Kansas Picks Up Wins Across Nation

April 29, 2007

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Junior Egor Agafonov won his fourth-consecutive hammer throw Saturday at the Drake Relays as the <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>University of Kansas track and field teams performed well against against top competition at several prestigious meets. Sophomore Victoria Howard and junior Libby Harmon also picked up victories this weekend for the Jayhawks.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

At the Drake Relays, throws coach Andy Kokhanovsky and his group had tremendous success. Agafonov has not lost a hammer throw event this year. The junior threw a season-best 228-04 (69.61m), which improved his regional qualifying mark in the event. In the women’s hammer, sophomore Zlata Tarasova took third at the Drake Relays with a 199-09 (60.89m) heave.

Also in Des Moines, Iowa, senior Cody Roberts took fourth in the men’s discus with a throw of 177-00 (53.96m) while fellow senior Abby Emsick placed third in the women’s, throwing 164-02 (50.05m). Freshman Jordan Scott, the 2007 Big 12 indoor pole vault champion, tied a season-best effort in the pole vault, clearing 17-00.75 (5.20m) and junior Hugh Murphy nearly matched his own season-best effort, finishing third in the 212-02 (64.66m).

At the UMKC Invitational, Harmon cleared a regionally-qualifying 12-05.50 (3.80m) for the second-straight weekend. Howard swept the women’s 100 and 200-meter dash, sprinting in at 12.20 and 24.45 seconds. Junior Maresia Pencil won the women’s 800-meter run in 2:13.41.

In Philadelphia, juniors Ashley Brown and Julius Jiles competed in the women’s 100 and the men’s 110-meter hurdles, respectively. Both own regional marks in the events, though neither qualified for the finals at the meet.

The regional marks continued for Kansas at the Cardinal Invitational, held Sunday night from the campus of Stanford University. Early results from the meet were favorable for KU as both senior Melissa O’Rourke and freshman Lauren Bonds earned their first regional marks of the season. O’Rourke placed sixth in the women’s 1500m in a time of 4:25.22, while Bonds finished the 3000-meter steeplechase in 10:40.85.

Later in the night, juniors Colby Wissel and Patrick McGowan earned regional qualifying marks in the men’s 5000m and 3000-meter steeplechase, respectively. Wissel ran a 14:06.08 to finish eighth while McGowan cruised to a time of 9:06.78, narrowly besting the regional standard of 9:07.00.