By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Here is a list of 10 men's storylines to keep an eye on Thursday-Sunday at the USATF Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa:

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Still plenty of speed

Despite the absences of two-time defending USATF Outdoor 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin and IAAF World Indoor 60-meter gold medalist Christian Coleman, there are still six athletes entered in the 100 field who have wind-legal performances under 10 seconds this year, led by Mike Rodgers and Isiah Young both clocking 9.92 earlier this month.

Ronnie Baker, who has run a wind-legal 9.93 this year and the fastest time in the world under all conditions with a wind-aided 9.78, has a pair of big victories at the Prefontaine Classic and Mt. SAC Relays. Noah Lyles, entered in the 100 and 200, has also run a wind-legal 9.93.

Former Arkansas State standout Jaylen Bacon and Georgia All-American Kendal Williams also produced sub-10 efforts at their respective NCAA Division 1 regional meets in May.

Rodgers is the only athlete in the field with outdoor titles, winning the 100 in 2009 and 2014. Baker won the indoor 60 national championship last year.

The world leader is Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who ran 9.91 on June 9 in Jamaica.

Crouser tries to achieve rare triple

With so much shot put talent in the United States, there hasn’t been an athlete winning three consecutive titles since Al Feuerbach from 1973-75.

Eight individuals have captured back-to-back championships since then, but none have been able to achieve three in a row.

Ryan Crouser will look to end that drought in Saturday’s final, looking to remain on top against a field that includes past champions Joe Kovacs and Ryan Whiting, along with Darrell Hill and rising talents Jordan Geist, Josh Awotunde and Payton Otterdahl.

Crouser ranks second in the world this year with his 73-11 (22.53m) at the Prefontaine Classic. Hill is the only other American in the top 10 at 70-2.50 (21.40m).

Jager seeks magnificent seven

No other American male athlete has dominated an event in recent years like Evan Jager, who is seeking a seventh consecutive title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Sunday.

A victory by Jager would match Henry Marsh (1981-87) for the longest steeplechase streak in U.S. championship history. Marsh and Joe McCluskey share the overall record with nine career titles.

Jager holds both the meet record of 8:12.29 in 2015 and the American record at 8:00.45 from later that year at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

Stanley Kebenei, Hillary Bor and Andrew Bayer have all run under 8:20, each seeking their first career national championship.

Kendricks has the drive for five

Although Sam Kendricks was upstaged by Scott Houston at the USATF Indoor Championships in February, he has an opportunity to make history Saturday by winning his fifth consecutive pole vault title.

Cornelius Warmerdam (1940-44) is the only other male athlete to win five straight national pole vault championships.

Kendricks went unbeaten in 16 competitions last year, including three championship meets. He prevailed at the two biggest outdoor meets he has entered in the U.S. this year, the first in April at the Drake Relays and in May at the Prefontaine Classic.

South Dakota sophomore Chris Nilsen, the reigning NCAA Division 1 champion, could play spoiler for Kendricks. Nilsen has a slightly better outdoor clearance this year than Kendricks at 19-2.75 (5.86m).

Kendricks’ highest outdoor clearance this year is 19-2 (5.84m), but he also cleared 19-5.50 (5.93m) indoors.

First pro show for Norman

For those in Des Moines hoping to see Michael Norman shine again in the 400 meters after his collegiate-record effort of 43.61 seconds June 8 at the NCAA Division 1 Championships, that won’t happen.

But Norman is scheduled to make his professional debut in the 200 after competing only two years at USC.

Norman’s wind-legal best this year is 20.06, but he won the Pac-12 title May 13 in a wind-aided 19.84.

Noah Lyles is entered in the 100 and 200, although it is uncertain if he will compete in both sprints. Lyles shares the world 200 lead with South Africa’s Clarence Munyai with a wind-legal 19.69.

Reigning champion Ameer Webb is also entered, but only boasts a top time of 20.41 this year. Isiah Young is the only other American with a sub-20 performance this season, clocking a wind-legal 19.93 on June 9 in Florida.

Taylor to tackle rare double, including triple jump

Although he has won Olympic and World Championship gold medals in the triple jump since his last national outdoor title, Christian Taylor will be back in pursuit of not one, but two championships this weekend.

Taylor is seeking his first triple jump crown Friday since winning back-to-back titles in 2011-12, with Will Claye capturing three championships and Omar Craddock securing two since then. Taylor is also entered in the 400, looking to improve on his personal-best 45.07 from June 3 in the Netherlands.

The past 15 national champions in the 400 have run under 45 seconds, making the possibility of contending for a title a challenging one for Taylor.

Although he holds the American record in the triple jump of 59-8.75 (18.21m) from 2015, Taylor doesn’t hold the championship record, which has stood since 2005 when Willie Banks jumped 58-11.50 (17.97m).

Another classic clash of champions

Robby Andrews, Matt Centrowitz and Leo Manzano – athletes who have combined to win the past seven national outdoor titles in the 1,500 meters – are scheduled to compete, along with the top five finishers from last year’s final returning, a group which also includes Johnny Gregorek, Craig Engels and Cristian Soratos in addition to Andrews and Centrowitz.

Include Drew Hunter, Colby Alexander, Eric Jenkins and new Brooks Beasts professional David Ribich – the NCAA Division 2 record holder at Western Oregon – and Saturday’s final has the makings of another exceptional showdown.

Andrews is looking to follow Centrowitz by securing back-to-back titles. If Centrowitz wins his fifth career championship, he will be the first to reach that total since Steve Scott won six titles from 1977-86.

Holloway looking to enter hurdling hierarchy

The top four finishers from last year’s 110-meter hurdles final return, but only reigning champion Aleec Harris, Devon Allen and Aries Merritt have USATF Outdoor titles on their resumes.

Following back-to-back NCAA Division 1 championships at Florida, Grant Holloway looks to improve from his fourth-place finish at last year’s meet in Sacramento and secure a signature victory in Sunday’s final.

Allen won titles in 2014 and 2016, with Merritt’s last championship in 2012, also the last time the winner ran under 13 seconds.

Sergey Shubenkov, an authorized neutral athlete from Russia, became the first individual in the world this year to produce a sub-13 wind-legal effort by clocking 12.99 on Tuesday in France. Holloway boasts the top time by an American this year with his 13.15 on May 13 at the Southeastern Conference Championships.

Harris hoping for another title run

Penn State star Isaiah Harris won the NCAA Division 1 title June 8 in the 800 meters by upstaging collegiate record holder Michael Saruni of UTEP.

Following a second-place finish at last year’s USATF Outdoor Championships, Harris is looking to take down another former collegiate record holder and reigning champion Donavan Brazier in Sunday’s final.

The top five finishers from last year’s championship race return, with Drew Windle, Erik Sowinski and Drew Piazza also scheduled to compete. Windle captured a silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in March.

Clayton Murphy, the 2016 champion, is looking to secure another title after running a season-best 1:45.97 in China in May.

Harris boasts the fastest time by an American this year and No. 9 in the world with his 1:44.76 from the Division 1 final.

Determining the future of the decathlon

With Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee both retired, the winners of the past seven decathlon national championships are no longer competing.

Zach Ziemek, who took second behind Hardee last year, and fourth-place finisher Steven Bastien will look to grab the spotlight, along with Timothy Ehrhardt, all in search of winning the first title not belonging to Eaton or Hardee since Jake Arnold won in 2010.

Ziemek has the top score by an American this year with his 8,181-point effort from the Bryan Clay Invitational in April, which ranks No. 13 in the world. Ehrhardt is the only other competitor in the field who has scored over 8,000 points this year.