On Friday and Saturday, April 19-20, athletes from over 100 Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri schools gathered at Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville for the 2024 Outdoor Eastern Relays.
Eastern Relays is an annual event, one of the largest in Kentucky and is hosted by Eastern and Manual. Multiple Manual athletes competed in the meet over the two days.
On Friday, athletes competed in the open running and field events. Manual’s Brady Jenkins (11, MST) placed fourth in the mile with a time of 4:39.52. Erica Geer (10, YPAS) placed eight in the 100m run with a time of 13.36 and Kaden Mack (9, HSU) also broke the top ten of the boy’s 100m, running an 11.2.
In the last open event of the competition, Flora Biro (12, VA) came in third in the girl’s 3200m with a time of 10:37.57. The open events concluded on Friday evening.
Saturday featured another round of events, all of which athletes had to previously qualify for by racing certain times in previous meets this season.
Romaro Knight (12, HSU), who is committed to run track for the University of Cincinnati in the fall, came in first place in the men’s 110m hurdles, posting a time of 14.61.
Five Manual athletes competed in the 100m races, with Alex Allen (11,HSU) placing seventh in the girls’ race and running a 12.32.
Shortly after, a 4x200m relay team consisting of Coryon Alston (12, HSU), Marian University track commit, AJ Hines (12, HSU), Charlie Flowers (12, MST) and Knight finished with a time of 1:30.94 and came in second.
Both Crimson 4x100m relay teams placed in the top ten with the girls coming in sixth and running a 50.00, and the boys coming in ninth and running a 44.80. The girls’ team featured Jasmine Hampton (12, HSU), Western Kentucky University track commit, Geer (, Anyia Martin (12, HSU), Kentucky State University track commit and Allen. Flowers, Cory Fitch (9, HSU), Nasir Smith (12, HSU) and Mack made up the boys’ team.
Allen made the top ten in all their events, finishing fourth in the 400m run with a time of 58.02.
Several Crimsons climbed up the school and national rankings with their performances.
Biro competed in the 2000m steeplechase, posting a time of 7:09.05, with is ranked #8 in the U.S. this year, and coming in second. Zoe Shahid-Scott (12, HSU) placed second in shot put and now holds the record for Manual athletes, throwing a 39-00.75. Sam Chandler (11, HSU) ran a 1600m time of 4:27, placing him fourth all-time at Manual.
The Manual track team will compete next at the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 4 at St. Xavier High School.
