Kansas Treks to Southwest for Competitions in Arizona

April 4, 2013

Meet Notes in PDF format

Mesa Classic // Sun Angel Classic Dates Friday, April 5 Saturday, April 6 Locations Mesa, Ariz. | Tempe, Ariz. Venues Riggs Stadium Sun Angel Stadium Schedules Mesa Classic Sun Angel Classic Results Mesa Classic Sun Angel Classic Twitter KU_Track

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas track & field is set for another busy weekend as the Jayhawks jet to the southwest for a pair of meets in Arizona. The No. 1-ranked KU women and 26^th-ranked Kansas men will open the weekend with the Mesa Classic held in Mesa, Ariz. on Friday, April 5 before competing at the always-competitive Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz. on Saturday, April 6. The meet, hosted by Arizona State, will see over 1,000 collegiate and post-collegiate competitors in action inside Sun Angel Stadium.

KU_TRACK QUICK HITS

• This weekend, KU will send athletes to compete in Arizona for the first time in the Stanley Redwine era. Kansas features two Jayhawks who will make their homecoming this weekend; Sarah Hedberg, who calls Phoenix home, and Alex Bishop who hails from Scottsdale.
• The Kansas women find themselves ranked No. 1 by the USTFCCCA for the second-straight week, the longest the program has ever held the nation’s top spot.
• Sophomore Michael Stigler is the national leader in the 400-meter hurdles after running to victory in 50.00 last week at the Texas Relays in Austin.
• Senior Francine Simpson turned in the NCAA’s best long jump mark in a winning effort last weekend at the Texas Relays. Her wind-aided mark also ranks third in the world this year in any condition.
• The KU women return all but one of their seven scorers from the 2012 NCAA Championships and all but three of the 16 that scored at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships a season ago.
• The No. 1-ranked KU women had nine athletes move into the NCAA’s top-10 after the first weekend of action, including Francine Simpson, who currently has the nation’s best long jump mark.
• Head coach Stanley Redwine was awarded the Big 12 Women’s Head Coach of the Year for the indoor season, the second conference honor of his 13-year stint at Kansas.
• The women’s 4×400-meter relay team will look to again move to the top of the NCAA this year. Last season, Denesha Morris, Paris Daniels, Taylor Washington and Diamond Dixon posted the best NCAA-qualifying time, running 3:28.10 en route to the Big 12 title in the event.
• Sophomore Lindsay Vollmer‘s most recent heptathlon performance was the second-best in Kansas history. She amassed a personal-best 4,478 points to finish second at the Texas Relays. Her mark is also No. 3 in the NCAA this year.

KU_TRACK ATHLETES TO WATCH

Anastasiya Muchkayev // Throws // 6-2 // Be’er Sheeva, Israel

• Muchkayev kicked off her first outdoor season as a Jayhawk with a bang last weekend at the Emporia Spring Open. The freshman took first in the shot put with a throw of 16.28 meters (53-5), the best mark in the Big 12 this season. She also took second in the discus. Muchkayev is slated to compete in both events this weekend in Arizona and will look to keep moving up the national boards as she moves into the heart of the outdoor campaign.

LAST TIME OUT
Five Jayhawk jumpers claimed event titles, a school record fell and two athletes posted NCAA-leading marks as KU competed at the 86th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas. Francine Simpson beat out a pair of pros en route to winning the long jump with a mark of 6.62 meters (21’8.75″), the best in the nation this year. Sophomore Michael Stigler returned to his home state to win the 400-meter hurdles. His winning time of 50.00 is the fastest in the NCAA this season.

KU pole vaulting duo Christen Guenther and Natalia Bartnovskaya turned in school record performances, each clearing 4.31 meters (14’1.75″) and finishing second and third, respectively. Senior Andrea Geubelle also won her 14th triple jump competition out of her last 16 tries versus collegians.

STILL NO. 1
After being named the NCAA’s No. 1 team in the preseason rankings, the Kansas women’s track & field team validated its position after being named to the top spot again by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) this week. The team has now been No. 1 on the last two lists released, marking the longest stay atop the NCAA rankings in program history.

The ranking also marks the 16th-consecutive week the women’s team has been slotted in the top-five of the NCAA, which includes both indoor and outdoor seasons. KU’s streak is the longest active in the nation.

AN INDOOR SEASON TO REMEMBER
The women’s team’s 2013 indoor season was the best in program history. The team was ranked in the top-five of the NCAA rankings for the entire season and moved to No. 1 for the first time since the current rankings system began in 2008. The team went on to claim its first-ever conference title in late February behind a program best six individual Big 12 champions.

The team saw a program-best 11 student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships and went on to earn its second-consecutive runner-up team finish. Three national titles were won by Jayhawks with Andrea Geubelle winning both the long and triple jumps and Natalia Bartnovskaya claiming the pole vault championships. In all, eight First Team All-America honors were earned by Jayhawks, also a program best.

NATION’S BEST FLOCKING TO ARIZONA
Saturday’s competition is bound to be an exciting one as the Jayhawks will go up against some of the nation’s top teams. In addition to the No. 1-ranked KU women, the women’s field also features the No. 11 Arkansas women, the No. 16 Illinois women, the No. 23 Oklahoma women and the No. 24 Colorado women in addition to the host, the eighth-ranked ASU women. The men’s side will have squads from No. 15 Oklahoma and the 18th-ranked Sun Devils in addition to solid teams out of Illinois, BYU and Iowa State. The field also features numerous post-collegiate standouts and will highlight eight Olympians over the course of Friday and Saturday.

OUTDOOR RECORD HOLDERS
Nine school records are currently held by active Jayhawks, each of which have been broken within the last 12 months. The women’s squad saw seven of its records broken a year ago, while the men’s team had a 30-year-old record broken in 2012. Below is a list of KU’s current school record holders:

GEUBELLE GOING FOR GOLD
Senior Andrea Geubelle is making sure her career in Lawrence ends on a high note. The University Place, Wash., product has collected a litany of accolades during the indoor season that have her among top-collegiate athletes this year. Here are some of her accomplishments thus far:

• Currently holds NCAA’s top outdoor triple jump mark, 13.76m (41’1.75″).
• USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Year.
• First Female since 2003 to win both indoor long jump and triple jump NCAA titles.
• Winning NCAA triple jump mark (46’6″) was second-best indoor mark ever by an American.
• National Indoor Champion in both long jump and triple jump.
• 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 14 of the last 16 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″).
• 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″).
• Broke Anschutz facility record in the long jump with mark of 6.25 meters (20’6.25″).
• Named the National Female Athlete of the Week by the USTFCCCA Feb. 4.

VETERAN LEADERSHIP
The women’s team will be chalked full of veteran leadership this season as the 2013 roster features 34 upperclassmen, including 13 seniors out of its 45-woman roster. On the flip side, the men’s team is still in the middle of a youth resurgence as 31 Jayhawks are either sophomores or younger on the men’s 55-person roster.

HOME GROWN
Both the men’s and women’s teams in 2013 feature a large batch of home-grown talent as the majority of the athletes on each roster hail from the Sunflower State. Thirty KU men and 16 Jayhawk women call Kansas home, with the next-most prolific state, Missouri, boasting a combined 12 natives.

Kansas also has a handful of international athletes, all on the women’s team. Seniors Francine Simpson and Denesha Morris are both from Jamaica, while senior Alena Krechyk is a native of Belarus. Newcomers Natalia Bartnovskaya and Anastasiya Muchkayev are the newest international additions with Bartnovskaya making the trip from Krasnoyarsk, Russia and Muchkayev a native of Be’er Sheva, Israel.

STANLEY’S SUCCESS
Head coach Stanley Redwine has taken Kansas track & field to a level it hasn’t seen in quite some time during his 12 years at the helm. During Redwine’s tenure, he has seen 73 indoor and outdoor Big 12 Champions, 117 First Team All-Americans and 11 NCAA Champions come through his program at KU.

Redwine’s teams have also collected a combined five top-10 NCAA team finishes, including last year’s indoor runner-up finish for the KU women. On March 6, 2013 he was named the Big 12 Women’s Coach of the Year after leading the team to its first conference title in program history.

UP NEXT
Kansas will get one final tune-up before it returns home for the 86th Kansas Relays when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark. for the John McDonnell Invitational Friday and Saturday, April 13-14. Action from John McDonnell Stadium will begin Friday afternoon with the hammer throw and discus events and will conclude Saturday on the track with the 4×400-meter relays.

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