Kansas Comes Up Short in Border Dual
Jan. 16, 2009
Complete Results
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Despite two victories apiece by senior Victoria Howard and freshman Keith Hayes and an NCAA automatic-qualifying pole vault from junior Jordan Scott, Kansas track and field fell short in the Kansas vs. Missouri dual meet, 195-166. Missouri also won the separate men’s and women’s titles with scores of 101-80 and 94-86, respectively.
It was the first “Border Dual” since 1976, and the first dual meeting ever between the two women’s teams. With the win, Missouri increased its series lead to 35-17.
“I wasn’t very happy with it,” Kansas head coach Stanley Redwine said. “We had people that were competing really hard, and as a staff we’ve been really working hard through this week. We wanted to rest them up a little bit so they could be ok, and it apparently wasn’t enough rest for them at the end.”
Coming into this meet, Scott had met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard in each of his first two meets with pole vaults of 5.20 meters (17-00.75 ft.) and 5.40 meters (17-08.50 ft.), respectively. Against the Tigers, the Watkinsville, Ga., product stepped it up a notch. He had said before the meet that all the pressure was off (having qualified provisionally for NCAA’s), and it showed as he officially punched his ticket to College Station, Texas, with an automatic-qualifying leap of 5.50 meters (18-00.50 ft.) that gave him the victory in the men’s pole vault and earned him a thunderous applause from those in attendance. Scott dominated the meet, defeating second-place Brian Hancock of Missouri by .45 meters (1-05.75 ft.).
Howard, a native of Overland Park, Kan., recorded her first two wins of the season by taking first place in the 60 meters and 200 meters, posting times of 7.75 and 25.21, respectively.
“It was ok,” Howard said of her performance. “I feel like I have a lot of training and a lot more work to do, but as far as competing today I think I competed hard. It was kind of disappointing as a team because, obviously, we lost. But, overall it was an ok day.”
Hayes continued his impressive early-season run as a freshman, taking home his second and third event titles in the last two meets. He won the 60-meter hurdles for the second time this season in a time of 8.07, and came away with the championship in the 200 meters with a time of 22.79.
“It feels cool,” Hayes said. “I really didn’t put too much weight into it though because the competition level wasn’t really very high. But it felt pretty good still. My main goal is to get to the NCAA Championships and help the team place well at the Big 12 Championships. Just win, win, win. That’s what it’s all about.”
Eight other Jayhawks also came away with event titles against Missouri.
On the women’s side, senior Sha’Ray Butler won the 400-meter dash in a time of 57.15, sophomore Amanda Miller took the championship in the 3,000 meters with a time of 10:13.10, junior Elizabeth Beisner was victorious in the high jump with a leap of 1.63 meters (5-04.25 feet), freshman Mackenzie Wills earned the title in the pole vault after clearing 3.65 meters (11-11.75 ft.), and freshman Kelsey Grimm won the long jump with a leap of 10.45 meters (34-03.50 ft.).
For the men, sophomore Alex Carey won the 60 meters in a time of 7.13, senior Jarrell Rollins took first in the 400 meters with a time of 49.51, and freshman Corey Fuller won the triple jump title with a leap of 14.87 meters (48-09.50 ft.).
Kansas is back in action on Jan. 31when it travels to Lincoln, Neb., for the Adidas Classic on the campus of the University of Nebraska. The Jayhawks look to continue to improve and have success throughout the rest of the year.
“Our goal is to be our best at the end of the season, and we just got it put to us today. The team is working hard and they’re working their way through it. They were just better than we were today. We have to not allow that to happen again.”
