April 22, 2005

Kansas Relays Quotes

Selected Winners

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Men’s Shuttle Hurdle Relay, University of Nebraska, 57.79

Richard Davidson, Aaron Ross, Courtney Jones, Nenad Loncar

Richard Davidson — “I think with the wind factor, we did OK. I still think we could do a lot better. When we were warming up we didn’t get the chance to come out on the track and get over some hurdles, so coming out here we felt a little cold and a little unprepared. I guess we did alright considering the weather.”

Women’s 4x200m Relay, Cloud County Community College, 1:41.17

Katrina Carter, Vanessa Clarida, Patricia Mayers, Liaza Walker

Liaza Walker — “It feels really good to win because you’re running against a lot of schools from different states. The competition was good, especially on that last leg. As a Junior College coming up and beating Universities, we feel very proud about our performance.”

Men’s 4x200m Relay, Lindenwood University, 1:26.05

Juan Walker, Stephon Johnson, Richard Blount, Michael Rodgers

Michael Rodgers — “Winning is special because we came in second last year to Kansas City Community College. There was a lot of competition out here and we had to run our best to win. We’re all sophomores and juniors, so we will be back next year. The wind affected us especially on the first and third leg.”

Austra Skujyte, Nike , 51-5.75

Women’s Shot Put

“I went in with the attitude to do what I can do. They placed me in the first five so I could go and compete in the long jump, so I didn’t know how the last two groups were doing. I didn’t throw very well. I was upset with my marks. I really thought someone was going to beat me.”

Austra Skujyte, Nike, 20-08.5

Women’s Long Jump

“I knew I was behind going into the last jump, so I knew I had to do something. I gathered everything that was in me and exploded. I felt tired today because of last weekend. It took me a while to get going. Luckily I had someone to motivate me. The shot put didn’t really affect me and I had enough energy to compete.”

Iveta Grunte, Wichita State University, 5-08.75

Women’s High Jump

“I know the Kansas Relays is a very big event, so that was my motivation. The wind was very bad today and I couldn’t feel my approach. I was happy with my performance today. I actually thought that I might perform worse because of the conditions so I was pleased.”

Women’s Distance Medley Relay, Eastern Illinois University 12:33.98

Jaylee Carr, Megan Patchin, Amy Lejune, Sarah Selby

Sarah Selby — “I think we all ran really well. Everyone looked very strong. We keep getting stronger over the year and we are gaining confidence.”

Men’s Distance Medley Relay, Kansas State University, 10:22.75

Adam Reilly, Trevor Smith, Alex Sawyer, Joe Moore

Joe Moore — “This was definitely not a normal race with all the wind. This race is getting bigger. The Relays are coming back to become a big meet.”

T.J. Staab, Kansas State University, 57-09.00

Men’s Shot Put

“I thought I did well today, however it was not my best. I really enjoy competing here at the Relays because of the great competition. It’s nice to win here at Kansas being from K-State. It made it that much more special.”

Travis Bussey, University of Mary, 9:32.94

Men’s Steeplechase

“I’m elated to win here at Kansas. The competition here is great. I am from North Dakota and there isn’t much competition up there for the steeplechase. I enjoyed it a lot. I don’t know where my kick came from at the end. I guess I should just praise God for that.”

Mike Ford, Nebraska-Kearny, 17-02.75

Men’s Pole Vault

“I’ve been jumping in the upper 16s the last couple of weeks. I got over 17 last weekend and today it just all came together. I used a little bigger pole because of the wind and that helped me out a lot.”

John Hetzendorf, Unattached, 247.03

Men’s Javelin

“I was a little more patient and able to hit the javelin clean and it took off. Scott (Russell) is a really good competitor and today just wasn’t his day. These events are really fun when the javelin goes far.”

Women’s Four Mile Relay, Wichita State, 20:48.33

Amy Matthews, Sarah Becker, Mica Land, Desiraye Osburn

Desiraye Osburn — “We were not even expecting to be out here. We’ve never ran together before, but we knew that we had a strong mile program and we wanted to see what would happen if we ran together in a relay. The competition was great – KU was a real challenge. We came out here with the goal of a record, and we did that. We now have the school and the meet record.”

Men’s Four Mile Relay,Kansas, 17:49.85

Colby Wissle, D.J. Hilding, Chris Jones, Paul Hefferon

Colby Wissle —“D.J. Hilding is a senior this year, and we knew that this was his last race at Memorial Stadium. We came together as a team and put together a win for D.J. Coming into the relays, you never know who is running. We respect Wichita State. We came here really focused and were able to pull away from them.”

Records

Lee’s Summit North (MO) High School, Girl’s 4 Mile Relay

Danielle Rogers, Piper Wilcher, Lindsay Pierson, Ashley Mark

Relays Record

22:11.08

Previous Record

23:19.21 (2004, Blair High School, NE)

Fort Collins (CO) High School, Boy’s 4 Mile Relay

Paul Ringenberg, Andy Mauk, Michael Haas, Noah Shannon

Relays Record

18:04.21

Previous Record

18:14.98 (2004, Liberty High School, MO)

Wichita State, Women’s 4 Mile Relay

Amy Matthews, Mica Land, Sarah Becker, Desiraye Osburn

Relays Record

20:48.33

Previous Record

21:33.16 (2004, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI)

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Notes

The University of Nebraska recorded the fastest collegiate time this season in the Men’s 4×110 Meter Shuttle Hurdles with a time of 57.79.

In the men’s 100 meter dash, Michael Rodgers of Lindenwood University ran the fastest collegiate time of the season with a mark of 10.25, however he was aided by a 4.2 mph wind.

Kansas University’s Dan Ferguson finished second in the Men’s Steeplechase with a time of 9:33.18.

Former Jayhawk Scott Russell competed for Nike and finished second in the Men’s Javelin with a throw of 242-08.