Kansas Heads to Lincoln for Adidas Classic

Jan. 29, 2009

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas track and field is back in action on Saturday as the Jayhawks take on No. 19/19 (men/women) Nebraska, No. 6/5 Florida State, Wichita State, Alabama, Minnesota and Illinois at the Adidas Classic in Lincoln, Neb. The meet, the fourth of the indoor season for KU, will be hosted by Nebraska.

Two weeks ago in Lawrence, the Jayhawks came up short in a dual against Missouri, but they had some bright spots. Kansas upped its total of individual event victories on the year to 22, highlighted by an NCAA automatic-qualifying pole vault from junior Jordan Scott. The junior from Watkinsville, Ga., 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.

Freshman Keith Hayes and senior Victoria Howard were also spectacular against Missouri. Hayes, a freshman from Wichita, Kan., won the 60-meter hurdles and the 200 meters for his second and third event titles of the season. Howard, a senior from Overland Park, Kan., recorded her first two wins of the season by taking first place in both the 60 meters and 200 meters.

Seniors Sha’Ray Butler and Jarrell Rollins, sophomores Amanda Miller and Alex Carey, junior Elizabeth Beisner and freshmen Mackenzie Wills, Kelsey Grimm and Corey Fuller were also victorious against the Tigers.

Against stiff competition in Lincoln, the Jayhawks will look to add to their season victory total. Other KU athletes to watch include Dustin Turner and Eric Fattig (long jump), Colby Wissel (3,000 meters), Bret Imgrund (1,000 meters, Mile), Lauren Bonds (800 meters, Mile) and Donny Wasinger (Mile).

The meet will use an unlimited team scoring system, with a champion crowed on the men’s and women’s side. The individual events will be calculated as follows: 1st – 10 points, 2nd – 8 points, 3rd – 6 points, 4th – 4 points, 5th – 2 points, 6th – 1 point. In the men’s relays will be scored the same as the individual events, while the women’s relays will see no points awarded for sixth place.

The meet is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., with the women’s weight throw beginning the meet. The preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles will be the first running event of the day at 2 p.m. All running events will be conducted as finals against time except the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, where a one section final will be contested. Full results can be found at www.kuathletics.com shortly after the meet has concluded.