Drake Relays 2026
Here is a Compilation Video of my Drake Relays Performance. Sorry for such a long delay on releasing this, Drake had stated that the decathlon video would be available “On Demand” however they did not record anything for us. It took me a while to contact everyone to scrounge together video that they may have had of me competing and there are still a few clips missing, I originally wanted to have an explanation going on along side each event video but my first few takes were bad to say the least, I’m not very good at talking to a camera on top of a couple of audio issues I decided not to delay this any further.
I can still however provide a breakdown event by event here:
100: Opened up the race with one of my best in competition block starts. I’m generally not used to being out ahead of people out of the blocks so it kind of threw me off a little bit and I transferred into upright running early and abruptly, I tend to make up time in the second half of the race but it was a little forced because of the excellent start. With that said, I finished with and 11.15 which is .15 faster than I expected myself to run and only .06 slower than my personal best.
Long Jump: After running such a good 100 meter I was extremely confident going into the long jump. I know I brought some really good speed into each jump however each take off was quite a ways behind the board losing me a lot of distance. On top of that, my sloppy air mechanics caused my right foot to drop early making my mark THAT much shorter. Far from my worst long jumps but I know what I need to work on there.
Shot put: Shot put went about as expected. After the slight under performance in long jump I think I was a bit tense trying to force a really big throw to make up for it. That combo with meet adrenaline makes my timing off losing me a bit of power and distance in the throws. Over all still had a really solid mark.
High Jump: Going into high jump warm ups I was developing a pretty nasty cramp above my right calf making it pretty hard to jump and hold my form over the bar. I came in a low starting height and really worked into that calf to try and get it warmed back up to not cramp. After a few heights and a lot a massaging the pain subsided for a bit. Unfortunately It did come back in my last few attempts but I still managed to clear higher than I expected. High Jump is an event I plan to drill a TON this summer as I know that this is a place I stand to improve the most, I feel like I should be able to clear at least 6 inches higher than I do now. Improvements from my take off (not stomping my foot) to rotating over the bar and not being stiff as a board will help all that.
400: I honestly did not attack this race as hard as I probably should have. I went into it trying to be calm and consistent and was worried that if I pushed too hard I would cramp up in that calf and not finish the race (at least not within 60 seconds). I still managed to run just short of my predicted time. I am confident that if I had been able to push then I would have shaved off at least 2 seconds.
Day 1 Conclusion: Finished Day 1 with 3525 points which is a really good spot and on pace to hit my goal. I took an ice bath and a hot bath then went into recovery compression boots on my legs to prepare for Day 2.
110 Hurdles: This was a little upsetting, After day one there is a lot of soreness and tightness in the body so it is super important to get extra warm and stretched for the start of day 2. I try to have at LEAST an 15 minutes of stretching and 45 minutes warming up so that hurdles go smooth, unfortunately 10-15 minutes into pre warmup stretching i get the news that we are starting 15 minutes early giving me only 30 minutes to warm all the way up and be ready to race. This caused me to rush my warm up and run the race unready. The race actually started okay for me even though i was still really tight in the hips. I did a great job pushing between each hurdle despite the difficulties over the top of them. Sadly I push well and get too close to hurdle 9 at take off and hook my foot under the hurdle causing me to go down then roll under hurdle 10.
Discus: Almost a repeat of what happened in Shot Put. I carried the disappointment of the hurdle fall and really tried to force a big throw causing my timing to be off. I still managed a really solid throw with a mark only 2 meters below my record.
Pole Vault: I finished exactly how I expected in pole vault. I took 18 jumps over all between warmup and competition and by the end i was quite fatigued. Its possible I get another height or two if I went on a smaller pole to make it a bit easier to go up with less speed and power.
Javelin: This was going to be my first competition since my surgery in December 2024. I pushed myself a little bit too hard and a little too soon in warm ups developing 7/10 level of pain in my elbow and decided it was best to not throw Javelin. I have since got back on a rehab routine and should be throwing again early/mid summer.
1500: Unfortunately since I did not take an attempt throwing javelin i was DQ from the rest of the competition meaning I was not allowed to run the 1500 meter run.
