Dudarev smashes hammer records, snares top NCAA mark on day 3 of Kansas Relays
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas sophomore Gleb Dudarev highlighted the Jayhawk action on day three of the 91st Kansas Relays presented by RCB Bank, becoming the No. 1 performer in NCAA Division I this season in the hammer throw, all the while breaking the KU school record, the KU Relays meet record and the Rock Chalk Park facility record. Dudarev also became the No. 5 performer in the world this year and the No. 5 performer in collegiate history with his winning mark of 78.04 meters (256-0 ft.).
Dudarev, who hails from Vitebsk, Belarus, came into Friday’s competition as the No. 2 performer in the NCAA thanks to a school-record breaking mark of 74.35 meters (243-11 ft.) at the Sun Angel Classic on April 7. After marks of 72.86 meters (239-0 ft.) and 72.67 meters (238-5 ft.) on his first two attempts on Friday, the 2017 First Team All-American broke his school record on three consecutive throws. His third mark of the day went for 75.12 meters (246-5 ft.), his fourth reached 76.54 meters (251-1 ft.) before hitting his final record-setting mark, which was the best collegiate throw since Georgia’s Andras Haklits hit 78.63 meters (257-11 ft.) in 2002.
When all was said and done, all six of Dudarev’s marks were top-10 marks in Kansas history, a list in which only his name occupies.
Senior Nicolai Ceban joined his teammate as a 2018 KU Relays winner, taking the top spot in the open section of the men’s discus. The Camenca, Moldova product posted a mark of 54.16 meters (177-8 ft.) to take the victory, and will look to improve on that toss on Saturday, as the senior is slated to compete in the quadrangular section of the event at 1 p.m., as well as the shot put at 3:30 p.m.
The Kansas women cleaned up in the open 200-meter and 400-meter dash prelims, earning eight total qualifying times for Saturday’s finals between the two events.
In the 400 meters, sophomore Jedah Caldwell notched the fastest preliminary time, crossing the line in 54.94 seconds. Junior Marleena Eubanks, sophomore Zantori Dickerson and freshman Chloe Akin-Otiko also posted qualifying times, finishing second, seventh and eighth, respectively.
In the 200, freshman Honour Finley posted the quickest time in the preliminary round, running a wind-aided 24.50 seconds. Senior Megan Linder and freshman Morganne Mukes finished second and third overall, with wind-aided times of 24.68 and 24.80 seconds, respectively, and junior Nicole Montgomery took the No. 8 qualifying spot with a wind-aided 25.22-second clocking.
Mukes also qualified for the 100-meter dash final earlier in the day with the fifth-best time in prelims, finishing with a wind-aided mark of 12.05 seconds.
Junior Ivan Henry was the only KU men’s athlete to qualify for the final in the open 200, running a wind-aided 21.84 to win his heat and post the ninth-best overall preliminary time, and sophomore Bryce Hoppel posted the No. 7 time in the 400 prelims, finishing in 49.55 seconds to qualify for Saturday’s final.
Kansas hurdlers Caraline Slattery and Cody Johnson each qualified for the finals in their respective races, with Slattery posting the sixth-fastest 100-meter hurdle time on the women’s side, and Johnson snuck into the final in the 110 hurdles with the last qualifying spot.
Freshmen Darius Releford and David-Marquis Patrick added to the list of KU hurdlers to make finals, as they both qualified in the 400-meter hurdle prelims. Releford clocked a time of 54.30 seconds to finish third overall and Patrick came in eighth overall with a personal-best time of 54.83 seconds.
Kansas will conclude the Kansas Relays on Saturday, with collegiate open final races scheduled to begin at noon and wrapping up by 3 p.m., and the collegiate quadrangular action slated to begin at 1 p.m. in the field and 3:05 p.m. on the oval.
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