The 2015 Drake Relays continue today with several high school running events taking center stage. The events start at 8 a.m. with the preliminaries of the girls’ 100 meter hurdles and the field events at 8:30 a.m. with the shot put competition.

Washington senior Jacob Hennigan is set to run the preliminaries of the boys’ 100 meter hurdles at 8:16 a.m. this morning. Hennigan says he feels good about his position in the race, “I have a tenth seed going in so I am in Heat 2 Lane 3.” Hennigan said, “I have a good lane, but at the same time as a tenth seed their isn’t as much pressure on me as their is with a top three seed, where you are expected to medal.”

Hennigan’s fastest time came during the Denny White Relays on April 16, recording a time of 14.95 seconds.

Fifteen minutes after Hennigan’s event, fellow senior Macy Marek will compete in the girls’ 100 meter dash. Marek was a last minute addition to the relays, being selected as an alternate for the event. Her fastest run of the season came on April 10th at the Demon Relays, where she posted a time of 12.78 seconds.

Also running at 8:31 a.m. this morning is a pair of KCII area juniors set to compete in the boys’ 100 meter dash. Columbus’s Mauricio Ramirez and WACO’s Bryce Achen are among the 32 athletes set to run at in the event. Achen says he feels confident heading into the race, already facing some of the state’s fastest, “I have ran against a lot of guys who are up going to be up there.” Achen said, “Two guys from West Burlington High School and I have ran against Mauricio (Ramirez) a lot. I have ran against some fast people and I am going to work hard with the expectation to win.”

Ramirez and Achen both recorded their fastest runs at the Demon Relays on April 10th. Ramirez completed 100 meters in 11.02 seconds; Achen finished one-tenth of a second slower.

At 9:45 a.m, Pekin junior Kaysha Dodson will be among the 29 person field battling in the high jump event. Her best jump came last Thursday in her home meet in Packwood, leaping 5 feet 4 inches, tied for the fifth best in the state.

The final event at today’s relays involving a KCII area school happens at 5:10 p.m. when the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks’ Shelby Zahradnek, Lexi Duwa, Emily Cayton, and Alex Rath compete in the 4×100 meter preliminaries. The top 80 relay teams in the state compete. Mid-Prairie’s 4×100 meter relay team put together their best showing of the year in Tipton, completing the event in 52.3 seconds. The time was tied for the 62nd fastest in the state.

Stay tuned to AM/FM KCII and KCIIRadio.com for results from the 2015 Drake Relays.