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

Eight individual University of Kansas athletes and two more relay teams posted first-place finishes on Saturday, the final day of the 102nd Kansas Relays, at Rock Chalk Park.

“Anytime we get to compete in our hometown, I’m really excited,” KU coach Stanley Redwine said in a press release. “There’s areas where we can get better, but overall I thought it was a great meet.”

For KU, it was a healthy mix of first-time winners at the Relays — even first-time participants in three cases– and familiar first-place names like hurdler Sidney Smith, or Tayton Klein in the men’s long jump.

The Jayhawks dominated both editions of the 1,500-meter race on Saturday, claiming three of the top four spots on the women’s side and the top three among the men.

Freshman Ebba Cronholm, a multi-sport athlete from Ljungby, Sweden, who had already been part of a winning distance medley relay team on Friday, made her first-ever collegiate appearance in the 1,500 and took home first place with a time of four minutes, 24.55 seconds, beating out senior teammate Kenadi Krueger by just over a second. Another freshman, Marisa January, came in fourth at 4:34.76. Emmaculate Jemutai led the race midway through but did not finish.

In the men’s event, junior Tanner Talley (first place, 3:41.03), sophomore Paul Ngasharr (second, 3:42.00) and senior Quentin Walion (third, 3:42.45) were bunched together atop the final results.

Later, in the men’s 400-meter run, three Jayhawks occupied half the field of the event. Junior Grant Lockwood claimed first at 46.70, with sophomore Josiah Parris at third with 47.77 and freshman Jackson Belding fifth at 48.10.

In an even more extreme example, KU accounted for six of the seven participants in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. The ultimate winner was the sophomore Smith, who claimed her third consecutive title in the event through three April competitions with a time of 59.46 seconds, beating out Odeshia Nanton of Lincoln University.

Following Nanton were KU’s Aleksandra Wolczak (1:00.64), Madison Campbell (1:00.86), Kaleigh Frazier (1:00.87), Addison Brooks (1:01.22) and Abree Winfrey (1:01.78).

Jamaican freshman Richelle Stanley, already with a triple-jump victory under her belt this spring, jumped a personal-best 6.11 meters on her third attempt in the long jump, beating out runner-up Journey Amundson for first place by a quarter of a meter. Three other Jayhawks made the top 10, led by junior Brenna Schwada (third place, 5.83).

The junior Klein won the men’s long jump at the Kansas Relays for the third consecutive year, this time by jumping 7.40 meters. He was closely followed by teammates Dillon Peters (7.29) and Isaiah Kayembe (7.18).

Sophomore Jeremiah Smith had only finished fourth overall in the prelims for the 110-meter hurdles — he didn’t win his heat — but he took first when it counted, winning Saturday’s final with a time of 14.21, his second victory of the month. Teammate Dean McCune came in fourth at 14.40.

Making just her second career appearance in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Mia Murray fended off four competitors for the victory with a time of 11:06.40, a seven-second improvement on her time from last month’s Battle on the Bayou.

In the final two events of the day, KU entered three relay teams overall and won both the general and invitational editions of the men’s 4×400-meter relay, with times of 3:09.73 (its “A” team) and 3:17.02 (its “B” team), respectively.

The top finishers who did not win first place in their various events included the following:

• Six Jayhawks competed in the men’s elite pole vault on Saturday afternoon, but they all fell short of Western Illinois’ Arnie Grunert, who cleared 5.62 meters. Brady Koolen came in second as the only Jayhawk to clear 5.37, followed by Bryce and Ashton Barkdull (5.27) and Jake Freidel and Anthony Meacham (4.87). Clayton Simms, who has been battling a foot injury but who won the pole vault at the Big 12 indoor championships despite the ailment, did not record a result after failing three attempts at 5.27.

• Another two-sport athlete, thrower Bryce Foster, made his KU track and field competitive debut after spending much of the semester going through spring football practices. He threw the shot put 18.71 meters, his best result since NCAA prelims in 2023 when he was Texas A&M, but ended up the runner-up to unattached former Iowa thrower Nik Kurtiss (19.38). Right behind Foster was fellow Jayhawk Jacob Cookinham (18.41).

• Also runners-up on the day were the members of KU’s women’s 4×400-meter relay team, which with its time of 3:39.35 came in less than a second behind Cloud County Community College (3:38.84).

• KU sophomore Lillian Harris and Brooke Freeman came in third and fourth, respectively, in the women’s 100-meter dash. Freeman also led a trio of Jayhawks with a fourth-place showing in the 200-meter dash.

• Junior thrower Sofia Sluchaninova finished third in the discus with a result of 57.65 meters, right behind unattached former Jayhawk and Olympian Alexandra Emilianov (59.07). Freshman Madeleine Fey, runner-up in Friday’s shot put, came in fifth on Saturday at 54.15.

• The top four finishers in the men’s 800 meters were separated by just 0.31 seconds. KU sophomore Garrett Wilmes placed third at 1:51.87.

• Also taking bronze for KU was Jack Markstrom in the 400-meter hurdles at 53.29 seconds, behind a pair of competitors from Lincoln.

• Junior Gabe Birkmeier was third in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at 9:28.98.