Hann Breaks School Record in Triple Jump

April 16, 2005

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The final day of the Tom Bott’s Invitational in Columbia, Mo., turned out to be very impressive for the Kansas track and field teams. Junior Sheldon Battle and senior Brooklyn Hann were named the Most Outstanding Performers, with each recording two first place finishes.

Hann broke the school record in the triple jump with an effort of 43-07.00, and regionally qualified in 100-meter hurdles with a first place, 13.61 mark. Hann already owned the school record in the triple jump. Her previous best effort in the event was 42-11. She set that mark at the 2002 Big 12 Out door Championships.

Battle won the hammer and threw over 200 feet for the first time on Friday night. He came back on Saturday to finish as the top collegiate and second overall in the shot put with a throw of 62-09.25. That throw is good enough for the fourth best throw in school history. Battle finished second in the event to 2004 World Indoor Champion Christian Cantwell, who will be featured in the GOLD ZONE at next weekend’s Kansas Relays.

“Sheldon and Brooklyn had great performances today,” Kansas head coach Stanley Redwine said. “The goal of this meet was to have great individual performances going into the Kansas Relays, and we did that this weekend.”

The Jayhawks collected six other individual victories on Saturday. Senior Jeremy Mims crushed the Tom Botts Invitational record in the 800 with a first place, 1:47.96 effort. That mark is good enough for fourth place in the KU record books just behind Olympian Charlie Gruber’s best effort of 1:46.99.

Freshman Julius Jiles edged junior teammate Aaron Thompson in the 400-meter hurdles. Jiles finished the event with a time of 53.08, while Thompson was on his heels with a time of 54.03.

Senior Sondra Rauterkus turned in her best effort of the season with a regionally qualifying mark in the high jump. She won the event with ease as she jumped 5-08.75.

The vertical jumps teams scored two more victories in the pole vault Saturday. Senior Amy Linnen continued her dominance in the event with a first place, 13-05.75 effort. That mark was good enough to break the Walton Stadium record. Junior Chris Lockard captured his first victory of the year in the pole vault, jumping 14-07.25.

Sophomore Octavia Garrett rounded out the first place finishers with a win in the 400. The Jayhawks took the top three spots in the event as Garrett placed first in 54.94. Freshman Cortney Jacobs finished second (55.98), while sophomore Kara Euler finished third in 56.39.

The Jayhawks will return to Memorial Stadium next weekend for the Kansas Relays. The Relays will take place April 21-23.