The Firebirds saw their boys 400-meter relay team advance to today’s finals, their girls medley relay team finish second and both boys and girls 1,600 relay teams set school records on Friday at Memorial Stadium.

The boys 1,600 team qualified for the finals, while the girls fell short by half a second.

“That’s how we matched-up,” FSHS coach Steve Heffernan said of focusing on relays. “We could have put some people in individual events, but we really feel like we’ve had a good team effort from everybody all year long. We wanted to kind of keep that philosophy going.

“They’re doing really, really well and it’s a nice way to get the program started.”

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

The girls distance medley relay, which finished second with a time of 13:01.74, ran into a buzzsaw in Jenks (Okla.) High. The out-of-state school shattered the Relays record with a lightning-quick time of 12:29.29. The previous record was 12:42.53 set by Liberty (Mo.) in 1996.

Free State edged Wichita Carroll for second place.

“Actually, all of us were talking and we really wanted to medal at this meet,” said FSHS senior Betsy Lee, who ran the anchor leg. “We talked about it so much, the whole time I was running I was thinking, ‘We’ve got to get a medal. We’ve got to get a medal. We’ve got to get a medal.’

“So I wasn’t going to let anyone pass me because we wanted a medal so bad.”

Lee also finished sixth in the 800 in 2:24.40, a race that finished just 30 minutes before she was called upon to run the second leg of the 1,600 relay team.

FSHS senior Aaron Paul also was multifunctional, finishing second in the 800 with a school-record time of 1:55.07, and running on the distance medley and 1,600 relay teams.

“I think everything went as expected,” Heffernan said. “The kids did real well. We didn’t have any big surprises; we didn’t have any big disappointments. I think Aaron Paul’s time in the half is something we knew he was capable of, but it was exciting to watch him do it.”

FSHS senior Tay Ogunnowo was the only city entry to advance to today’s finals in the 100, finishing second in 10.94.

“I know he’s a little disappointed in his time overall,” Heffernan said. “But just to advance and qualify for the finals is all you want to do today, then show what you can do in the finals.”

Lawrence High senior Chris Williams showed what he could do against the clock in the boys 3,200 — finishing in a personal-record time of 9:30.52 — but didn’t fare as well against the field, finishing seventh.

“I usually run for place and not time,” Williams said, “and place didn’t do very good today. But that’s all right, considering the guys running against me.”

Williams, who had the third-fastest qualifying time, joined the rest of the field in being dusted by Lee’s Summit (Mo.) senior Matt Tegenkamp’s blazing time of 9:03.38.

The LHS senior, who also set a personal record with a 4:27.17 in the 1,600, is trying to become just the third boy to win three straight Class 6A state championships in the 3,200.

“I know this is going to be the hardest year to try to win state,” Williams said. “(Blue Valley North’s) Scott Loftin was way ahead of everybody. Right now he’s definitely the favorite. I think I was the second guy from 6A and all the Shawnee Mission Northwest guys were right behind me.

“It depends on how you peak,” Williams added. “I don’t know if some of the runners are peaking here today or if they’re just getting started. You really can’t tell. I know I’m not even close to where I want to peak at, but I’m very happy.”

Among the personal records set by the Lions on Friday were junior Katie Bell with 112-0 in the javelin, senior Charles Brown with 51.48 in the 400, and the 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

“We had a lot of PRs,” LHS coach Jerry Skakal said. “I thought we ran well; the kids competed well. We’re pretty happy. Are we satisfied with where we are? Obviously not, we’ve got some work to do. Certainly with our times and our distances, for the most part I think we’re headed in the right direction.

“We’re just glad to have KU Relays back. It was fun to be here and watch people run and to compete against that level of competition.”