By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Each spring, some of the best high school track and field athletes from across the Midwest converge on Lawrence for the Kansas Relays. The event, which dates back to 1923, celebrated its 102nd anniversary last year. Great Bend athletes have shared recent success in the javelin, 4x800m relay, steeplechase, and triple jump.
All that has been put on pause for the 2026 season, according to the Lawrence Journal World. The newspaper quoted KU Athletic Director Travis Goff, who said the decision is tied to "expense management" following the settlement that allows universities to directly pay student athletes.
The Relays were held on the track at Memorial Stadium before moving to Rock Chalk Park on the outskirts of Lawrence in 2014. In addition to the region's top high school athletes, who must meet certain standards to compete at the Relays, the event also brings in other NCAA Div. I and junior college programs. Olympian and former Jayhawk Bryce Hoppel has been a staple of the relays in recent years, and Nixa, Mo.'s Jackson Cantwell competed last year as the national leader in the high school shot put.
