Combined Events Kick Off 88th Kansas Relays

Wednesday Results: Decathlon  |  Heptathlon

LAWRENCE, Kan. – A Jayhawk and a Ram highlighted the first day’s events as the 88th running of the Kansas Relays began Wednesday with the opening events in the decathlon and heptathlon competitions. Kansas’ All-American Lindsay Vollmer earned the overnight lead in the heptathlon after posting a score of 3,440 points following the first four events, while Colorado State’s Hunter Price is the leader in the decathlon with his total of 3,691 points.
 
Vollmer met little resistance as she began her first heptathlon at her home track. The 2013 NCAA Champion in the event was the top scorer in all four of the events in which she competed. The senior kicked off her day by clocking in at 13.63 in the 100-meter hurdles, winning the event by nearly a full second. She notched the best clearance in the high jump, getting over the bar at 1.70 meters (5’7″), which widened her lead by more than 200 points with just two events under her belt.
 
In the shot put ring, Vollmer opened the event with a toss of 12.08 meters (39’7¾”), a mark that ended up being her best attempt of the afternoon. Kansas State’s Sarah Kolmer came closest to matching Vollmer’s mark as the Wildcat senior posted a throw of 11.87 meters (38’11½”) on her final throw.
 
Vollmer again made it look easy as she sprinted away from the field in the final heptathlon event of the day, the 200 meters. The Jayhawk leaned across the finish in 24.99 to pick up her final 888 points of the afternoon and secure the overnight lead by 466 points over the rest of the field with a total score of 3,440 points.
 
With three events remaining, Vollmer will enter Thursday needing to amass 2,301 points to break the seven-year-old Kansas Relays heptathlon record of 5,740 set by Minnesota’s Liz Roehrig in 2008.  
Heptathlon action will continue from Rock Chalk Park Thursday morning at 9 a.m., as the women will compete in three more events beginning with the long jump.
 
Like Vollmer, Price was nearly as impressive during the first day of competition in the decathlon. The sophomore won three of the five day-one events, including the first race out of the gate, the 100 meters. Price outleaned the 2014 Kansas Relays decathlon champion, Nebraska’s Guy Fenske, to take the first event title in 11.19.
 
After another win in the long jump, a sixth-place finish in the shot put and coming in as the runner-up in the high jump via a leap of 1.89 meters (6’2¼”), Price entered Wednesday’s final event, the 400 meters, with a 52-point lead. He did all he could to earn himself some extra cushion for the final five events as was the first to cross the finish in 50.77 to bring his decathlon total to 3,691.
 
Price built a 75-point lead and was followed by Kansas State’s Adam Deterding with 3,616 points. The 12 athletes still in the competition will return to action tomorrow, Thursday, April 16, at 9 a.m., with the 110-meter hurdles.

Day two of the Kansas Relays will also include a host of collegiate track and field events, including the men’s and women’s shot put, men’s and women’s men’s and women’s long jump, men’s pole vault and men’s and women’s hammer throw. The distance carnival will take center stage at 5 p.m., with the women’s 800 meters and will run through the men’s 10,000 meters at 9:08 p.m.
 
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