Agafonov Wins Hammer at Drake Relays

April 29, 2006

DES MOINES, Iowa –

Competing at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, sophomore Egor Agafonov broke his own hammer record en route to winning his second competition of the season. His mammoth toss of 233-0 beat his previous KU best of 228-6 and was also good for the second-longest throw in the country so far this year. In the women’s hammer, freshman Zlata Tarasova’s throw of 177-7 was good for eighth. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

For the second straight week, senior Sheldon Battle finished behind Nike representatives Christian Cantwell and Dan Taylor for third place in the men’s shot put. His toss of 65-11 3/4 was his best of the season as well as the second longest collegiate throw in the nation this year. The <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Jamestown, N.Y., native also had a fifth place result in the discus with a throw of 178-8.

Competing in the long jump, senior Charisse Bacchus finished in second place for the third consecutive meet. Her leap of 19-4 3/4 followed her performances at the Texas Relays on April 6 and the Kansas Relays on April 22.

The men’s and women’s sprint medley relay teams both turned in solid performances at Drake. The women’s squad of Victoria Howard, Crystal Manning, Charity Stowers and Angela Pichardo ran a time of 3:58.41 to finish fifth overall while the men’s side of Adrian Carey, Lantz Tolson, Josh Kirk and Matt Baysinger finished 12th (3:29.20).

In the women’s 4×1,600-meter relay, the team of Laura Major, Melissa O’Rourke, Dena Seibel and Lisa Morrisey ran a time of 20:26.19 to give them a seventh place result.

Saturday’s events concluded the Drake Relays. A group of Kansas distance runners will be competing at the Cardinal Invitational on Sunday in Stanford, Calif., while the rest of the team will turn its attention to the Ward Haylett Invitational in Manhattan, Kan., on May 6.