For the first time since 2019 one of the biggest events in high school track and field has returned. The Kansas University Relays began its 100th-anniversary competition on April 13 and went through April 15. The Bennington Track and Field team had numerous relays qualify for and compete at the KU Relays.
The first competitor for the Badgers on Friday the 14th was senior Kennedy Wade in the 100-meter dash. Wade ran a 12.28 in qualifying which just missed out on the finals.
Next up was the girl’s 300-meter hurdles which the Badgers had 3 runners in. Junior Katelyn Langford finished 13th overall with a 48.22, junior Amelia Wempen got 31st with a 50.56, and sophomore Riston Aschoff finished 34th with a 50.99. All 3 of the Badgers finished in the top half of their heats with Wempen winning hers.
“Going to my first KU relays was so much fun! Seeing all of the college athletes and being able to watch their process and how they prepared for their races/what a meet is like for them was super awesome, especially since running in college is a big goal of mine,” Langford said.
The final event of the day for the Badgers was the boy’s and girl’s 4x100 meter relay. The boys were up first and the relay, made up of junior Parker Sexton, sophomore Jayden Lincoln, senior Nick Colvert, and junior KJ Taffa, finished 37th out of 81 teams in the event. The girls’ 4x100 was seeded very highly coming into the meet but a zone violation led to them being disqualified from the competition. The girls’ season record of 48.93 would have placed them 5th in the finals, but the team still has the opportunity to improve on their 2nd place state finish from 2022 at this year’s state competition.
“I think our 4x1 has a super good chance at state this year, with the same four girls on it, with our time last year, and being runners up it really has given us motivation to be even better,” Wade said, “We’ve worked super hard this year on handoffs and improving our time so we have high expectations at state this year.”
The first event for the Badgers on the 15th was the girls’ sprint medley with Wade, Langford, sophomore Alexis Hiatt, and senior Gabriela Calderon. The sprint medley is a relay race consisting of 2 200-meter runs, followed by a 400, and finishing with an 800. The Badgers performed at their best with Wade and Langford combining for a 52.78 second 400, Hiatt running an individual 400 at 1:00.60, and Calderon adding a 2:21.75 800 meter run onto the end, giving them a finishing time of 4:15.12 and a second-place finish overall in a 25 team field.
“We knew we had a chance [at medaling] but it was amazing to see it come to fruition. Mostly though the big focus was on getting Ella Calderon and Alexis Hiatt recovered for the 4x8 which was really close afterwards,” Langford said.
The boys sprint medley didn’t disappoint either. The team of Taffa, Culvert, junior Cater Diamond, and sophomore Calin O’Grady started off strong with their 200s adding to 46.88, Diamonds 400 coming in at 52.70, and O’Grady bringing the Badgers home with a 2:02.89. The boys finished in 10th place out of 25 teams.
I was expecting it to be a good race with a lot of competition, but I still thought we would do pretty good and I thought that we ended up doing well. Especially in our heat we were able to get 2nd so I think that we performed well,” Diamond said.
The 4x200 meter relay was the next race on the agenda for the girls who were represented by sophomore Olivia Sangster, Wempen, senior Kennedy Gansebom, and Wade. The Badgers placed 31st in the race with a time of 1:52.75.
The 4x400 meter relay was delayed on the 14th due to weather reasons and ultimately canceled at the end of the day on the 15th, which meant that the final event for the Badgers at the KU Relays was the 4x800 meter relay. Hiatt, senior Samantha Jansen, junior Alexis O’Connell, and Calderon were the competitors in the race. Hiatt got the Badgers started off with a 2:37.34 first leg followed by a 2:33.94 by Jansen. At the midway point of the race the Badgers were in 13th place in their heat and it stayed that way with O'Connell's 2:37.33. For the final leg, Calderon put up a 2:27.82 which advanced the Badgers 2 spots to 11th, and 15th place overall in the 41-team field.
The 100th-anniversary of the KU relays did not disappoint for the Badger boys and girls’ track teams, and all of the great moments both on and off the track made it worth the trip.
“It was such a great bonding experience for the team and an opportunity for some national level competition mid way through the season. Even though some things with the weather and schedule were crazy (I warmed up for the 4x4 3 times and we never actually ran it) all the craziness just made it more fun. This is also a special group of seniors so getting to have this experience with them was pretty amazing too,” Langford said.
The Badgers are looking forward to seeing what they can do at the state meet on May 17th and 18th, and seek to defend their runner-up title and push for first place.
“As a team, our goal this season is to bring in as many points at state as we can. We worked super hard during the offseason to strive to be the best in every event this season. We are proud of how the season has gone so far so we hope to end the season as state champions,” Wade said.