Olson, Maloley place second at KU Relays


LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kearney (Neb.) High’s Zach Maloley and Jacob Olson claimed silver medals Friday at the Kansas Relays.

Maloley placed second in the shot put with a best throw of 56 feet, 1 inch. Blake Hocking of Lawrence, Kan., won the event with a best throw of 59-8¾, while Kearney High’s Jackson Gannon was 14th with a best throw of 51-5¼.

Bearcat junior Jacob Olson won his heat in the 800-meter run, turning in a personal-best time of 1 minute, 56.12 seconds. Daniel Mazar of Rockwood Summit, Mo., claimed the gold medal, running a 1:54.03 time in another heat. Olson is scheduled to compete today (Saturday) in the 1,600, as does Brock Taute of Bertrand.

Several other Kearney High tracksters also competed in the meet. Katie Smith had the next-best finish for KHS, clearing 5-4 in the high jump to place fifth. The winner cleared 5-6 with four others, including Smith, going out at that height. Smith also competed in the triple jump, finishing 24th with a jump of 32-11¾, while teammate Courtney Coslor jumped 35-1 to place 10th.

The Kearney girls 4x400 relay team of Lauren Psota, McKayla Russell, Hannah Loseke and Katie Higgins placed sixth with a time of 4:12.46, while the 4x1 mile team of Delaney McFadden, Loseke, Mandy Sughroue and Jordyn Dahlke finished seventh.

In the pole vault, the Bearcats’ Carly Hillburn placed 10th (10-4) and Victoria Heineman finished 14th (10-0).

Preliminary events:

- Psota finished fourth in her heat in the 400 with a time of 1:00.54.

- Russell placed sixth in her heat in the 300-meter low hurdles (48.68).

- Zach Waller placed fourth in his heat of the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 40.86. His time was the ninth-fastest in the prelims.