DES MOINES, IOWA -- University of Arkansas women's head track and field coach Lance Harter and the late Ralph Lindeman from the U.S. Air Force Academy, whose athletes have won a combined 21 Drake Relays titles, will be inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame during an April 27 luncheon at the Courtside Club in the Shivers Basketball Practice Facility on the Drake campus.
The induction of Harter and Lindeman will increase membership in the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame to 91. The Coaches Hall of Fame 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.)
Harter, who will retire following this outdoor season, has built the Arkansas women's track and field and cross country programs into a national powerhouse since his arrival in Fayetteville, Ark., in 1990, winning seven NCAA Championship team titles, including the recent NCAA Indoor Championships March 11. Arkansas claimed its third NCAA Indoor championship among the past four times the meet has been held — 2019, 2021, and 2023, with the 2020 version canceled due to the pandemic.
Harter also coached the Arkansas women to NCAA Outdoor team titles in 2016 and 2019 as well as the 2019 NCAA Cross Country championship. He was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014.
During his tenure, Arkansas has won 44 SEC team titles in either women's cross country (22), indoor (13) and outdoor (9) track, while earning 654 All-America honors along with 30 NCAA event titles.
Arkansas has won 10 Drake Relays titles under Harter, including three each in the 4x200 (2002, 2007, 2012) and 4x400 relays (2007, 2011, 2015).
In the process, Arkansas has set four Drake Relays records during its appearances on the Blue Oval. At the 2005 Drake Relays, the Razorbacks set a then meet record of 8:29.13 to capture the women's 4x800 relay, breaking the previous mark of 8:32.59 by Wisconsin in 1992.
Arkansas broke its own Drake Relays record in winning the university women's sprint medley relay in 2015 in a world-leading time of 3:43.64, eclipsing the record of 3:45.48 it set in 2012. The win, paired with a runaway win in the women's 4x400 relay, clinched the 2015 Drake Relays Cup for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas set a then Drake Relays record in the women's 4x400 relay of 3:28.63 in 2011, second-fastest in NCAA competition at the time. Brittany Hyter from Arkansas won the women's university-college 100 hurdles at the 2012 Drake Relays.
In three of the Razorback victories at the recent NCAA Indoor Championships, collegiate records were established by Britton Wilson with a 49.48 in the 400, Ackera Nugent with a 7.72 in the 60 hurdles and a world best of 3:21.75 in the 4 x 400 relay. Wilson also broke the American record, while Nugent bettered the Jamaican record. Amanda Fassold registered a victory in the pole vault.
Among world rankings for the 2023 indoor season, Arkansas had 10 marks rank among the world top 10. In addition to a world-leading 3:21.75 in the 4 x 400 relay, Nugent produced the leading 60 hurdle time of 7.72. Wilson's 49.48 in the 400 ranks No. 2, while her 1:25.18 collegiate record in the 600 ranks No. 4 on the 2023 world list. Rosey Effiong (50.54) and Amber Anning (50.68) rank No. 6 and No. 9 in the 400. The distance medley relay ranked third with its 10:49.14.
Lindeman had served as track and field and cross country coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1990 until his death March 6, 2022. Just a week before passing away, Lindeman led the men's team to the Mountain West Conference Indoor championship and earned Mountain West Coach of the Year honors.
The men's track and field teams were the most decorated programs in academy history with nine Mountain West Conference titles – five more than all other Academy programs combined
Lindeman was an 18-time conference Coach of the Year, a four-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year and a two-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men's Indoor Coach of the Year.
His athletes won 42 Western Athletic Conference titles and 175 Mountain West Conference championships while earning All-America recognition 122 times. Two Air Force athletes won NCAA championships during his tenure: Five Division II titles by Callie Calhoun and two Division I javelin championships by Dana Pounds, a three-time Drake Relays winner. He also coached two Rhodes Scholars.
Under Lindeman's guidance, the Falcons won 11 Drake Relays titles including six in the men's division. The U.S. Air Force Academy won the men's university division 4x200 relays in 2016 and 2017; the distance medley relay, 2016; 4x1600 relay, 2018; sprint medley relay, 2019, and Dylan Bell in the men's university-college pole vault in 2016.
The Falcons also won the Drake Relays women's university division 4x400 relay in 2019, while Dana Pounds became the only athlete in Drake Relays history to win three straight women's javelin titles (2004-2006). Jaci Smith won the women's invitational 5,000 in 2017.
Lindeman brought a full team of athletes to the 2021 Drake Relays, which returned after a one-year hiatus because of the pandemic, getting second in the men's 4x200 and distance medley, third in the 4x1600 and a second in the triple jump.
