DES MOINES, IOWA – The first-day of competition for the decathlon and heptathlon will kickoff off the 112^th edition of the Drake Relays as these combined events return to America's Athletic Classic for the first time since 2019.

There are 12 entrants in the decathlon which starts at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday with the 100, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400. It resumes at 10 a.m. Thursday with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500.

Fifteen athletes are entered in the heptathlon which begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday with the 100 hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200. Activities start at 11 a.m. Thursday with the long jump, javelin and 800.

Leading the list of top contenders in the decathlon are William Eggers from the Athletic Lab Track Club and Ryan Enerson from Ragnarok Athletic Club. Eggers has a top mark of 7,220 points set last year. He is coming off a personal best of 5,401 points to place eighth in the heptathlon at the USA Indoor Championships  Feb. 27 in Spokane, Was. He was runner-up in the 2019 Big East Conference decathlon,  performing for Marquette. Enerson was seventh in the 2019 Drake Relays decathlon, competing for North Dakota State.

Emily Swanson, a sophomore at Sioux Falls University, has the top mark among competitors in the heptathlon with 4,571 points last weekend in Aberdeen, S.D. She was second in pentathlon at the 2022 Northern Sun Indoor Conference Championships and fifth in the heptathlon at the 2021 league outdoor meet.

There is also an international flavor with 19-year-old Lucy-Jane Matthews from Great Britain who earned a bronze medal in the 100 hurdles at the 2019 European Junior Championships.
Twelve collegians are in the heptathlon field with the athletes either freshmen or sophomores.  Heptathlete Anika Robinson from Concordia-St. Paul won the 2022 NCAA Division II Indoor high jump title.

Northern Iowa has four athletes entered in both the decathlon and heptathlon.

Freshman Drew Bartels; sophomore Zach Butcher; sophomore Matt Davis and sophomore Carter Morton are in the decathlon for UNI, while sophomore Sydney Durbin, sophomore Amanda Lietz, freshman Kelly Proesch and sophomore Lydia Berns-Schweingruber will represent the Panthers in the heptathlon.

Other collegians competing in the decathlon are Wartburg junior Dalton Closson; Missouri Baptist junior Mayson DeRousse; Iowa State freshman Zach Kraft; Waldorf junior Zach Morel; and Jakob Tordsen, a senior from Concordia-St. Paul.