After the University of Kansas decided to cancel the long-standing jewel of the Midwest the Kansas Relays, the folks at RunningLane decided to take up the torch and bring a high-energy, highly competitive meet to this weekend in its place. The RunningLane Kansas City Relays looks ready to be one of the biggest meets in the state this year, contested on the track at Blue Springs South. Here is how they describe this weekend's action:
"PACE LIGHTS, DISTANCE RACES UNDER THE LIGHTS, MUSIC, FLAME THROWERS, all the things you love about the RunningLane Track Champs.. in KC. Championship standards set the bar, the fastest of the fast, racing for the title. Open standards keep the door wide open. Come race, compete, and chase something big. Different standards, same energy, same lights, same opportunity!
Jim Ryun, the first high schooler to break 4 minutes in the mile, will be the official starter of the RunningLane Kansas City Relays Mile. And it's only right that the Mile now carries his name. Precision meets passion. Split-second accuracy meets all-out racing. This is what happens when the best in performance tech backs a meet built for speed. From the gun to the final lean, Kansas City Relays just leveled up. Smarter racing. Sharper execution. Oh, and did we mention PACE LIGHTS?"
We are excited to tune into the action and have at least five events we are watching the closest. Let's take a deeper dive into a few of those.
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The Distance Races.
Period. The distance races on Friday and Saturday are too deep to pick out just one to discuss. Let's start with the Boys races.
In the 800 meter run, Rockhurst's Jacob Bond leads 12 guys under 1:55, 17 under 1:56, 20 under 1:57, 27 under 1:58, 33 under 1:59, and 38 total boys under 2:00. Bond's 1:52.28 is just ahead of Clay McKinney from Regents Preparatory School (OK), whose 1:52.46 personal best came more recently on April 3rd. Ty Brooks of Lincoln Christian (OK) sits at 1:53.12 from the same meet as McKinney and Park Hill South's Thomas Garrett comes in at 1:53.64, just ahead of SLUH standout Jackson Miller.
Photo: Chris Auckley
The girls' race features a heavyweight bout between Rogers (AR) senior
Malaya Johnson and Eureka's
Brooke Samuelson. Johnson's season best sits at 2:16.94 in the early goings, but she comes in seeded first with the 2:09.86 she ran at last year's RunningLane Track Championships. Samuelson is flying out of the gate this spring with top five state marks in the 1600 and 3200, including the state lead in the former event. She will be making her outdoor open 800 debut after running a lifetime best of 2:10.55 this winter. A total of 13 girls come in under 2:20, with Liberty freshman
Tessa Perdue and her 2:14.63 being the top 2026 outdoor mark in the field so far. She looks to play spoiler to the two seniors and fellow senior
Brooke Hedger seeded ahead of her.
Photo: Andrew Brown
In the Inaugural Jim Ryun Boys 1 Mile, all eyes are on Bentonville (AR) senior Brian Burns as he makes another attempt at the 4:00 barrier. So close this winter on three separate occasions, the former Missourian returns to the Show Me State to give it another try coming off his 8:41.38 3200 debut at Arcadia last weekend. He ran 4:02.12, 4:01.44, 4:00.38, and 4:00.77 in four of his five attempts this winter. Four others are entered at 4:10 or better with Coronado (CO)'s Xzavier Campos at 4:08.00, Kapaun Mt. Carmel (KS)'s Daniel Enriquez at 4:08.02, SLUH's Miller at 4:08.38, and Brandon Valley (SD)'s Mikah Peters at 4:09.44. A whopping 22 boys come in under 4:20 with other Missourian standouts like Gabriel Voelker, Jack McGovern, Leo Butler, Nolan Spickert, and Burke Schwentker all in the field, as well.
This may just be the strongest mile field that the state has ever seen with 13 girls with a seed time of 5:02 or better. Five Arkansans make up that field of thirteen led by Gabbie Bishop. Bishop is coming off a sub-10:00 3200 performance at the Arcadia Invitational and appears poised to tackle the 4:40 barrier on Saturday. She is no stranger to fast races on Missouri soil as her 4:42.77 personal best came at last year's HOKA Festival of Miles. Leavenworth (KS)'s
Kelsie Kudzia comes in seeded second in 4:50.88, Eureka's Samuelson third at 4:52.99, and
Hattie Ray Beshears of Har-Ber (AR) fourth at 4:55.06
The 3200 looks hotly contested, as well, with five boys under 9:20, and fourteen under 9:30. Rolla's Cameron Martensen leads the charge with the 9:04.05 personal best he blitzed at the Festus McCullough-Douglass Invitational last month. Blue Valley Southwest (KS) senior Alex Roberts is the only other competitor under 9:10 with a 9:07.06 personal best from last year's State Championships. We are watching Arkansas 4A State XC Champion and freshman phenom Brice Allen of Shiloh Christian as he makes his career debut, and the duo of Hendrix Fyvie and Nicholas Ahlheim from SLUH to see if the Jr. Billikens can put two more guys under the district standard 9:30.45 this season. They already have three.
The girls race is just as strong with 11 girls at 11:00 or better and two of the five 2025 State Cross Country champions in attendance. Joplin's Ava Doll and St. Charles West's Brianna Krueger will cut their teeth with several of the top girls from Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana ahead of them. Salina Central (KS) standout senior Kaylie Schultz comes in top-ranked at 10:31.18 with Owasso (OK)'s Ava Cornelius second in 10:33.27. Union's Viola Johanson, who was recently relegated to second in the overall state rankings, is the top Missourian ranked in the field at 10:48.39.
The Boys 4x800m Relay will provide a fun preview of what the Sectional 4 meet could look like this May, another race in which a top-ranked team in the state will probably not make it to the State championships. Blue Springs South, Lee's Summit West, Park Hill South, Liberty North, and Liberty are all bringing their A teams for a juggernaut matchup. Rockhurst is not entered, so consider that when watching these results roll in. --
300 Meter Hurdles
The 300 meter hurdle races on both sides are going to be fun to watch with five boys under 39 seconds and six girls under 45 seconds.
Creighton Prep (NE) senior Ethan Laux, our first Nebraskan previewed, is top-ranked with his blazing season debut of 38.15. He will have to hold off three of Missouri's top hurdlers in Kearney's Samuel Way, Liberty North's Isaac Hamilton, and Poplar Bluff's Patrick Slack. The interesting battle will be between Way and Slack, Class 4's top runners at the moment who reside on complete opposite of sides of the state and will get a rare pre-State meet preview of each other on Saturday.
Photo: Chris Auckley
The girls' race features two Helias Catholic stars in
Isla Alfultis and freshman phenom
Nicki Frank. Alfultis is leading the charge for the Crusaders with several early season lifetime bests, but the junior will be looking to push past the 42.73 which landed her silver at last year's Class 4 State Championships. She has run 43.32 this year already. Frank has run under 45 seconds in her last two attempts at the distance, running 44.53 at the
Festus McCullough-Douglass Invitational. Sandwiched between them are juniors
Amaya Hill of Raymore-Peculiar and
Lily O'Brien from Liberty. Hill boasts a personal best of 43.36 with O'Brien coming in at 43.55. Poplar Bluff's
Lynn Cotrell and Maryville's
Brylee Acklin round out the sub-45 seeded field.
--
Javelin
The Javelin fields are top notch this weekend with seven boys over 175 feet and six girls over 130 feet.
The dynamic Piper (KS) duo of Max Clark and Kole Schaunaman are the top two ranked athletes, Clark with his 205-5 personal best and Schaunaman with a 194-2 mark. Clark's 5A state-leading and US #14 mark has him as the heavy favorite to throw something big and win on Saturday. Holcomb (KS)'s Cooper Cranston heads in third with a 181-6 personal best, Platte County's Cale Buntz is the top Missourian at 180-10.75, and Webb City's Guner Eads comes in at 179-4. Class 2 standout Ty Atkins from Chaffee is sixth at 179-2.
Photo: Don Sisson
The girls field features three girls over the 140 foot mark with Shawnee Mission East (KS) senior Paige Stanfield at 146-11, the second best mark in Kansas so far in 2026. She is followed by Grain Valley's Madison Rust and Raymore-Peculiar's Rhyenne Jones. Rust and Jones are currently the top two Class 5 girls in the state with their respective 143-1 and 142-1.5 personal bests. Helias Catholic's AnnaJo Hill and Grain Valley's Molly Jones round out the top five with seeded marks of 134-7.75 and 134-2.25, respectively.
After the University of Kansas decided to cancel the long-standing jewel of the Midwest the Kansas Relays, the folks at RunningLane decided to take up the torch and bring a high-energy, highly competitive meet to this weekend in its place. The RunningLane Kansas City Relays looks ready to be one of the biggest meets in the state this year, contested on the track at Blue Springs South. Here is how they describe this weekend's action:
"PACE LIGHTS, DISTANCE RACES UNDER THE LIGHTS, MUSIC, FLAME THROWERS, all the things you love about the RunningLane Track Champs.. in KC. Championship standards set the bar, the fastest of the fast, racing for the title. Open standards keep the door wide open. Come race, compete, and chase something big. Different standards, same energy, same lights, same opportunity!
Jim Ryun, the first high schooler to break 4 minutes in the mile, will be the official starter of the RunningLane Kansas City Relays Mile. And it's only right that the Mile now carries his name. Precision meets passion. Split-second accuracy meets all-out racing. This is what happens when the best in performance tech backs a meet built for speed. From the gun to the final lean, Kansas City Relays just leveled up. Smarter racing. Sharper execution. Oh, and did we mention PACE LIGHTS?"
We are excited to tune into the action and have at least five events we are watching the closest. Let's take a deeper dive into a few of those.
--
The Distance Races.
Period. The distance races on Friday and Saturday are too deep to pick out just one to discuss. Let's start with the Boys races.
In the 800 meter run, Rockhurst's Jacob Bond leads 12 guys under 1:55, 17 under 1:56, 20 under 1:57, 27 under 1:58, 33 under 1:59, and 38 total boys under 2:00. Bond's 1:52.28 is just ahead of Clay McKinney from Regents Preparatory School (OK), whose 1:52.46 personal best came more recently on April 3rd. Ty Brooks of Lincoln Christian (OK) sits at 1:53.12 from the same meet as McKinney and Park Hill South's Thomas Garrett comes in at 1:53.64, just ahead of SLUH standout Jackson Miller.
Photo: Chris Auckley
The girls' race features a heavyweight bout between Rogers (AR) senior
Malaya Johnson and Eureka's
Brooke Samuelson. Johnson's season best sits at 2:16.94 in the early goings, but she comes in seeded first with the 2:09.86 she ran at last year's RunningLane Track Championships. Samuelson is flying out of the gate this spring with top five state marks in the 1600 and 3200, including the state lead in the former event. She will be making her outdoor open 800 debut after running a lifetime best of 2:10.55 this winter. A total of 13 girls come in under 2:20, with Liberty freshman
Tessa Perdue and her 2:14.63 being the top 2026 outdoor mark in the field so far. She looks to play spoiler to the two seniors and fellow senior
Brooke Hedger seeded ahead of her.
Photo: Andrew Brown
In the Inaugural Jim Ryun Boys 1 Mile, all eyes are on Bentonville (AR) senior Brian Burns as he makes another attempt at the 4:00 barrier. So close this winter on three separate occasions, the former Missourian returns to the Show Me State to give it another try coming off his 8:41.38 3200 debut at Arcadia last weekend. He ran 4:02.12, 4:01.44, 4:00.38, and 4:00.77 in four of his five attempts this winter. Four others are entered at 4:10 or better with Coronado (CO)'s Xzavier Campos at 4:08.00, Kapaun Mt. Carmel (KS)'s Daniel Enriquez at 4:08.02, SLUH's Miller at 4:08.38, and Brandon Valley (SD)'s Mikah Peters at 4:09.44. A whopping 22 boys come in under 4:20 with other Missourian standouts like Gabriel Voelker, Jack McGovern, Leo Butler, Nolan Spickert, and Burke Schwentker all in the field, as well.
This may just be the strongest mile field that the state has ever seen with 13 girls with a seed time of 5:02 or better. Five Arkansans make up that field of thirteen led by Gabbie Bishop. Bishop is coming off a sub-10:00 3200 performance at the Arcadia Invitational and appears poised to tackle the 4:40 barrier on Saturday. She is no stranger to fast races on Missouri soil as her 4:42.77 personal best came at last year's HOKA Festival of Miles. Leavenworth (KS)'s
Kelsie Kudzia comes in seeded second in 4:50.88, Eureka's Samuelson third at 4:52.99, and
Hattie Ray Beshears of Har-Ber (AR) fourth at 4:55.06
The 3200 looks hotly contested, as well, with five boys under 9:20, and fourteen under 9:30. Rolla's Cameron Martensen leads the charge with the 9:04.05 personal best he blitzed at the Festus McCullough-Douglass Invitational last month. Blue Valley Southwest (KS) senior Alex Roberts is the only other competitor under 9:10 with a 9:07.06 personal best from last year's State Championships. We are watching Arkansas 4A State XC Champion and freshman phenom Brice Allen of Shiloh Christian as he makes his career debut, and the duo of Hendrix Fyvie and Nicholas Ahlheim from SLUH to see if the Jr. Billikens can put two more guys under the district standard 9:30.45 this season. They already have three.
The girls race is just as strong with 11 girls at 11:00 or better and two of the five 2025 State Cross Country champions in attendance. Joplin's Ava Doll and St. Charles West's Brianna Krueger will cut their teeth with several of the top girls from Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana ahead of them. Salina Central (KS) standout senior Kaylie Schultz comes in top-ranked at 10:31.18 with Owasso (OK)'s Ava Cornelius second in 10:33.27. Union's Viola Johanson, who was recently relegated to second in the overall state rankings, is the top Missourian ranked in the field at 10:48.39.
The Boys 4x800m Relay will provide a fun preview of what the Sectional 4 meet could look like this May, another race in which a top-ranked team in the state will probably not make it to the State championships. Blue Springs South, Lee's Summit West, Park Hill South, Liberty North, and Liberty are all bringing their A teams for a juggernaut matchup. Rockhurst is not entered, so consider that when watching these results roll in. --
300 Meter Hurdles
The 300 meter hurdle races on both sides are going to be fun to watch with five boys under 39 seconds and six girls under 45 seconds.
Creighton Prep (NE) senior Ethan Laux, our first Nebraskan previewed, is top-ranked with his blazing season debut of 38.15. He will have to hold off three of Missouri's top hurdlers in Kearney's Samuel Way, Liberty North's Isaac Hamilton, and Poplar Bluff's Patrick Slack. The interesting battle will be between Way and Slack, Class 4's top runners at the moment who reside on complete opposite of sides of the state and will get a rare pre-State meet preview of each other on Saturday.
