Action at the Drake Relays begins tomorrow morning with the first day of the multi-events. Panora native Kip Janvrin will be in search of his 13th Relays decathlon title. The former Simpson College standout says the event serves as a kind of family reunion.Janvrin says while he wants to win, the Relays traditionally serves as an assessment of his progress, as he doesn’t do a lot of the events in training. He says he’ll find out what areas he needs to work on for the U-S Championships. Janvrin says as the years go by he has to pace himself in training. When he was younger he says he could train harder without adverse impact on his body, but now he says his main goal is to stay in good shape to run the 400 and then the rest of the events fall into place.The 36-year-old Janvrin was on the 2000 U-S Olympic team and last year won the U-S Championship, and has his eyes on the 2004 U-S Olympic trials. Janvrin made the U-S Olympic team in 2000 and at the time felt that would be the highlight of his career. But after winning the U-S championship as a 35-year-old last summer, Janvrin says the 2004 U-S Olympic trials are not out of the question. He says he never thought it was possible, but he says making it through the trials one more time would be a great accomplishment.The U-S championship last summer was the first for Janvrin and came as somewhat of a surprise. It was his best score since the ’96 season and he says it was a real inspiration.
