KU Track Teams Return Home, Men Ranked

Jan. 18, 2006

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Jan. 18, 2006

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The University of Kansas men’s and women’s track and field teams return home this week for Friday’s annual KU/KSU/MU Triangular. The meet gets underway at 2 p.m. from the Anschutz Sports Pavilion with the men’s weight throw. The three rivals will be competing for “The Jug,” the prize awarded to the winning school each year. Kansas State has won the last seven competitions with Kansas’ last victory coming in 1994.

The KU men’s team enters the contest nationally ranked at No. 13 after the first national poll was released earlier in the week by Trackwire.com. The men’s and women’s teams from Kansas State both debuted tied at No. 20. Missouri is not ranked.

Leading the way at last week’s Arkansas Invitational was Sheldon Battle and Paul Hefferon. Battle, a senior from Jamestown, N.Y., posted victories in the shot put and weight throw with tosses of 59-04.25 (shot put) and 66-01.50 (weight throw). Both results provisionally qualified him for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. Hefferon, a sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., also had a victory on the day, finishing first in the 3000m in a time of 8:22.06.

The women’s performances were highlighted by a pair of third place results from Crystal Manning and Stephanie Horton. Manning, a sophomore out of Terrell, Texas, had a leap of 19-02.50 in the long jump while Horton, a freshman from Tigard, Ore., threw a 41-01.75 in the shot put.

Following the KU/KSU/MU Triangular, Kansas will remain in Lawrence for the Jayhawk Invitational next Saturday in the Anschutz Sports Pavilion. The meet is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m.