NORMAL, Ill. – Nine Illinois State track & field athletes will race at the 111th annual Drake Relays this weekend from April 22-24 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
Maddi Exline and Audrey Harrod will be the first 'Birds to race on the Blue Oval this weekend with the duo competing in the women's university 800-meter run on Thursday, April 22 at 6 p.m. Both Harrod and Exline competed in the 800m at the Joe Walker Invite earlier this season where Harrod ran a two-second personal-best time of 2:10.27 and Exline ran a time of 2:13.12. Exline ran a personal-best time of 2:10.80 earlier this season at the 2021 MVC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Following the women's 800-meter run, Riley Wells and Kimathi Johnson will compete in the men's university 800-meter run at 6:08 p.m. The pair will each run their first 800-meter race of the 2021 outdoor campaign after racing the 1,500m at their first two meets of the year. Wells is competing in the event for the first time since he was crowned the 2021 MVC Indoor Champion, while Johnson hasn't raced an 800m outdoors since the 2019 NCAA West Preliminary Round.
Rachel Hickey and Jake Gillum will follow the four 800-meter runners, each racing the university 1,500-meter run on Thursday for the Redbirds. Hickey, who is in heat two, is set to race at 6:16 p.m. with Gillum to follow in heat two of the men's 1,500m at 6:28 p.m.
Despite being a junior academically, tomorrow's race will only be Hickey's fourth 1,500m race of her career. She currently has the fifth-fastest time in ISU history in the event after placing second at the 2019 PanAmerican U20 Championships with a time of 4:26.83.
Gillum will look to run his third-straight 1,500m personal-best time, after clocking lifetime bests at the Redbird Invite and then again at the Joe Walker Invite to open the season. Since 2018, Gillum has shaved seven seconds off of his 1,500m time and currently sits right outside ISU's top-10 list with a personal-best time of 3:47.75.
Illinois State's final race on Thursday night will be Kevin Koski in the men's university 5,000-meter run at 8:05 p.m. Koski ran the second-fastest indoor 5,000-meter time in school history earlier this season, recording a personal-best time of 14:00.40 at the GVSU Big Meet. This will be his first 5K outdoors this season, after racing the 10K last weekend at the Virginia Challenge.
The men's 4x800-meter relay team of Wells, Johnson, Gillum and Jack Anstey will compete at 6:10 p.m. on Friday and will be ISU's only race of the day.
On the final day of the Drake Relays, the women's distance medley relay team of Hickey, Harrod, Exline and Grace Beattie will take the track at 1:15 p.m., followed by Anstey in the men's 800-meter run at 2:27 p.m.
Anstey will be competing in the 800m for the second time this season after opening the year with a time of 1:51.45 at the Redbird Invite. The senior from Australia is coming off a record-setting performance in the 1,500-meter at the Joe Walker Invite where he rebroke his own school record and his own Missouri Valley Conference record with a personal-best time of 3:39.17.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Tickets to the Drake Relays are sold out. All of this year's Drake Relays competition will livestream on RunnerSpace.com April 22-24, with the exception of 2-4 p.m. central on Saturday, April 24. During that window, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will broadcast live from Drake Stadium and the Blue Oval. Those who don't have a subscription to RunnerSpace can follow live results here or get updates via Twitter @redbird_trackxc.
STREAMING INFO
April 22, 9 am - 4 pm Central
Livestream on RunnerSpace.com
Simultaneous broadcast on Mediacom channel MC22
April 23, 9 am - 8 pm Central
Livestream on RunnerSpace.com
April 24, 8 am - 5 pm Central
Livestream on RunnerSpace.com (except 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.)
Live broadcast on NBC Sports Network (2 p.m. - 4 p.m. only)
FULL SCHEDULE OF REDBIRD RACES
Thursday, April 22
Friday, April 23
- Men's 4x800-meter relay (Anstey, Wells, Gillum, Johnson) - 6:10 p.m.
Saturday, April 24
- Women's distance medley relay (Hickey, Harrod, Exline, Beattie) - 1:15 p.m.
- Jack Anstey - Men's 800m - 2:27 p.m.
UP NEXT
The remainder of the Illinois State track & field squad will compete at Louisville's Clark-Wood Open this weekend from April 23-24. Live results for the Clark-Wood Open can be found here.
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