women's program at Arkansas, eventually becoming associate head coach in charge of sprints, hurdles, horizontal jumps and multi-events from 2000-12. He was named the national assistant coach of the year in 2004.
 
Before joining the Arkansas staff, Greene was an assistant coach at Missouri State (1991-95) and Minnesota (1995-96).