DES MOINES – As announced last month, the 2021 Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom will include a high school division. The Blue Standards, known as the qualifying marks that guarantee acceptance for Iowa high schoolers in the Drake Relays when entered in the meet, have been announced. When one of the marks is attained, an athlete knows that he or she will be #BlueOvalBound. In addition to these top athletes, coaches should also enter other team members outside of those marks for consideration on the accepted entry list.
“High school track and field practices begin across Iowa today, and we hope that releasing the Blue Standards today provides excitement and motivation,” explained Blake Boldon, the Franklin “Pitch” Johnson Director of the Drake Relays powered by Xtream. “These young student-athletes have made many sacrifices during the pandemic and yet continued to stay mentally focused and physically fit. The Blue Standards will give them an inspirational goal to achieve early this season.”
The high school division returns following a year’s absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of the 111th Drake Relays. All high school events at this spring’s Drake Relays are scheduled for Thursday, April 22, at Drake Stadium; strict COVID-19 protocols will be enforced.
Entries for high schools will open on Monday, March 8.
Given the unusual and challenging circumstances, many specific details are yet to be finalized.
At this time, the following details have been confirmed:
- All high school running events will be run as finals, except for the 4×100 meter relay which will have preliminaries.
- All high school field events will have preliminaries and finals.
- The 4×100 meter relay qualifiers will be reduced from 96 to 48 teams for high school boys, and from 96 teams to 48 teams for high school girls.
- The number of qualifiers for all other high school events will remain the same as in 2019, the most recent year of high school competition at the Drake Relays.
Decisions and guidelines regarding spectators and ticketing are still being made. Details will be announced as soon as possible and also posted to Drake Relays website and social media.
