The Big West track & field schedule closes April out with a bang as the conference schools will compete in major meets in and out of the state.

Highlighting the schedule in the final weekend of April is one of the most reknown meets in the track and & field world, the Drake Relays hosted by Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. This year marks the 100th edition of the third-largest track & field event in the world, which attracts the top high school, collegiate and professional athletes from all over the United States and internationally. Joining the festivities at the Drake Relays from the Big West are Long Beach State and UC Riverside, two of the estimated 616 teams and 7,392 athletes respresenting 66 countries at the three-day event. Usually the UCR club is the lone west coast team to compete at the Drake Relays, but will be joined this year by LBSU and Stanford out of the Pac-10. In competition will be UCR’s Brenda Martinez, who has set two conference records in the past 10 months (800, 1500).

UC Santa Barbara is the other Big West track team to head out of the state as the Gauchos head to Eugene, Ore., for the Oregon Relays. The three-day event, being held at historic Hayward Field, will welcome some of the top teams and athletes from around the nation to Track Town USA.

The remaining track & field clubs will compete in meets within the borders of California. Four teams will see one another in La Jolla as Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State and UC Irvine head south to take on all-comers at the Triton Invitational. The event, hosted by UC San Diego, will take place Friday and Saturday afternoon.

Finally, two teams will be in their geographic areas as Cal State Fullerton heads to Los Angeles to participate in the Tommy “Tiny” Lister Classic hosted by Cal State Los Angeles, while UC Davis heads to the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley hosted by California.