2004 DRAKE RELAYS RELEASE #32
DES MOINES, IOWA — If Kip Janvrin is successful in defending his decathlon title, he will extend his all-time Drake Relays individual victory record to 15 as the multi-events start Wednesday to kick off the 95th running of the Drake Relays in Drake Stadium.
Janvrin's longevity is unprecedented in U.S. decathlon history. Since beginning his decathlon career in 1983, Janvrin has been nationally ranked 14 of the last 15 seasons. He has been nationally ranked since 1989 and has completed 82 out of 85 decathlons. Janvrin won his first ever-national title at the 2001 U.S. Outdoor Championships by overcoming an 87-point deficit and third place position entering the 1,500. Using his middle-distance prowess, Janvrin won the 1,500 — the decathlon's final event— in 4:14.96 to score 846 points and secure the win, becoming the oldest-ever U.S. decathlon champion at age 35.
Janvrin owns the world record for most decathlon wins (37) and an American record for most career decathlons over 8,000 points (26). He finished 17th in the 2001 World Championships.
Janvrin was ranked No. 6 in the U.S. last year, while finishing fifth in the U.S. Outdoor Championships with a season best 7,918 points. He was ranked No. 3 in the U.S. in 2000 and 2001. He was third in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials, becoming the oldest U.S. decathlete ever to compete in the Olympics. Janvrin placed 21st in the Sydney Olympics.
In a display of track and field versatility and stamina, the 38-year-old Janvrin won the 2002 Double Decathlon World Championships in Turku, Finland, with a two-day world-best score of 14,185 points. Competitors at the event completed in 20 track and field events over two days, contesting every event in the sport except the race walk and marathon.
Janvrin, who said he changed uniforms 11 times and shoes 17 times during the two-day competition, scored 6,912 points the first day and 7,273 points the second day. His record is not officially recognized by the IAAF, but it beats the previous world best of 13,906 (using current scoring tables) set in 1992 by Indrek Kaseorg of Estonia in Punkalaidun, Finland.
The Panora, Iowa, native is a 14-time Drake Relays champion who was inducted into the Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame in 1996 after becoming the all-time men's individual Drake Relays leader. Janvrin won five of the 10 events in 2002 to claim his eighth straight Drake Relays crown with 7,775 points.
There are 14 entrants in the decathlon, which starts at 12 p.m. Wednesday with the 100, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400. It starts Thursday at 11 a.m. with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500.
Janvrin owns a personal best of 8,462 set in a 1996 U.S.-Germany dual meet. He won the gold medal in the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar de Planta, Argentina, setting a meet record with 8,049 points and he earned a bronze medal in the decathlon in the 1994 Goodwill Games.
He has won Drake Relays decathlon titles in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Travis Geopfert, 25, who finished second in the 2003 Drake Relays, is expected to be Janvrin's main challenger. Geopfert competed in six decathlons last year, winning three times. He scored a personal best 7,729 points to win a decathlon in Fargo, N.D., in 2003. He was third in a U.S. vs. Germany dual meet, while placing 12th in the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Championships. He won the Missouri Valley Conference decathlon title in 1998 while competing for Northern Iowa.
Stevie Keller from Team NoDak, who had a personal best of 7,673 last year, also could challenge Janvrin, along with Brendon Falconer, 29, of the Indiana Invaders who set a personal best of 7,951 points in 2002. Falconer was a four-time Mid-American Conference champion at Kent State and also competed in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Indiana's Jake Wiseman, who finished fourth at the 2003 Drake Relays, also returns. Wiseman finished fifth at the 2003 Big Ten Conference Championships, scoring 6,929 points. Steve Weatherford of Illinois finished fifth in the heptathlon at the 2004 Big Ten Conference Indoor Championships with a personal best 5,181 while qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Other entries include Peter Wagner, who was a NCAA Division III champion in the decathlon at Central College in 2001 and 2003; Michael Hensley from Western Illinois; and Matt Levingston, William Jewell.
Hensley was third in the 2003 Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Championships. Wagner won the decathlon at the 2001 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, while competing for Central College. Levingston was seventh in the 110 hurdles at the 2002 NAIA Outdoor Championships.
