Kansas Track & Field Set for Arkansas Twilight
April 29, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. – With the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Championships two weeks away, the Kansas track & field team is set to compete at its last regular season meet Friday, May 1 at the Arkansas Twilight in Fayetteville, Ark. The Twilight is the last meet before the conference championships for athletes to qualify for the 2009 NCAA Regional Championships.
To date, the Jayhawks have had 11 different athletes regionally qualify in 13 different events. They will look to increase that number this weekend in Fayetteville.
Nickesha Anderson headlines the list of KU athletes already qualified that will be at the Arkansas Twilight looking to better their regional time/mark. The senior from Hanover, Jamaica will compete in the 200 meters as well as the 4×100-meter relay.
Hurdlers Keith Hayes and Keyen Porter will look to improve on their 110-meter hurdles regional times. Hayes, a freshman from Wichita, Kan., will also compete on the men’s 4×100-meter relay team. Porter, who hails from Blue Springs, Mo., will participate in the 4×100-meter relay as well, along with the 400-meter hurdles.
Throwers Brian Bishop (discus), Stephanie Horton (shot put), Emily Reimer (shot put) and Zlata Tarasova (hammer throw) have all qualified, and all four will be in Fayetteville looking to move up in the rankings. Bishop will also compete in the shot put, and Horton will additionally compete in the discus.
Victoria Howard, a regional qualifier in the 200 meters, will run in that event as well as the 4×100-meter relay. Kirk Cooper will compete in the pole vault, while Corey Fuller will compete in the long jump this weekend. Cooper is qualified in the pole vault, while Fuller is a triple jump regional qualifier.
Lauren Bonds is the only regional qualifier not competing at the Arkansas Twilight. The junior from Hutchinson, Kan., will instead travel to Palo Alto, Calif., on the campus of Stanford University to run the 1,500 meters Saturday, May 2 at the Payton Jordan Invitational.
The Arkansas Twilight begins at 10 a.m. CDT Friday with the women’s hammer throw. Running events in Fayetteville will begin at 6 p.m. CDT with the women’s 4×100-meter relay. The women’s 1,500 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational begins Saturday at 6:02 p.m. CDT.
Full results can be found at www.kuathletics.com upon completion of each day’s events.
JAYHAWKS STORMIN’ NORMAN
The 2009 NCAA® Outdoor Track & Field Midwest Regional will take place May 29-30 at John Jacobs Field in Norman, Okla. Eleven Kansas athletes have qualified thus far with a total of 13 regional marks.
– Nickesha Anderson, a 2008 Beijing Olympian for Jamaica, has qualified in three different events. The Kansas school record holder in the 100 meters and 200 meters, Anderson has posted regional times in both of those events as well as the 400 meters. The Hanover, Jamaica, native is also a member of the Jayhawks’ 4×100-meter relay team, as well as the 4×400-meter relay team, so she could potentially qualify in five different events.
– Brian Bishop has twice posted a regional mark in the discus, with his best throw coming at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz. (52.11 meters [170-11.75 feet).
– Lauren Bonds blew away the field to qualify in the 1,500 meters at the Kansas Relays, sprinting down the stretch to finish in a time of 4:27.36, just under the regional standard.
– Kirk Cooper regionally qualified in the pole vault at the John Jacobs Invitational in Norman, Okla., recording a jump of 5.05 meters (16-06.75 feet). The junior from Centennial, Colo., went on to match that mark at the Kansas Relays.
– Corey Fuller posted a regional mark in the triple jump at the Jim Click Shootout, leaping 15.34 meters (50-04 feet).
– Keith Hayes qualified in the 110-meter hurdles at the John Jacobs Invitational, and proceeded to lower his regional time to 14.05 at the Kansas Relays.
– Stephanie Horton had her best performance thus far this year, improving her already-regional qualifying mark in the shot put to 15.47 meters (50-09.25 feet).
– Victoria Howard is a regional qualifier in the 200 meters. The senior from Overland Park, Kan., ran a time of 23.76 at the John Jacobs Invitational to earn a return trip to Norman.
– Keyen Porter ran a time of 14.21 at the John Jacobs Invitational to regionally qualify in the 110-meter hurdles.
– Emily Reimer regionally qualified in the shot put at the Jim Click Shootout, recording a throw of 15.23 meters (49-11.75 feet).
– Zlata Tarasova earned a trip to Norman for the regional championships with a hammer throw of 55.50 meters (182-01 feet) in Tucson.
