Field Set for NCAA Indoor Championships
March 7, 2006
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
The NCAA Track and Field Committee announced late Monday the field for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, held this Friday and Saturday, March 10 and 11, in Fayetteville, Ark. Among those accepted to the meet will be four Jayhawks in addition to the men’s distance medley relay team. Egor Agafonov, Charisse Bacchus, Sheldon Battle, Aaron Thompson and the relay team of Joshy Madathil, Matt Baysinger, Brandon Hodges and Benson Chesang will be among the 568 men’s and women’s participants vying for national titles. The men’s team will enter the competition ranked No. 11 in the most recent Trackwire.com poll.
Sophomore Egor Agafonov burst onto the national scene this season in the weight throw after coming to Kansas from Togliatti, Russia. Currently ranked No. 1 in the country in the weight throw by Trackwire.com, Agafonov handily won all three meets in which he was entered, including the Big 12 Championships. His toss of 73 feet, 3/4 inches, at the ISU Classic on Feb. 11 was good for second on KU’s all-time performance list, behind only KU great Scott Russell.
Senior Charisse Bacchus will be competing in the long jump at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships for the second year in a row. Her leap of 21-0 3/4 at the Alex Wilson Invitational on March 3 was an automatically qualifying mark in addition to a Kansas and meet record. It was also good for sixth on the national performance list this season. A native of Cascade, POS, Trinidad, Bacchus had a 10th-place result at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships in the long jump.
Senior Sheldon Battle will be representing Kansas in both the shot put and the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the only thrower in the country set to compete in both events. The Jamestown, N.Y., native is ranked No. 2 in the shot and No. 9 in the weight throw by Trackwire.com. He is second in the shot and 11th in the weight throw on this season’s national performance list. Battle, who placed seventh and ninth at the 2005 Indoor National Championships in the shot put and weight throw, respectively, was this year’s Big 12 champion in the shot put and runner-up in the weight throw.
Senior Aaron Thompson qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 60-meter hurdles by running a time of 7.84 seconds at the Cyclone National Track and Field Qualifier on March 4. That time broke a school record in the event and put him in 17th on the national performance list. The Lenexa, Kan., native finished eighth in the 60-meter hurdles at this year’s Big 12 Indoor Championships.
Competing in a strong field at the Alex Wilson Invitational on March 3, the men’s distance medley relay team of Madathil, Baysinger, Hodges and Chesang ran a time of 9:34.91. The performance was good for a new school record in the event and put it in eighth place on the national performance list.
The 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships will get underway on Friday, March 10, with the men’s multi-eventers at 9 a.m. and wrap up the next day at approximately 8:20 p.m. with the women’s 1600-meter relay.
