Track & Field Heads to Drake Relays

Thursday, April 22

Des Moines, IA

Missouri State University

Drake Relays

Track & Field Heads to Drake Relays

April 21, 2021 | Women's Track & Field

By: MSU Athletics Communications

SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State track and field will compete at the Drake Relays this week (April 22-24) with the three-day event kicking off on Thursday with the distance carnival at 6 p.m. Friday's session begins for the Bears with the triple jump at 1:30 p.m. and the 200-meter dash at 2 p.m. while Saturday's finale will open up with the long jump at 12:45 p.m.

Missouri State at Drake Relays (Des Moines, Iowa)
Dates & Event Times	Thursday, April 22 \| Track: 6:00 p.m. Friday, April 23 \| Field: 1:30 p.m. \| Track: 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 24 \| Field: 12:45 p.m. \| Track: 1:15 p.m.
Location	Des Moines, Iowa
Site	Drake Stadium
Follow Along	Live Results \| Meet Schedule \| Watch
Missouri State	Track & Field Home Page \| Season Stats \| Record Book \| Twitter \| Facebook

Keeping Track of the Bears

After the cancelation of last year's outdoor season, Missouri State returns to the highly-completive Drake Relays for the 111th running of the landmark event held on the Bulldogs campus.
At the 2019 Drake Relays, the Bears marked a couple of record-breaking performances with the 4x800-meter relay team setting a program-best time of 8:58.06 and Grace Breiten running the fourth-fastest time in MSU history in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 10:28.67.
Last time on the track, MSU earned nine top-six finishes while battling through poor racing conditions at the Mule Relays on April 16. Timeka Jordan (12.43) and Taylor Richey (12.57) took two of the top-four spots in the 100-meter dash. In the 400-meter dash, Mackenzie Ihasz (58.47) finished third while Sierra Williams (58.74) came in right behind her in fourth. Shelby Palmer took third in the 5,000-meter run with a season-high time of 18:19.97.
For her performance at the Gorilla Classic on April 11, Jessica Haney was selected as Missouri Valley Conference Field Athlete of the Week on April 14. Her winning jump of 1.76 meters at the Pittsburg State meet sits as the third-best mark in program history just 0.01 meters behind the MSU record (1.77m) set by Heather McFadden (1994) and Mandy Scott (1995).
Missouri State boasts 23 top-10 times/marks on the MVC performance list, including a second-best 4x100-meter relay time (45.97) and a 4x400-meter relay (4:00.15) that ranks seventh. Madison Meredith holds the top spot in the 100m (11.43) and the 200m (24.03). Calandra Henry (11.91) and Nakaja Weaver (11.93) make it three Bears among the top four in the 100m, ranking third and fourth, respectively. Talia Emerson owns the league's fifth-best time (14.24) in the 100-meter hurdles. In the field events, Jamilah James sits as the conference leader in the triple jump (12.63m) while ranking fourth in the long jump (5.89m). Fellow horizontal jumpers Jenkins (6.08m) and Emerson (5.95m) rank first and third, respectively, among Valley long jumpers. Haney boasts the MVC's best high jump mark with her 1.76-meter clearance. Cheyenne White (43.02m), Rochelle Etienne (42.12m) and Jaide Rose (40.69) have positioned themselves in the top-5 in the javelin.
On a regional scale, Meredith's 100m time ranks 17th among NCAA Division I West runners while Haney is tied for 20th in the high jump.
Jordan Fife is in his third year as head coach and seventh overall with the program after a four-year stint as an assistant. Fife has also handled head coaching duties of the cross country team since 2014.