Music: {allcanada} CANADIAN RUSSELL SETS ANOTHER KANSAS RELAYS JAVELIN MARK

Sunday, May 1, 2011

{allcanada} CANADIAN RUSSELL SETS ANOTHER KANSAS RELAYS JAVELIN MARK

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Scott Russell broke his Kansas Relays record for javelin throw with a distance of 268 feet, 11 inches on Friday.

Russell of Windsor, Ont., holds the Canadian record in the event with a mark of 276 feet, 11 inches, set in 2005, but he has not been training full time in the past year because of a knee injury.

He set the previous meet record in 2008 with a throw of 267 feet, 6 inches.

"I'm a little taken aback," he said. "It didn't make sense today because I shouldn't have thrown that far with how little I train."

The meet also marked Russell's first competitive throw since the 2009 Kansas Relays, he said.

He works as a middle school teacher while training part time in Lawrence and was a two-time NCAA champion while attending Kansas from 1998 to 2002.

He said Friday's throw changes his future plans "significantly."

"This year was like 'Let's see how it goes and if I get lucky and hit one, I'll train one more year,"' he said, "and now it's like I think I have to train next year for London if I can do this."

Russell placed 10th in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing with a throw of 265 feet, 5 inches. Since then, he said, he's had chipped cartilage in his right knee, a tendon tear in his left knee and two heart ablations.

"I said to my wife before I came over if I threw 74 or 75 metres, which is like 244, it would be a good day," he said. "And that's what I threw on Tuesday in my practice throw."

Johannes Swanepoel placed second with a throw of 241 feet, 6 inches and Tyler Drake placed third with a distance of 227 feet, 8 inches.

Stephanie Nelson won the women's javelin with a distance of 144 feet, 4 inches. Courtney Harris placed second with a throw of 133 feet, 4 inches and Amy Wilson took third at 127 feet, 4 inches.

In the men's pole vault, Jordan Scott, Michael Viken and Jacob Pauli all reached a height of 17 feet, 6 1/2 inches but Scott won the event by having the fewest misses. Scott, the 2010 NCAA outdoor pole vault champion, had four misses while Viken and Pauli each had five.

"I hoped I tied with somebody so we could have a jump-off," Scott said. "I wanted to just make some more bars, but I came out with a win on misses, so I'll definitely take it."

Mason Finley, the runner-up in both the discus and the shot put at the 2010 NCAA outdoor championships, easily won the men's shot put with a distance of 65 feet, 1 1/4 inches.

Max Alonso placed second with a throw of 57 feet, 11 1/4 inches and Tyler Hitchler took third at 57 feet, 2 inches.

Macie Cottier needed just one throw to win the women's shot put, hitting a distance of 39 feet, 2 1/4 inches. Ashley Watkins took second with a throw of 37 feet, 8 inches.

The Hays Track Club won the men's four-mile relay in 17 minutes, 52.52 seconds. The team, consisting of Dan Yoder, Jason McCollough, Matt Goetz and Elias Diaz edged out Butler County Community College, which finished in 18 minutes, 2.31 seconds.

Wichita State dominated the women's field in the four-mile relay, beating second-place Kansas by more than half a minute with its time of 20 minutes, 28.14 seconds.

Kansas won both the men's and women's distance medley relays.

The men's team consisting of Josh Munsch, Derrick Perry, Brendan Soucie and Greg Bussing finished with a time of 10 minutes, 12.51 seconds, edging out Emporia State University's team by just under two seconds.

The women's team of Kyra Kilwein, Denesha Morris, Corinne Christensen and Rebeka Stowe finished in 11 minutes, 50.34 seconds.