Photo Gallery

Kansas Track: Kansas Relays Day 4

Photos from Day 4 of the 83rd annual Kansas Relays held at Memorial Stadium.

Freshman Mason Finley walked up to his last throw of the day, the last throw for any of the competitors in the discus finals at the 83rd Kansas Relays, and knew he had a ton of pressure on the weight of his broad shoulders. Finley has been dedicated to throwing since he was a child.

Finley’s dad, Jared Finley, also competed in the Kansas Relays back in his college days. After Mason’s first three throws, Jared noted his history in the event.

“He still hasn’t beaten my score that I threw back in my day,” Jared said.

With the pressure of his dad and the rest of his family watching and the pressure of knowing he had to make the best throw of the day to win it all, he walked up to the throwing circle and made his best throw of the day. On that throw, Finley put up a distance of 57.15 meters to clinch the victory.

While he didn’t come close to his father’s performance, Finley said he knew that he had to do everything right on the last throw to win the event.

“It was going to take good form and nothing else,” Finley said.

Junior Brian Bishop was the only other Jayhawk to compete in the event.

“This was a lot more competitive than last year,” Bishop said, “It was a great meet and a lot of fun.”

Bishop’s best throws were 55.21 meters and 53.74 meters, just behind Finley.

Kansas throws coach Andy Kokhanovsky said he was impressed with Finley mainly for what he did at the end of the event.

“I love that he came back to win on the last throw,” Kokhanovsky said. “It shows he can compete at a high level.”

— — Edited by Jesse Rangel