Jayhawks Focused Heading into Last Chance Weekend

Feb. 27, 2013

Meet Notes

Arkansas Qualifier // Alex Wilson Last
Dates	Friday, March 1, 2013 Saturday, March 2, 2013
Locations	Fayetteville, Ark. South Bend, Ind.
Venues	Randal Tyson Center Meyo Indoor Center
Start Time	Fri – 12 p.m. (CT) Sat – 11:35 a.m. (CT)
Twitter	KU_Track
Live Results	Flash Results
Meet Home	Arkansas Alex Wilson

LAWRENCE, Kan. – This weekend, the Kansas track and field team will split up to compete at two sites this weekend, but all will have the same goal in mind; a bid to the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships. These various “last chance” meets mark the final opportunity for athletes to qualify for indoor nationals, which will be held in Fayetteville, Ark., March 8-9.

KU_Track Quick Hits

• This weekend, the Jayhawks will travel to Iowa State’s Lied Recreation Center, which is hosting the Big 12 Indoor Championships for the fifth overall time and third time since 2007.
• The KU women won their first conference championship last weekend by outscoring runner-up Texas 150.5 to 148. The 2.5-point margin was the smallest in the Big 12 history.
• Senior sprinter Kyle Clemons broke the 30-year-old school record in the 400 meters last weekend at the Big 12 Championships. Clemons ran 46.44 in the prelim heats, beating out Deon Hogan’s 46.50 set in 1983.
• Including both indoor and outdoor seasons, the KU women have now been ranked in the top-five of the USTFCCCA rankings for 14-straight weeks, the second-longest streak in the nation behind Clemson (27).
• Andrea Geubelle will attempt to become the third KU women in Big 12 history to score 20 points or more at the league’s indoor meet. She’s been one of KU’s most prominent scorers at Big 12 Indoors, averaging 11 points a year including 18 at last year’s meet.
• Junior Josh Munsch has recorded a personal best in the mile three times this month. The most recent coming in the final of the mile at the league championships last weekend. He ran 4:03.09 to finish third.
• Junior Diamond Dixon extended her 400-meter unbeaten streak to four-straight conference meets (indoor and outdoor combined). She won her second indoor title last weekend in 52.52.
• The women’s 4×400-meter relay team of Denesha Morris, Taylor Washington, Paris Daniels and Diamond Dixon will try to move up the national performance list with a top time this weekend. The four have combined for a school record 3:31.36, which they ran last season. It was the fastest time in the nation last year and eighth-fastest in NCAA history.
• Alex Bishop won his first league pole vault title last weekend. His win marked the fifth time in the last seven years the indoor league title went to a Jayhawk and brings KU’s overall indoor pole vault league championship tally to 32 titles, the most of any Kansas event group.

LAST TIME OUT
The Kansas women’s track & field team claimed the 2013 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field team title after collecting a total of 150.5 points at the two-day meet held inside the Lied Recreation Center in Ames, Iowa. The championship was the first conference title in the program’s history and the first for any KU team – men’s or women’s – since the Kansas men won the Big Eight indoor title in 1983. The KU men ended Sunday’s meet with a sixth-place finish after tallying 74.5 points.

Kansas saw seven individual champions on both the men’s and women’s teams. Paris Daniels backed up her outdoor 200-meter title last year with a victory in the indoor 200 meters. Diamond Dixon continued her dominance in the 400 meters with her fourth-consecutive league title. Francine Simpson repeated as indoor long jump champion as did Andrea Geubelle in the triple jump. Sophomore Lindsay Vollmer took the pentathlon title with a personal best and school record score. For the men, Alex Bishop was the lone champion, claiming the conference’s pole vault title.

RANKINGS KEEP ROLLING
After the KU women’s track & field team ascended to the nation’s No. 1 ranking on Feb. 5, the team dropped in the latest USTFCCCA rankings to No. 3. Despite the small drop, the ranking marks the 14th-consecutive week the women’s team has been slotted in the top-five of the NCAA, including last year’s outdoor season.

The women first moved into the top-five when they jumped to No. 2 following their runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships last March and have remained in the top-five ever since. Only Clemson has a longer active streak, holding a spot in the top-five for 27-straight weeks.

JAYHAWKS FLYING AT THE TOP OF THE NCAA
The Jayhawks have seen a host of athletes move toward the top of the NCAA performance charts. Currently, KU has nine athletes ranked in the nation’s top-20 in nine events on the women’s side and one athlete and two relays on the men’s side. The No. 20 mark is an important ranking to stay above since the top-16 performers in each event at season’s end will punch tickets to the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 8-9.

A year ago, Jayhawk men and women ended the indoor and outdoor seasons ranked in the NCAA top-10 in 17 events and No. 1 in three events, including the women’s indoor 400 meters, women’s indoor triple jump and the women’s indoor 4×400-meter relay.

IN COACH REDWINE’S WORDS
What is the focus of the athletes as they head into Last Chance weekend?
“We want to do well at the NCAA meet and in order for us to do well there we need to get as many people qualified as we possibly can. Our goal is to be a nationally prominent team as well as a prominent team at the conference level. We’ve hit one of those goals already this season, now it’s time to work towards the next one.”

How fresh are the athletes coming off their conference meets and do you think they’re prepared to attempt to qualify this weekend?
“The athletes want to qualify and the coaches want them to qualify. They’ve had a few days off since getting back from the conference meet so they should be fresh and ready to go out and compete like they always do.”

The men’s team performance at Big 12’s was one of best in they’ve had in a while, what kind of step forward was that for the program?
“The men’s team competed really well last weekend and they’re excited about the steps forward as a program that they took. Many of the athletes didn’t finish as high as they wanted to so that has made them even hungrier. They see that they are taking strides and that it can be done. If you look at the point difference between the men’s finish at conference and some of the higher teams was not that much. We’re just a few points from being one of the top three or four in the conference. What it will take to get there is a little more effort and a little more talent. I definitely think we’re almost there.”

CONFERENCE REPEATS
Several Jayhawks joined rare company this weekend in Ames as they added to their collection of conference trophies. Three KU women defend their individual indoor conference crowns. Diamond Dixon (400m), Francine Simpson (long jump), and Andrea Geubelle (triple jump) each became just the fourth, fifth and sixth member of KU’s back-to-back club. Before the weekend just three KU women had repeated as indoor conference title winners; Sheila Calmese (’77-’78, 60 yards), Stine Lerdahl (’84-’85, shot put) and Kate Sultanova (’07-’08, pole vault).

While no KU men were able to repeat at this year’s indoor conference meet, the men’s team’s history of back-to-back indoor title winners is vast. Thirty-one Jayhawks have won at least two indoor conference titles in a row with 11 claiming three-straight league titles in their respective events. Jordan Scott is the only KU male to have won four-consecutive indoor championships, winning the indoor pole vault each year from 2007-10.

ROCK CHALK RECORD BREAKERS
Already this year an incredible 13 school or Anschutz facility records have been broken on the men’s and women’s teams combined. The women’s squad has seen four of its athletes topple the school records in five events, while the men’s team has seen two of its own records fall. Below is a list of KU’s record-breaking performances this year:

GEUBELLE GOING FOR GOLD
Senior Andrea Geubelle has had a great start to her final campaign in Lawrence. The University Place, Wash., product has collected a litany of early-season accolades that have her among top collegiate athletes this year. Here are some of her accomplishments thus far:

• Jayhawks’ top scorer (18 pts.) at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with her victory in the triple jump and runner-up finish in the long jump.
• One of 10 athletes listed on The Bowerman Watch List.
• Has won 12 of the last 14 triple jump competitions versus collegians, including all four this season.
• Moved into top-10 of NCAA all-time triple jump list after breaking her own school record with a leap of 13.91 meters (45-7.75 ft.).
• Broke long jump school record in her win at the Armory Collegiate Invitational with her nation-leading leap of 6.69 meters (21-11.5 ft.).
• Broke Anschutz facility record in the long jump with mark of 6.25 meters (20-6.25 ft.).
• Named the National Female Athlete of the Week by the USTFCCCA Feb. 4.

TEAM TITLE TALLIES
The KU women’s team conference title made program history as they won the school’s first team championship last weekend. The two-point winning margin over runner-up Texas was the smallest in Big 12 history.

The Kansas men have a successful history at their conference’s indoor meet. The Jayhawks boast 27 team championships dating back to 1922 with the most recent coming in 1983. The run included eight-consecutive team championships from 1952-59, including 17 championships in a 22-year span from 1950-71. The KU men’s highest finish in the Big 12 conference was sixth place in 2006.

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