Kansas hosts the 100th Kansas Relays on Friday, April 14, 2023 at Rock Chalk Park.

Bringing 5,000 athletes to Rock Chalk Park last year for the 100th edition of the Kansas Relays, a long-awaited return for the historic event, was an accomplishment in and of itself. But Tim Byers, the meet director entering his second Relays in charge, has apparently managed to top that for meet No. 101.

“Tim just informed me the other day that we have 5,200 athletes, so it’s grown,” KU track and field coach Stanley Redwine said Tuesday. “And so that just goes to show what the Kansas (Relays) means to our community. I’m just really excited about it.”

Particularly important for Redwine was that the event continues to draw a substantial turnout from high school competitors, “because that means that this event will continue to grow.”

The three-day Kansas Relays begin with the men’s hammer throw at noon Thursday and continue until a series of 4×400 relays in the late afternoon Saturday. Between those two bookends, the thousands of high school and collegiate competitors — including many of the most distinguished members of the KU track and field team — will participate in more than 100 combined events.

Growing the event has been a year-round commitment for Byers, the longtime former Baker track coach.

“I go to conventions, I go to high schools, I go to Rotary clubs,” he said. “… I go out to talk to anyone about the Kansas Relays. And it’s an easy sell for me because I’m born and raised in Lawrence. I think I’ve been to 40-plus relays.”

He said that planning begins for the Kansas Relays 12 to 16 months in advance, with the frequency of meetings gradually increasing until, at some point, he and his colleagues are meeting every day. By now, he says, “I just want that first gun to go off.”

“The hardest part is this prep right here, getting this all done and putting it together and everything, because you just rely on so many people to get so many things done,” he said, citing figures like 250 volunteers and officials, a possible 10,000-plus fans and of course 5,000-plus athletes.

When you run a good meet, with everything on time, he said, that’s what makes people want to come back year after year.

The meet

As much of a focal point as the Relays are on the calendar for many, they are not necessarily the apex of the season for all the KU athletes involved. For example, Redwine said that Chandler Gibbens, who holds the Jayhawks’ all-time records in the 5K and 10K, may not compete in either of those events in Thursday’s distance carnival. (Indeed, he’s not included on the list of entries for either on the Kansas Relays website.)

“He just ran a pretty hard 5K last weekend so maybe he’ll just run the 1,500 this week, but we’ll see,” Redwine said.

High jumper Devin Loudermilk, who hit 2.16 meters earlier this month in a victory at the Jim Click Shootout (and not that long ago made the best indoor high jump in KU history at 2.26), will jump in the Relays on Saturday but won’t be as fresh as usual.

“That (2.16 result) just determined my regional mark, so now that we got a regional mark, we’re just going to train throughout the year for championship season, so we’re kind of cycling,” he said. “We have a hard cycle right now for this week, and so we won’t be as fresh as I normally am for this meet.”

He said it takes mental fortitude to battle through that sort of situation.

“You know you’re not feeling the best, you know you’re not feeling as bouncy as you normally are, so you just got to come in and do everything right, basically,” he said.

photo by: Missy Minear/Kansas Athletics

Devin Loudermilk during the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., on Tuesday, May 13, 2023.

photo by: Missy Minear/Kansas Athletics

Devin Loudermilk during the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., on Tuesday, May 13, 2023.

Hurdler Gabrielle Gibson, who recently set, reset and reset once again KU’s record in the 100-meter hurdles, will not participate due to injury, Redwine said. However, Arkansas transfer Yoveinny Mota has been just 0.03 seconds behind Gibson and is expected to compete in both the 100 hurdles and the 200-meter dash.

Byers suggested that high winds could make it a fun weekend for the discus. Four KU athletes headlined by record holder Dimitrios Pavlidis will participate in the men’s event and high-ranking Sofia Sluchaninova and Tori Thomas will take part in the women’s.

Some other Jayhawks to watch (among those on the official list of entries) include Tayton Klein in the men’s long jump, Oleg Klykov in the men’s hammer throw, Emmaculate Jemutai in the women’s 1,500, Deshana Skeete in the women’s 200- and 400-meter dashes, and both the men’s and women’s pole vault squads as a whole.

Of course, as Redwine put it, “Every athlete is important and every event is important.”

Competing at home

There’s no substitute for the familiarity of a meet on their home track, KU athletes say.

“It’s always just very comfortable and very relaxed to be here,” Loudermilk said. “… You’re out here practicing all the time, especially in these windy conditions, you’re already used to it, you’re already used to the track, the bounciness and stuff like that.”

Redshirt junior hurdler Angelina Arinze, who will participate in her first Kansas Relays after missing last year’s event due to injury, agreed, brushing off concerns about potential wind at the event: “I think it’s also an advantage that we have being able to train here, so that when it’s time to go we’re used to it. It’s not the worst thing.”

Loudermilk, a native of Howard, has a particular attachment to the Relays after coming to Lawrence for his first-ever track meet as a teenager. He remembers being dazzled by witnessing then-14-year-old Trey Tintinger (now at Oregon) jump 7 feet: “I looked at my coach and I was like ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,'” he said.

He still gets a chance to see jumpers he knows from the Kansas high school scene when it comes time to compete in the Relays.

“Talking to those guys at the meet is always nice, to have a little banter with them, a little competition with them,” Loudermilk said.

The gravity of the Kansas Relays also attracts plenty of former Jayhawks. Bryce Hoppel, for example, is listed as a participant in the seeded 1,500.

“The guy just returning from the world championships not too long ago, and to become a world champion and part of the Jayhawk family is just amazing to me,” Redwine said. “He’s a good guy, just excited about him coming back.”

Added Arinze: “Being a Jayhawk, it’s one of those things you never really outgrow, and I think somehow, some way you always come back to Lawrence.”