Gary Schwartz gave a resounding thumbs-up to the 71st Kansas Relays, contested Wednesday through Saturday on Hershberger Track at Memorial Stadium.
“The weather was great. We had unbelievable competition. It was a super meet. You could call it awesome,” said Schwartz, Kansas’ eighth-year coach.
Not a drop of rain fell at the Relays, yet crowds were small. No figures were given, so reporters estimated Saturday’s crowd at about 3,000.
“It just puzzles me,” Schwartz said. “The weather has been great, the competition was great. There’s something for everybody, all kinds of races and individual events yet not a lot of people came out.
“But the meet was a big success. A lot of people worked hard this week and I’m appreciative.”
Columbia Healthcare sponsored the Relays. No decision has been made whether the company will return next year.
“I thought the special events added a lot,” said Schwartz. Columbia dollars made possible those events, which included several sprinters from Nike Central track club, plus several elite pole vaulters, including ex-Jayhawk Pat Manson, who now trains in California.
“I would like to thank Columbia. I would not have come had they not paid for the flight,” Manson said. “It just wouldn’t have been possible.
“I hope we can get this kind of field back in a non-Olympic year when we can go all out. The key word right now is caution.”
That’s because athletes who have qualified for the Olympic Trials can’t afford to risk injury leading up to the Trials, to be held in June in Atlanta.
“Track and Field News says Scott (Huffman) and I are leading contenders for the team,” Manson said. “We’ll do everything we can to make that happen.”
Manson said he continues to follow the advice of KU vault coach Rick Attig, who mails workouts to Manson in California.
“I’m so lucky to have coach Attig as a coach,” Manson said. “He’s made this possible. Now it’s up to me.”
Just three American vaulters will survive the Trials and make the U.S. Olympic Team.
“There are 12 guys over 18-8 now,” Manson said. “We all compete. We all get the same chance. There’s no politics. It’s beautiful and simple, the free market system. It’s the American way,” he added, “self determination.”
Manson appluaded women’s pole vaulter Stacy Dragila, who won the first Relays women’s vault in an American record 13-6 1/2. The women’s vault will be added to the Olympics in the year 2000.
“That was a huge jump. Stacy did so well,” Manson said. “An American record by a woman … the men’s vault turned out well. Scott (Huffman) did a great job organizing this. It was a great day for the pole vault,” Manson noted.
