National pride is at stake in Des Moines at the Drake Relays this weekend.

The annual track meet is not only one of the ISU track and field team’s closest meets, but one of the biggest. The Drake Relays, which begin Thursday and run through Saturday, have had 38 consecutive Saturday sellouts, the longest streak in U.S. track history.

Women’s head coach Dick Lee said there will be several thousand people and teams from all over the country present.

“We’re loading up one relay — the sprint medley — that’s got a good shot at being one of the top relays at the meet,” Lee said.

The sprint medley consists of two 200-meter legs, a 400-meter leg and an 800-meter leg.

“Sheba Clarke, Rebecca Williams, Ada Anderson and probably Jummy Alowonle will be running in that,” Lee said. “We’ve still got five people in the mix for the four spots, but that’s probably the four that will run that.”

Lee believes that seniors Jessica Huff, Clarke and Williams can place in the 1,500-meter run, 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles, respectively.

Lee said the weather may have the biggest effect on the runners’ performances.

“If the predictions hold like they say, it’s not going to be a great day for fast times,” Lee said. “We’ll just wait and see what happens.”

Williams competed in the same events at Drake Relays last year and said she feels the experience should give her an advantage going into the meet.

“I’ve learned a lot more since last year about the race,” she said. “I’m more comfortable, and some things I’ve worked on will hopefully carry over to this race that weren’t there last year.”

Men’s head coach Steve Lynn said even though the race isn’t as important to his athletes as the conference and regional meets, it’s still very good competition.

“In the outdoor [season], it is the largest and most fun meet we go to, no question,” Lynn said. “With the 16,000 fans, it’s a great opportunity to compete against some of the best in the country.

“If you want to be good, you look forward to [this meet]. It would be the equivalent of our football players playing Nebraska or Iowa, and our basketball team playing against Kansas.”

Lynn said anyone that places has a good chance of doing well at the conference meet or becoming an All-American.

“We still have some events that are up in the air,” Lynn said. “We thought our four-mile relay was going to be really strong. Unfortunately, Craig Cartier, one of our top milers, came down with mono and is out for the rest of the year. And Chris Francois, another one of our top milers, has had an injury and is unable to compete.

“The other three guys — Dan Taylor, Corey Ylinen and Dan Wiltgen — are really ready to run fast. We may move Abraham Rotich, our top-flight 800-meter runner, to the four-mile relay with them or have him concentrate on the distance medley.”

Taylor, who ran in a distance relay last year, said this is the biggest meet for him so far this year.

“You don’t find [the four-mile relay] at many places, so [that race is unique]. It’s kind of a premier event, as far as Drake goes,” Taylor said.

Taylor, a Fort Dodge native, also competed at the Drake Relays in high school.

“The biggest difference is that it was a lot easier to win in high school because the competition is so much better at the collegiate level,” Taylor said.

Jamal Salahuddin is competing in the discus and shot put, events that he has already regionally qualified in. He said experience should help him improve on last year’s performance.

“I didn’t do [as well as] I wanted to [last year],” Salahuddin said. “I made it to finals in the discus but didn’t do the shot put because of a knee injury. Now I’m close to 100 percent.”

Lynn said javelin thrower Tyson Hilgenberg may be the team’s most improved athlete.

“A year ago, Tyson was throwing the javelin about 190 feet, and he has already thrown 216 [feet] this year,” Lynn said. “Three years ago, he didn’t even know what a javelin looked like because he was a baseball player. So it’s been neat to see some of the things he’s been doing.”

Lynn said he wishes he had more time to prepare.

“We’ve got lot of guys competing; we wish we had a couple more weeks to prepare, but it just isn’t that way,” Lynn said. “I think our guys are ready to go down there and compete.”