Battle, Young Record Second Place Finishes on Final Day of Big 12 Championships
May 14, 2006
WACO, Texas –
In a rain-soaked final day of the 2006 Big 12 Championships, University of Kansas senior Denita Young threw a personal best of 168-3 in the javelin to give her a second-place result. Stormy weather delayed the start of the event, but the native of Liberal, Kan., put forth a strong effort and was just an inch off the second-best throw in school history.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Senior Sheldon Battle wrapped up his marathon weekend by finishing second in the shot put on Sunday evening. The defending Big 12 champion in the event, his toss of 62-1 gave Battle the runner-up result and capped off a weekend that saw him score 18 points for the team. The Jamestown, N.Y., native, who also finished second in the discus and seventh in the hammer, was the only thrower at the meet to score in all three events.
Young’s and Battle’s results were preceded by two Jayhawk All-Conference finishes in the women’s triple jump to open the scoring for the Jayhawks on Sunday. Junior Shatoya Hill had a leap of 39-8 3/4 to give her the fourth-place result and improve upon her 10th-place finish from last year’s conference championships. Sophomore Crystal Manning enjoyed an All-Big 12 performance as well, finishing eighth with a jump of 39-1 1/4.
Sophomores Colby Wissel and Paul Hefferon finished 4-5 in the men’s 5,000-meter run in the penultimate event of the meet on Sunday night under the lights. Wissel’s fourth-place result came with a time of 14:15.94 while Hefferon finished in 14:17.77. In the women’s 5,000-meter run, junior Laura Major was the top KU finisher in 13th with a time of 17:42.43 while Dena Seibel was close behind in 16th in 17:49.94.
Running in the 1,500-meter run, senior Joshy Madathil finished sixth overall in a time of 3:48.31. The result was just off the NCAA regional time of 3:47.80.
In the finals of the 110-meter hurdles, sophomore Julius Jiles improved upon his seasonal-best performance with a time of 14.02. The result was good for seventh place in the race.
Junior Abby Emsick continued the strong showings in the throws events from the Jayhawks on the weekend. The Council Bluffs, Iowa, native finished fifth in the discus with a heave of 172-0.
Sophomore Ashley Brown followed up Saturday’s NCAA qualifying performance in the 400-meter hurdles by improving upon it Sunday. Her time of 1:00.65 on Sunday, good for fifth overall in the finals, bettered her PR of 1:00.80 from Saturday.
Competing in the 800-meter run, sophomore Matt Baysinger ran a time of 1:53.42 on Sunday. His performance gave him a seventh-place result.
The men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay teams turned in a pair of seventh-place finishes on the afternoon. The women’s team of Crystal Manning, Tiffany Cherry, Victoria Howard and Charisse Bacchus won the first section of the race by over a second in a time of 45.80. The men’s team of Adrian Carey, Julius Jiles, Aaron Thompson and Eric Babb ran a time of 41.58.
In the final event of the meet, the mile relay, the men’s team of Josh Kirk, Aaron Thompson, Matt Baysinger and Julius Jiles finished 10th in a time of 3:15.32. The women’s team, consisting of Cortney Jacobs, Janiece Gatson, Crystal Manning and Charity Stowers, ran a time of 3:43.73, good for sixth.
Also on Sunday, senior Erik Sloan (9:16.02) and sophomore Patrick McGowan (9:25.04-PR) finished 10th and 12th, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. With each vaulting 15-7, Chris Lockard and John McDonald finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the pole vault. Additionally, Eric Fattig finished 15th in the triple jump with a leap of 45-1 3/4.
In a Big 12 Championship that saw 12 meet records broken, including KU sophomore Egor Agafonov in the hammer, the Jayhawk women ended the meet in eighth place with 45 points while the men finished ninth with 56 points.
With the conclusion of the Big 12 Outdoor Championships on Sunday night, the Jayhawks will now turn their attention to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on May 26-27. Kansas’ regional qualifiers will travel to Austin, Texas, for the meet that will be the Jayhawks’ chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif., on June 7-10.
