The Harry McDonald Blue Valley Relays took place on Friday, April 6th and Saturday, April 7th. In what ultimately ended up being a beautiful weekend, we saw several of the top marks from throughout the KC Metro and the entire state of Kansas. With the Kansas Relays looming later this week, the metro didn't have any major meets on tap, but that never stops these athletes from performing well at smaller invites.
As I mentioned in the meet preview article, this was the season debut for Shawnee Mission North's Micah Blomker. He didn't disappoint, winning a fairly competitive 3200 in 9:33. The SMN superstar has seen limited action in 2023, which looks to continue as he is not seeded into any open events at the Kansas Relays.
On the girls side, we saw the top two distance athletes in the Shawnee Mission District go head-to-head. Paige Mullen ended up cruising to victory over Hannah Gibson, running 10:42 to Gibson's 11:14. Mullen now leads the state in the event this season, with Gibson at #5.
In a highly competitive shot put battle, Blue Valley Northwest's Elise Grosdidier launched her shot 38-8 to win over Gardner-Edgerton's Lauren Mulwa, who went 37-6.
Pierson Carlisle from Gardner-Edgerton continues to dazzle in the pole vault, notching a shiny new PR at 15-3. It goes without saying that he took home a gold medal in that event.
In the jumps, Rosjai Curtis was a major point-getter for Shawnee Mission North. She won the long and triple jumps, with a new PR in the triple at 36-4.25. Additionally, she was 2nd in the high jump competition.
Several relays are starting to come into form as well. Blue Valley West notched a victory in the 4x800 at 8:10. Meanwhile, Shawnee Mission East continues to impress, taking the state's top spot in the 4x400 (3:26) and Distance Medley (10:22). A DMR showdown with Wichita Trinity looms this week at KU.
Blue Valley West had a solid girls' sprint medley at 4:14, and Blue Valley North put together the best 4x200 we've seen so far this year at 1:43.
Lastly, the most important stat of them all: Team Scores.
It was close on both sides between Shawnee Mission North and Gardner-Edgerton, each decided by just a couple points. SM North took the girls division, winning 91-89.5 over the Trailblazers. It was Gardner-Edgerton on the boys side, though, taking the victory 93-91.