Jiles Wins 110-Meter Hurdles to Wrap Up Tom Botts Invitational
April 15, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. –
The University of Kansas men’s and women’s track and field teams were in <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Columbia, Mo., on Saturday competing in the second day of the Tom Botts Invitational. Sophomore Julius Jiles’ victory in the 110-meter hurdles highlighted a day that saw several Jayhawks turn in solid performances. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Jiles, a native of Kansas City, Mo., tied his season best of 14.12 in the event. In the same race, senior Aaron Thompson finished fourth in a time of 14.45.
Junior Shatoya Hill had a very impressive start to her triple jump season. The Lubbock, Texas, native regionally qualified in the event with her leap of 40-6 3/4, taking second place overall in the process.
While Jiles was the only Jayhawk winner on the day, several others had second place performances. Senior Cameron Schwehr ran the 1,500-meter run in 3:49.81 to take the runner-up position and sophomore Cortney Jacobs finished second in the 400-meter dash in a time of 55.95. In the 200-meter dash, sophomore Crystal Manning took second in a time of 24.41 while freshman Victoria Howard’s time of 12.12 in the 100-meter dash gave her the second-place result.
Junior Janiece Gatson, who also finished second, narrowly missed a regionally-qualifying mark in the 400-meter hurdles, running a time of 1:01.13. The standard is 1:00.82. Freshman Sha’Ray Butler was also extremely close to the mark, finishing third in a time of 1:01.18.
In other field events action, Chris Lockard (15-1) and John McDonald (14-7 1/4) finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the pole vault. Competing in the high jump, Brett Terp finished third with a leap of 6-8 3/4.
Also competing in the 1,500 meters, senior Joshy Madathil finished third in a time of 3:50.25. Pulling double-duty, senior Charisse Bacchus took third in the 100-meter hurdles (14.04) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (24.55).
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team was nipped at the finish line by Missouri, finishing second in a time of 3:48.64, a hundredth of a second behind the Tigers. The men’s 4×400-meter relay team also finished second in a time of 3:16.14.
With the Tom Botts Invitational complete, the track and field teams will now turn their attention to the 79th annual Kansas Relays. The Relays run from April 20-22 with GOLDZONE II beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, from Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.
