Athletes Qualify for 86th Annual KU Relays

This weekend 16 student athletes from East will be competing in the 86th annual Kansas University Relays at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. The Lancer team going is made up of six girls and 10 boys.

Athletes will leave ranging from early morning to mid afternoon on Friday for competition in different vans and SUVs. They will then come home for a night and head back to Lawrence on Saturday to compete in any other events they are qualified in.

KU Relays is known as the most competitive event of the year for high school athletes. The relays usually see teams not only from Kansas, but from Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska.

“It’s a traditional event,” distance running coach Michael Chaffe said. “It’s always been a major event for high schools in Kansas.”

The relays don’t just include high school athletes. Professional athletes and East alumni will be present this weekend as well.

“It shows kind of the gamet of runners,” Meshke said. “It shows the most elite runners all the way down to high school runners.”

Junior Anna Kulenski has gone to KU every year in her high school career. She’ll be competing in the 4×4, the 800 meter run and the Distance Medley Relay (DMR).

“I’m looking forward to watching all the other athletes compete – it’s really competitive,” Kuklenski said. “You get to watch professional athletes compete and that’s really cool.”

Kuklenski isn’t nervous about the cool weather this weekend. Last year’s relays were colder as well, and though Kuklenski doesn’t like running in cold weather, she’s prepared.

However, Meschke is concerned about the weather increasing the chances of injuries. Her plan is to make sure they drink a enough water and give them plenty of time to warm up.

No matter the weather, KU Relays seems to see breakout performances from athletes due to the elite competition seen.

“Our kids just usually have great performances at the relays and it’s kind of the first time they peak at the season.” Meschke said.

Parts of the event will be aired on Metro Sports.

Qualifiers:

Girls:

Grace Pickell- the HJ and Sprint Medley Relay

Grace Quinlan- the Open 800m, 4x400m Relay and Sprint Medley Relay

Emma Vickers- the Open 400m and 4x400m Relay

Phoebe Aguiar- the 4x400m Relay and Sprint Medley

Annie Kuklenski- the 4x400m Relay and Sprint Medley

Chloe Stradinger- the 100H and 300H and alternate for Relays

Boys:

Troy Wilkins- the Open 400m, 4x400m Relay and 4x200m Relay

Juan Ramos- the Open 400m, 4x400m Relay, 4x200m Relay and 4x800m Relay

Carter Olander- the 4x400m Relay, Distance Med Relay and 4x800m Relay

Devin Burton- the 110m Hurdles, 300m Hurdles and alt ernate for Relays

Mitch Kaskie- the Distance Med Relay and 4x800m Relay

Joe Bahr- Distance Med Relay and 4x800m Relay

Will Moore- the Distance Med Relay and 4x800m Relay

Sam Stewart- the 4x200m Relay and the 4x400m Relay

Tommy McGillicuddy- the 4x200m Relay

Alic Erplding- the pole vault