It long has been the traditional track-and-field meet preceding the traditional track-and-field meet.

In business for some 30 years, the Lawrence High quadrangular just days before the Kansas Relays — or as LHS coach Jerry Skakal calls it, “Little KU” — continues to provide personal bests for many athletes thanks to its unique timing.

Most of the LHS athletes who have qualified for this weekend’s Relays were sitting out the Little KU meet. Rules won’t allow them to compete this close to Friday’s meet.

So that gave younger, less-experienced Lions the chance to snag varsity points, which, under Skakal’s system, accumulate throughout the season. Athletes who earn a certain amount of points for the varsity team in meets this year earn a varsity letter.

With the golden opportunity, you can bet many Lions were rarin’ to go help their own cause.

“It’s the non-qualifiers meet,” Skakal said. “All schools can pretty much bring their whole squad. It’s a combination varsity-junior varsity. But there’s still some pretty good competition.”

Both the LHS boys and girls took second behind Blue Valley West in the quad, which also included Topeka High and Topeka West.

Individually, five LHS boys and seven LHS girls took first-place honors. Sophomore Megan Johnson (800 meters, 1,600 meters) and junior Erin Kramer (shot put, discus) took first in two events.

Lawrence High's Megan Johnson runs to a first-place finish in the 1,600-meter race. Johnson, a sophomore who also won the 800, and the Lions played host to a quadrangular Wednesday at LHS.

Johnson, who also plays soccer for the Lions, won the 1,600 meter race by eight seconds, and the 800 race by six seconds.

“It wasn’t my best,” Johnson said, “but it was pretty good for not practicing for a while.”

As for the KU Relays qualifiers, they were around, too. Among them, LHS sophomore Scott Penny helped measure shot-put distances for the first part of the day, but then took off for KU to practice the hammer throw. He’ll be the lone high schooler participating in the first day of the Relays today, when he’ll try to break the LHS school record in the hammer throw at 3:30 p.m. The entire LHS team will show up to cheer him on — as required by Skakal.

“All of our team’s going to run up there,” he said. “Well, throwers won’t run — they’ll walk up.”

Penny’s participation in today’s hammer throw is a bit unexpected, considering the Kansas State High School Activites Assn. doesn’t sponsor the event anymore. He earned the chance because the boys hammer is considered a special event in which athletes can participate at a meet like the KU Relays.

“He’s thrown the hammer in meets throughout the summer,” Skakal said. “I’ve never seen him throw. He’s throwing it to break the school record.”