👟 Track and Field Set to Compete at 2024 Indoor Big 12 Championships

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Kansas Track and Field team is set to compete in the 2024 Big 12 Indoor Championship, beginning Friday and running through Saturday on the campus of Texas Tech.

There will be 22 women and 26 men representing the Jayhawks in this year’s Championship.

“I think the team is excited and ready to compete,” said Head Coach Stanley Redwine. “We have to go in and take care of business like we’re supposed to, and it has to be a total team effort.”

In last year’s Big 12 Indoors, the men finished fourth and the women came in seventh, while Big 12 Outdoors resulted in a men’s third place and a women’s eighth place finish. Aaliyah Moore is the only returning Big 12 Champion on the Kansas roster, having won the 2023 Indoor Women’s 800m with a breakout time of 2:05.11.

Heading into the meet, there are four Jayhawks that have posted NCAA Championship qualifying marks so far, which is the Top 16 in each event group. Three pole vaulters from Kansas fall into this category – Clayton Simms (No. 4), Ashton Barkdull (No. 15) and Mason Meinershagen on the women’s side at No. 9. Devin Loudermilk rounds out that group at No. 5 in the men’s high jump.

Other Jayhawks looking to make some noise in this conference meet include Pearl Awanya, who ran a new Ghana National Record in the women’s 400m with a time of 52.56. This is currently the second-best time in the Big 12.

This season’s school-record breakers Emmaculate Jemutai (women’s mile) and Chandler Gibbens (men’s 5,000m) will also be looking to continue their success in their respective events, representing the distance squad in this weekend’s meet.

Friday’s events will kick off at 10 a.m. with the first event being the pentathlon hurdles, where Lauren Heck will be representing the Jayhawks. Alexander Jung will be the lone heptathlete this weekend, following Heck with the 60m dash at 10:15.

Both field and running events will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, with the pentathlon 800m kicking off on the track and the women’s weight throw happening simultaneously.

Saturday’s slate starts at 11 a.m. with the heptathlon 60m hurdles, and the field events will begin shortly after at 1 p.m. with the women’s shot put, where Tori Thomas will be in the ring for the Jayhawks.

The Big 12 Indoor Championship will also be streamed on ESPN+ on both days, and fans can also follow along with live results and the Kansas Track and Field social media platforms for various in-meet updates.