2018 Drake Relays Standards Released with Interesting Discrepancy

The Drake Relays will be here before we know it. Above is this year's guide to the qualifying standards for high school athletes in Iowa.

As I went through and used our Rankings Generator to pull rankings for each event, I noticed something interesting. With just returners listed, very few males ran at or under this year's qualifying standards last year. However, the females seem to have larger amounts of athletes who achieved the standard last year.

For instance, the Boys 100 M standard is 10.80. Only 3 individuals are returning with PRs from last year that would qualify this year...

In stark contrast, 9 females will return with times under 12.30...

In the 800-meter run, it is a similar story with just 3 males running 1:56.30 or faster last year, but 9 girls having run 2:16.00 or under.

Similarly, the girls 1500 houses 11 returners that ran the qualifying time or under last year, but the boys 1600 only has 5.

1600 Meter Run

1500 Meter Run

The 3200 vs. 3000 is a little better, with 10 males having run the qualifying time last year and 10 females having done so in the 3000.

3200 Meter Run

3000 Meter Run

In the short hurdles, we once again see a large discrepancy with just 3 males having run under the time, and 9 females having run under the time.

110 Meter High Hurdles

100 Meter Hurdles

In the 400 Meter Hurdles, not a single high school boy from Iowa returning this year ran 54:00 or under. Only two females ran 1:04.50 or under...

400 Meter Hurdles

In the jumps we see a similar discrepancy with females having far more achievable marks versus males.

High Jump

 

High Jump

The throws are the one exception so far to this rule. In both the Discus and Shotput, very few athletes will be returning with PRs that would qualify them to this year's Drake Relays...

Discus Throw

Shotput

Though this is just a starting point and is not the official standard for who can and will qualify, it is certainly an interesting find to begin with!  As of right now, it looks like more females could potentially nab the automatic qualifiers than males.

For more information about qualifying, you can check out the official rules here!