Drake was better than Penn this year

The Cardinal meet had some pretty remarkable times this evening. I think there were three NCAA records in a few hours?

I agree with both of you.

Penn was third fiddle on this hallowed weekend of track and field.

How do you ignore the HS side of things? Penn is going to have better HS athletes every year due to Drake's exclusion of everyone outside of Iowa, but at Penn HS is THE draw, and this year was special, highlighted by the epic boys' 4x400 and the lightning-quick 4x100.

And in what way do MN's women (while impressive) trump two collegiate records by Michigan?

We at ESPN don't acknowledge anything happening west of the eastern seaboard.

east coast bias... wrote:

We at ESPN don't acknowledge anything happening west of the eastern seaboard.

For a while I didn't think letesrun's front page did either. Glad someone is giving credit to Drake.

While Drake and Stanford did a great job with their meets, and honestly if I had my chance to see any of these three big meets this weekend Penn would be my last choice, Penn was the only meet on TV. Just the fact that Penn was on TV means they are the meet of the weekend.

seriously...how does MN women's 4x800 top Michigan's 4x1500 and 4x800? And columbia's men winning the 4x800 for the first time since 1938, and watching UNC women's DMR get dropped after the 3rd lap of the 1200 only to watch Bri blister them back into 3rd? how does that compare??

DRAKE DOESN"T COME CLOSE TO PENN

sorry, go back to trollopolis

I was there! wrote:

seriously...how does MN women's 4x800 top Michigan's 4x1500 and 4x800? And columbia's men winning the 4x800 for the first time since 1938, and watching UNC women's DMR get dropped after the 3rd lap of the 1200 only to watch Bri blister them back into 3rd? how does that compare??

I'll give you the Michigan 4x800, but prior to that race, Minnesota had the best time in the world this year.

As for the Columbia men, that's an easy one: their time would have gotten third at Drake. Who cares when they won their last one unless you're on the team?

I'm sure there were some anchor legs at Drake just as ballsy as Bri's.

As for the high school races, the Drake girls 800 produced two of the top times in the nation this year.

Other than that, no one has given me anything that can compare to Alan Webb dropping 3:51, Jeff Hartwig clearing 19, 42-year-old decathlete Kip Janvrin's 1:53, or Jeremy Wariner getting upset. I will interpret your silence as acceptance of my claims.

I have been to both and nothing comes close to Penn Relays...sorry poster have you ever even run at Penn Relays?

you cant say columbia would have gotten 3rd at a different meet. since you ran at penn you realize that you stand in the paddock for the three races before your race which makes impossible to get a good warmup in. when i ran the 4x8 at penn, i would only get in one stride in spikes before my race. that makes it quite difficult to run a spetacular time.

I have run at both, and unless you're competing for the Jamaican national team, the empty buzz in the air at Penn can't compare to the Drake fans cheering around the runners on the bell lap of ANY race, from a high school 3200 to the University Men's 4x400.

Hate the Drake.

The chicks at Drake are hot. Piping hot.

Also at Drake this weekend the Baylor men won four relays(SMR, 4x1,4x2,4x4) First time it had been done since 1944 by Illinois. The 4x1 was faster than what was run at Penn. The 4x2 and 4x4(3:02) are both nation leading times.

they had the sexy adam currie running too at drake. what more do you need?

With no real allegiance to either meet, after looking through the results it seems a draw. What most impressed me about Penn was the HS Boys 4x100(41.50), 4x400(wow), and the high school girls 4x800 from the high school side.

While Drake limits HS to Iowa only, it held its own pretty good. 3000 girls-9:44(would have been 2nd at Penn), 4:33 1500(3rd at Penn 1600?), 2 2:10 800's, 5-8 on high jump(1st at Penn), 46-10 shot put(2nd Penn). On the boys side the sprint medley with 2 teams at 3:28 at Drake is very impressive, as was the 4x100(42.5).

Bottom line on high school:

Call it a draw,Penn obviously advantageous due to all parts of the country showing up there. But I was impressed and surprised at how close many of the Iowa only events were to Penn- not as much seperation as I expected.

Collegiately:

Penn- Michigan women and UNC women were phenominal in the relays, nothing else to say about it.

Drake- Minn women very impressive as well, but not near the scale of the Penn performances.

Women: Penn

Men: Faster times at Drake in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, and 4x800. Granted Baylor helps here at drake, but UNI would have beaten Columbia in the 4x800- take nothing away from Columbia.

Men: Drake

Post collegiate:

Drake was impressive with the masters 800(1:53!)womens 100H, mens 110H(wind aided though?)and of course Alan Webb. But Penn is tough to top from all the post collegiate runners it gets and the shear volume of events it has.

Slight edge Penn- but Webb may have made this one a draw.

There is nothing like running at Penn in front of 40000 fans, and there is nothing like running in front of 40000 fans and it still seeming quiet at most times. great od races to watch, and some fun high school competition vs. the Jamaicans as well.

There is also nothing like running Drake. Its amazing how loud 15000 fans can be for almost every race, rain or shine. fun seeing small and big Iowa hs go at it and impressive watching some of their performances.

Those of us lucky enough to have run both are fortunate. I would personally take Drake again, but wouldnt pass up Penn either. If any of you can go and watch either of these, dont pass it up, they are almost as fun watching as competing-almost.

Cantwell in the shot at Drake to add to the post-collegiate list. 71 something.

Don't forget Jeff Hartwig's vault like the poster said. 19'00.75''

Even though Penn didn't have an elite vault...