WATCH Dickinson Relays (Boys) LIVE on MileSplit.com!
Plenty of Iowa's best boys will be in attendance and competing on Tuesday at the Dickinson Relays, which will kick off at 2 PM. All of the races can watch LIVE exclusively on MileSplit.com.
Max Murphy (Pleasant Valley) - The Pleasant Valley senior Murphy won last year's 3200 meter race at the Dickinson Relays with a 9:34 personal best performance, which still stands as his all-time best today. Murphy qualified for Nike Cross Nationals this past fall and was the Iowa 4A state cross country champion. He'll have a strong field to contend with this year to repeat including two sub 9:40 guys in Dylan Dolezal of Linn-Mar and Gabriel Vicker of Ankeny Centennial. Murphy will also attempt to double back for the 800 as the third seed at 1:59.
Deyton Love (Waterloo West) - The current state leader this winter in the 60 meter hurdles (8.05) and 55 meter hurdles (7.56), Love is off to a strong start this track season which should be a good springboard to his outdoor season in the 110 meter hurdles which he owns a 14.59 personal best in that event from last spring as the 4A state runner-up. Love is the top returnee from last year's Dickinson Relays 60 meter hurdles finals when he placed 3rd and also was 2nd in the long jump. There are dozen hurdlers at this year's Dickinson Relays who have gone sub 15 in the 110 hurdles last outdoor season.
Harrison Waylee (Urbandale) - Defending champion in the boys 60 meter dash from a year ago at Dickinson Relays with a 6.93 clocking, Waylee was the lone athlete to go sub 7 seconds in the meet. The Urbandale senior clocked some fast times last spring as well including a 10.74 performance in the 100 meter dash and 21.83 clocking in the 200 meter dash. Only Kalen Walker from Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont has gone sub 11 for 100 meters in the Dickinson Relays 60 dash field.
Jack Pendergast (Cedar Rapids Prairie) - Pendergast is part of a fairly wide open boys 1600 with the top 7 seeds only separated by 3 seconds. The University of Iowa commit Pendergast has made a name more for himself at longer distances including a 4A state runner-up finish in cross country two years ago and ran a 9:29 3200 for a fourth place finish in the 3200 at the Drake Relays last April. He has gone sub 4:30 a handful of times, which is more than anyone else in the field despite being ranked 3rd for seeding coming into the Dickinson Relays. Cole Sommer of Pleasant Valley and Payton Marrs of Urbandale both have run 4:28 as Marrs will be racing on his future home track at the UNI Dome, while Sommer was the runner-up in the Dickinson Relays 1600 last year.
Jay Marcotte (Urbandale) - A runner-up in last year's Dickinson Relays for the 400 meter dash, Marcotte went onto run sub 50 seconds numerous times outdoors (49.47 PR) as well as has a 800 meter best of 1:54 to his name from the 2018 outdoor season.
Aaron Smith (Waukee) - Marcotte's competitor in the boys 400 should come from Waukee junior Aaron Smith, who ran 48.91 in the 400 last spring and is fairly sharp with racing this indoor season including a 50.73 season best. Smith won the Mizzou High School Series Indoor Championships in the 200 meter dash as well with 22.68 clocking.
Kalen Walker (Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) - One of the top returning sprinters in the state, Walker will be a top contender in both the 60 dash and 200 dash at the Dickinson Relays. Walker opened his indoor season winning the Iowa State Games 60 dash in 7.16 clocking. He was an All-State finisher in the 2A finals at the outdoor state meet with a 100 meter dash (5th) and 200 meter dash (3rd). Walker has outdoor bests of 10.92 in the 100 and 22.59 in the 200.
Drake Hanson (Southeast Polk) - The boys 800 may not have a bunch of proven middle distance runners in the field, but appears to have some more top distance guys willing to drop down in distance and get some speed work to prep for their outdoor season. Southeast Polk's Drake Hanson is one of those strong distance runners in the field as the top seed who was a fifth place finisher in the 4A state cross country this fall with a 15:46 5K best and ran 4:26 for 1600 meters last spring for another 5th place state meet finish in the outdoor championships. He could go for a sub 2 minute performance in the 800 at Dickinson and will have some athletes in the field who have already proven capable of doing it including Dante Salomon of Ottumwa (1:59.33 PR) and another knocking on the door in Trent Pelzer of Tipton (2:00.26 PR)