Kansas Sets Off to Waco for Big 12 Outdoor Championships

May 1, 2013

Meet Notes in PDF format

Big 12 Outdoor Championships
Dates	May 3-5, 2013
Location	Waco, Texas
Venue	Hart-Patterson Track & Field Complex
Start/End Times	Fri – 12 p.m. – 9 p.m. (CT) Sat – 10 a.m. – 7: p.m. (CT) Sun – 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. (CT)
Twitter	KU_Track Big12Conference
Live Results	Delta Timing
Meet Home	KUAthletics.com Big12Sports.com BaylorBears.com
Start Lists	Heat Sheets

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas’ men’s and women’s track and field teams will travel to Waco, Texas. May 3-5 for the 2013 Big 12 Outdoor Championships held at Hart-Patterson Track Complex on the campus of Baylor University. The second-ranked KU women will look to validate their indoor conference title won earlier this season, by claiming the program’s first outdoor league championship.

KUTRACK QUICK HITS

• This weekend, the Jayhawks will travel to Baylor’s Hart-Patterson Track Complex, which is hosting the Big 12 Outdoor Championships for the third time and first time since 2006.
• The Kansas women find themselves ranked No. 2 by the USTFCCCA for the second-straight week after sitting at No. 1 for the first four weeks of the outdoor season.
• The KU women return all but three of the 16 athletes that earned the team its runner-up finish at the Big 12 outdoor meet a year ago.
• The top-three long jump marks recorded by Big 12 athletes this season were each posted by Jayhawks. Francine Simpson is No. 1 in the NCAA, Sydney Conley is second and Andrea Geubelle has the third-best mark in 2013.
• Senior Natalia Bartnovskaya broke KU’s outdoor pole vault record three weeks ago at the Sun Angel Classic. Her mark of 4.41 meters (14’5.5″) was just two inches from making her one of the top-10 vaulters in NCAA history.
• The men’s 4×400-meter relay team of Kyle Clemons, Michael Stigler, Michael Hester and Kenneth McCuin combined for a 3:05.95 race in a win at the Sun Angel Classic, the fifth-fastest in school history.
• The No. 2-ranked KU women have 10 athletes and a relay sitting in the NCAA’s top-10 after the first month of action, including Andrea Geubelle who currently holds the nation’s top triple jump mark.
• Sophomore Lindsay Vollmer‘s most recent heptathlon performance was the second-best in Kansas history. She amassed a personal-best 5,478 points to finish second at the Texas Relays. Her mark is also No. 4 in the NCAA this year.
• KU’s All-American women’s 4×400-meter relay team moved to near the top of the national list after clocking with a winning time of 3:32.26 at the Sun Angel Classic. Last season, Denesha Morris, Paris Daniels, Taylor Washington and Diamond Dixon posted the best NCAA-qualifying time, running 3:28.10 en route to the Big 12 title in the event.

KUTRACK ATHLETE TO WATCH
Paris Daniels // SPRINTS // SR // 5-4 // Normandy HS

• Daniels will try to make Kansas history as she goes for the Big 12 title repeat in the 200 meters. The St. Louis product currently holds the fastest 200-meter time in the conference this year at 22.76 and hopes to become the ninth Jayhawk in program history to win multiple individual conference championships. Daniels will stay busy in Waco as Kansas is hoping for big points from her in the 100 meters as well as the 4×100- and 4×400-meter relays.

LAST TIME OUT
Jayhawk throwers notched three victories as members of the Kansas Track & Field men’s and women’s teams took part in the Wildcat Open at Baker University April 27. Senior Alena Krechyk posted a season best in the hammer throw, while sophomore Jonathan Miller turned in a career best in the discus.

Krechyk unwounded for a throw that measured out to 67.89 meters (222’9″), the third time this season she has surpassed the 219-foot mark. Her toss, which garnered her third win of the season, was her best of the 2013 campaign and ranks fourth among the NCAA standings.

Miller launched the discus to a distance of 54.47 meters (178’8″) on his third throw of the day. The mark improved upon his previous best by nearly a foot and gave him a win over the nearest competitor by 24 feet.

Elsewhere in the field, Anastasiya Muchkayev continued her outstanding freshman campaign with a win in the women’s discus. Muchkayev tallied her top mark of the day on her second attempt, hitting a distance of 49.98 meters (164’0″).

REGULARS ATOP THE RANKINGS
After sitting as the NCAA’s No. 1 team for the first four weeks of the 2013 outdoor season, the Kansas women’s track & field team slid to No. 2 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) rankings two weeks ago. The team’s four-week stay atop the national list was the longest stay at No. 1 in program history.

This week’s No. 2-ranking also marks the 20th-consecutive top-25 list in which the women’s team has been slotted in the top-five of the NCAA, which includes both indoor and outdoor seasons. KU’s streak is the longest active in the nation.

LEAGUE LEADERS
Heading into the 2013 Big 12 Outdoor Championships the Kansas women have already displayed their superiority by way of the Big 12 rankings. The team, which claimed the program’s first conference title at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in February, has 13 Jayhawks boasting marks ranking in the top-three of the league’s yearly performance list. That list also includes seven KU women who lead the conference in their respective events.

Kansas will look to win its first outdoor conference championship at the Big 12 meet this weekend in Waco. Last season the women’s team finished as the runner-up to Texas by just 9.5 points.

The Jayhawk men also have several team members who have climbed their way near the top of the early-season conference standings. Sophomore Michael Stigler has posted the conference’s fastest 400-meter hurdle time at 49.42 while senior Kyle Clemons is the fastest at 400 meters this year at 46.28. In addition to Stigler and Clemons, two other KU men and a relay team currently hold marks that rank third or better in the Big 12.

HORIZONTAL JUMP HIGH JINKS
The KU women’s horizontal jumpers have proven they are one of the deepest event groups in the country this year. Seniors Francine Simpson and Andrea Geubelle and freshman Sydney Conley have each posted marks in the long jump that rank in the top-15 of the NCAA this year. Simpson’s 21’8.75″ mark ranks second, Conley’s 20’10” leap is seventh and Geubelle turned in a jump of 20’8.5″ that ranks 13th. Geubelle also holds the nation’s top mark in the triple jump.

Only one other school, Texas A&M (in the 100 meters), has three athletes among the NCAA’s top-15 of an event.

TEAM TITLE TALLIES
The Kansas men have a successful history at their conference’s outdoor meet. The Jayhawks boast 33 team championships dating back to 1910 with the most recent coming in 1982. The run included 26 conference crowns spanning from 1952-1982. The KU men’s highest finish in the Big 12 Conference was a pair of fourth-place finishes in 2002 and 2005.

On the women’s side, the Jayhawks have never won a team championship at the outdoor league meet, but have notched runner-up finishes three times since 1974, including their second-place finish at last year’s Big 12 Championships.

CONFERENCE REPEATS (AND THREE-PEATS)
Several Jayhawks will look to join rare company this weekend in Waco as they try to add to their collection of conference trophies. Five KU women enter the meet looking to defend their individual outdoor conference crowns. Paris Daniels (200m), Diamond Dixon (400m), Francine Simpson (long jump), Andrea Geubelle (triple jump) and Alena Krechyk (hammer throw) will each try to become the sixth member of KU’s back-to-back club. Five KU women have won consecutive-outdoor conference titles; Dixon (’11-’12, 400m), Candace Mason (’98-’99, heptathlon), Denise Buchanan (’85-’86, discus), Halycon McKnight (’80-’83, long jump), and Sheila Calmese (’77-’78, 100m and 200m). Dixon will look to earn a three-peat in the 400 meters, joining McKnight as KU athletes to earn three or more league championships in a single event.

Sophomore Michael Stigler is the only KU male with the opportunity to repeat at this year’s outdoor conference meet and will try to join a vast list of consecutive-outdoor title winners. Thirty-nine Jayhawks have won at least two-straight outdoor league titles in a row with 11 claiming three-straight league titles in their respective events. Stigler will look to join Nolan Cromwell (’75-’76) as a repeat conference champion in the 400-meter hurdles.

OUTDOOR RECORD HOLDERS
Nine school records are currently held by active Jayhawks, each of which have been broken within the last 12 months. The women’s squad saw seven of its records broken a year ago, while the men’s team had a 30-year-old record broken in 2012. Below is a list of KU’s current school record holders:

AT HOME IN THE LONE STAR STATE
A host of Jayhawks will compete in front of family and friends this week as KU’s Texas natives will be in action in Waco. The Jayhawks’ current roster boasts 10 athletes who call the Lone Star State home, seven of whom will compete in the KU singlet inside Hart-Patterson Track Complex this weekend.

Texas is KU’s home away from home of sorts with the Jayhawks being frequent visitors, especially over the last two seasons. Since the 2012 indoor campaign, Kansas has competed in five meets inside the state of Texas.

PRELIM PREDICTIONS
Even with a month still to go before the NCAA preliminary meets begin, it’s never too early to see how the qualifying picture is beginning to come together. If the season were to end today, the women would see 17 of its athletes and two relays travel to Austin for the West Region Preliminary meet. A year ago, the team, which went on to notch a fourth-place team finish at the NCAA Championships, saw 16 women earn spots at the prelim meet.

On the men’s side, 10 Jayhawks and a relay hold marks that would earn them a spot to Austin if the season ended today.

GEUBELLE GOING FOR GOLD
Senior Andrea Geubelle is making sure her career in Lawrence ends on a high note. The University Place, Wash., product has collected a litany of accolades during the indoor and outdoor seasons that have her among top-collegiate athletes this year. Here are some of her accomplishments thus far:

• One of 10 athletes listed on April’s ‘The Bowerman’ Watch List.
• Currently holds NCAA’s top outdoor triple jump mark, 13.76m (41’1.75″).
• USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Year.
• First female since 2003 to win both indoor long jump and triple jump NCAA titles.
• Winning NCAA triple jump mark (46’6″) was second-best indoor mark ever by an American.
• National Indoor Champion in both long jump and triple jump.
• Jayhawks’ top scorer (18 pts.) at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with her victory in the triple jump and runner-up finish in the long jump.
• Has won 14 of the last 16 triple jump competitions versus collegians, including all four this season.
• Moved into top-10 of NCAA all-time triple jump list after breaking her own school record with a leap of 13.91 meters (45’7.75″).
• Broke long jump school record in her win at the Armory Collegiate Invitational with her nation-leading leap of 6.69 meters (21’11.5″).
• Broke Anschutz facility record in the long jump with mark of 6.25 meters (20’6.25″).
• Named the National Female Athlete of the Week by the USTFCCCA Feb. 4.

AN INDOOR CAMPAIGN TO REMEMBER
The women’s team’s 2013 indoor season was the best in program history. The team was ranked in the top-five of the NCAA rankings for the entire season and moved to No. 1 for the first time since the current rankings system began in 2008. The team went on to claim its first-ever conference title in late February behind a program best six individual Big 12 champions.

The team saw a program-best 11 student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships and went on to earn its second-consecutive runner-up team finish. Three national titles were won by Jayhawks with Andrea Geubelle winning both the long and triple jumps and Natalia Bartnovskaya claiming the pole vault championships. In all, eight First Team All-America honors were earned by Jayhawks, also a program best.

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will get one final chance to earn marks that will extend their seasons into the NCAA Championship rounds as the KU men and women will travel to Atlanta, Ga., for the Georgia Tech Invitational on May 10-11. For updates and a complete recap on KU’s performances log on to KUAthletics.com and follow on twitter at KU_Track.