Jayhawk women, Husker men snare titles on final day of 91st Kansas Relays presented by RCB Bank

LAWRENCE, Kan. – It was another eventful conclusion to impressive performances on the track and in the field as the 91st Kansas Relays presented by RCB Bank came to a close Saturday at Rock Chalk Park. For the second time in four years, the Kansas women claimed the title in the quadrangular team race, while the Nebraska outpaced the field for the men’s title.

Following the day’s events, Kansas Relays officials selected Gleb Dudarev (Kansas) and Makayla Kelby (Lee’s Summit West) as the Male and Female Outstanding Performers of the Meet. Dudarev won the quadrangular hammer throw Friday with mark of 78.08m (256-0 ft.), a throw that moved him to No. 5 on the all-time collegiate hammer throw list and broke the 35-year-old meet record previously held by Yuri Tamm. For the third-straight year, Kelby came away with the Kansas Relays girls’ discus title, making her just the second female in meet history to claim three discus victories in a high school career. The Titan senior came back a day later to win the girls’ shot put. She became the second female since 2000 to win both events at a single Kansas Relays.

While the cool and damp weather was not ideal for the final day’s events, an abundance of impressive performances were still put on display in front of the more than 3,000 spectators that flocked to Rock Chalk Park. The afternoon saw another heated team race in what was the fourth installment of the collegiate quadrangular. The Nebraska men won their second Kansas Relays quadrangular title (2016), outpacing runner-up Kansas by eight points. The Cornhuskers scored 10 or more points in 10 of the 20 events, which included two 16-point hauls (110m hurdles/shot put).

The Kansas women won the team title for the second time in the four-year history of the event and the first time since the inaugural year in 2015. The Jayhawks’ 209 points were the most ever scored by a women’s squad in the Kansas Relays quadrangular. Kansas also scored 13 or more points in eight of the 20 events. The Jayhawks were led by sophomore Jedah Caldwell who posted a team-leading 15 points by way of her victory in the 200 meters and third-place finish in the 100 meters.

The lone meet record to fall Saturday came from the boys’ 110-meter hurdle final earlier in the day. Ankeny Centennial’s Riley Moss broke the meet record in the event, topping Tony Brown’s (El Dorado, 1987) and Julius Jiles’ (KC Central, 2004) previous mark of 13.92 en route to the win. The time ranks the senior Jaguar fourth among U.S. High Schoolers this year.

While Kelby wowed in the throws ring for the girls’ events, her male counterpart, Moore High School’s Patrick Larrison, did the same in the boys’ throwing events. A day after winning the discus, the Kansas commit earned the shot put title, posting a top throw of 20.14 meters (66-1 ft.) on his third attempt of the competition. The performance was the best at the KU Relays in 38 years, when Shawnee Mission South’s Clint Johnson posted the current meet record at 20.65 meters (67-9 ft.). Larrison’s throw moved him to No. 5 on this year’s U.S., outdoor list and made home just the fifth thrower since 1983 to win both the discus and the shot put at the KU Relays.

As has become tradition at the Kansas Relays, some stellar boys’ and girls’ mile races were contested as part of the adidas Dream Mile event. Webb City’s Ryan Riddle ran to a dominant victory in the boys’ race with a winning time of 4:15.65, defeating the field by over four seconds. Blue Springs South’s Victoria Findley completed the girls’ race in 4:56.27, adding to her trophy collection after also winning the 3,200 meters a day earlier. Both Riddle and Findley automatically qualify for the adidas Dream Mile, to be contested this summer in New York City amongst the top high school milers from around the U.S.

With the 91st Kansas Relays now in the books, it’s time to start looking ahead to the 92nd year of the historic meet, as the 2019 Kansas Relays are set for April 17-20, 2019.
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