If Baldwin High is a factory for javelin throwers, the Kansas Relays are the product showcase.
Darrin Kurtz, a BHS senior, won the high school boys javelin competition, and Baldwin grad Stan Johanning, now a junior at Michigan, finished third in the men’s open-university division on Friday at Memorial Stadium.
Don’t ask the guys with the Bulldog ties to give away the trade secret.
“Heck, I don’t know what it is,” said Johanning, who threw just 211-feet, 3-inches, some 21 feet below his personal-best toss. “I really have no idea what it is. Coach (Ted) Zuzzio motivates us. Maybe that’s it.”
Kurtz threw even farther than his predecessor. His toss of 213-5 would have supplanted Johanning for third in the university division. But then, Kurtz knows a thing or two about supplanting Johanning. Johanning held the BHS record for three years before Kurtz came along and broke it last weekend with a toss of 217.
Naturally, he felt pretty good about his Relays toss.
“I tried to throw it as smooth as I could to get loft on it,” Kurtz said. “I’m really pleased with my throw. It’s my second-best of the season, an overall it feels good to win.”
Johanning was a displeased as Kurtz was pleased. The Relays was his third meet of the season, and he has improved in every one.
“Part of it is the cold weather up north. Part of it is this,” Johanning said, displaying a six-inch scar zig-zagging down his elbow, a reminder of off-season surgery to repair a tender nerve. “This is the best I’ve done this year. As long as I keep going up, I’ll be happy. But this is disappointing. I would have liked to have done better in front of my friends.”
Johanning has been jinxed at the Relays. He didn’t make the trip as a freshman, the same year he set the Michigan and Big Ten javelin records.
He came to the Relays last year, but abdominal pain — and a slick runway — kept him from competing. This time, he was one of just two Wolverines to make the trip.
“Hey,” he said with a smile, “there’s always next year.”
Kurtz, meanwhile, won’t have a next year — at least not at Baldwin. Kurtz’s plans for next year are undetermined.
“This meet is one of the best meets in the area,” Kurtz said. “The competition is good, and it was very important for me to do as well as I could. Being from Baldwin High, it’s extra special to give a good local performance and make my coach proud.”
Not the Lions’ day: No Lawrence High athlete finished in the top six at the Relays’ first day.
The Lions’ finishes were: Tiffany Spratt, seventh, 800; Garrett Attig, 12th, pole vault; Lydia Oelschlaeger, 19th, Katie Schwartzburg, 20th, Theresa York, 28th, two-mile; Oelschlaeger, 17th, mile; and Justin Watkins, 26th, 100.
The LHS girls distance medley relay team was 12th and the boys distance medley relay was 28th.
—
Area results: Tonganoxie’s Eric Hammond was 10th in the mile, and Baldwin’s Buzz Lambert took 15th in the two-mile. Baldwin’s distance medley relay placed 22nd.
—
Jayhawks-to-be: Three Kansas University football signees competed at the Relays on Friday. Brian Gray of Liberty, Mo., took third in the 300 hurdles, while Olathe North’s Julius Bruce was 17th in the long jump. Bruce and fellow KU signee Jamie Harris also ran on the 440 relay. The Eagles, hampered by a teammate’s twisted ankle, did not make the finals.
