Last Chance to Qualify for KU Athletes
March 5, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Lauren Bonds and Colby Wissel, who have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, look to officially punch their tickets to College Station, Texas, with solid performances Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind.
Provisional marks put individuals into a selection pool similar to that of the NCAA basketball tournament, and both Bonds and Wissel need to boost their standing in their respective events to make it in.
“With Colby in the 3,000 (meters) and Lauren in the mile, I think there’s an opportunity to improve their standing on the provisional list and hopefully get an automatic time,” Kansas head coach Stanley Redwine said. “There are quite a few people where they are on the list, and they are racing those people this weekend. Either the competitors are going to get in or we’re going to get in. They are fresh and ready to go, and we have to go up there and do it so we can do well at the NCAA Championships.”
While Bonds and Wissel head to Notre Dame, the rest of the Jayhawks will be in Ames, Iowa, Saturday looking to earn a spot of their own in College Station.
“We have the rest of the team going to Iowa State,” Redwine explained. “I think it’s a great opportunity for them to have the chance to qualify. That’s where the competition is in those events. We’re looking for them to compete well against really good competition. Most of the people that are going up there competed well and PR’d (personal record) last weekend at the Big 12 Championships. We’re looking forward to them going up there for their last opportunity to qualify for the NCAAs.”
Thirty-six KU athletes will be at the ISU NCAA Qualifier this weekend. Among those looking to make it include senior Charity Stowers (400 meters, 800 meters), senior Victoria Howard (200 meters), senior Zlata Tarasova (weight throw), senior Stephanie Horton (shot put), sophomore Kendra Bradley (400 meters), senior Jarrell Rollins (400 meters) sophomore Keron Toussaint (400 meters), and freshman Keith Hayes (60-meter hurdles) among others.
Both the Alex Wilson Invitational and the ISU NCAA Qualifier get underway Saturday at 10:30 a.m. CST. Full results can be found at www.kuathletics.com upon completion of the day’s events.
