DES MOINES — Decathlete Neil Hines kicked off the 96th annual Drake Relays for the ISU men’s track and field team and started a weekend of impressive showings by Cyclones.

Hines finished second in the decathlon to Panora native Kip Janvrin, a 39-year-old who owns the world record with 38 decathlon wins and has 15 Drake Relays titles.

“It’s cool to say I got second to him,” Hines said. “It’s amazing for a guy that’s almost 40 to do that. He handed it to me in a lot of events and kind of put me in my place.”

Day one of the decathlon was Wednesday, with Hines competing in the 100-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter run. He set a personal record after leaping 6 feet, 6 inches in the high jump, an event he hasn’t practiced in three weeks.

“For some reason, practicing the high jump doesn’t do a lot for me,” Hines said. “It beats up your legs a lot to practice it.

Hines completed the event Thursday with the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500-meter run.

Men’s coach Steve Lynn said Hines had a super meet.

“What sets him apart is that he never really screws up,” Lynn said. “Some guys are really good at the high jump or they’re good sprinters — he doesn’t have that. What he’s good at is his tough mentality.”

Lynn also marveled at the decathlete’s consistency.

“When people fall apart around him, it doesn’t bother him,” he said. “He may throw over 120 feet in the discus, but he won’t bottom out and throw 110.”

On Friday, Oliver Koenig leapt 25-0 in the long jump, placing fifth overall.

Jumps coach Ron McEachran said he is happy Koenig is holding up physically after battling a heel injury earlier in the season.

“We’ve got the regional qualifying out of the way,” McEachran said. “He’ll jump next at the conference meet and keep training hard. He likes to feel tension in his legs; he’s not comfortable after resting a while.”

A relays highlight came Saturday from a second-place finish in the 1,600-meter sprint medley.

James Lopes led off the medley with a 200-meter run and was followed by another 200 from Elijah Braimah. Jared Graham then ran 400, and Abraham Rotich finished the 800 with a personal-best time of 1:48. Their total time of 3:19.76 broke the school record set in 1993.

Braimah said he’s happy about the school record but was upset they couldn’t get the win or make it to the 4×400-meter relay finals.

“That’s the third year in a row we’ve missed finals,” Braimah said of their ninth-place prelims finish. “We ran our worst 4×400 all year. The Drake Relays is like a curse.”

Rotich also placed second in the open 800-meter run after struggling to make a move around the final corner. Illinois State’s Bronco Meeks won with a time of 1:50.38, just edging out Rotich’s 1:50.92.