KU Track Heads to Midwest Regionals
May 26, 2005
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
The University of Kansas track and field teams will travel to Norman, Okla., and the Jacobs Track Complex this Friday and Saturday for the 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships.
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28 Jayhawks have qualified for the meet and will try to contend for a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that will take place in Sacramento June 8-11.
Leading the way for Kansas will be junior thrower Sheldon Battle. Battle is coming off an impressive Big 12 meet in which he was the leading scorer, claiming victories in both the hammer throw and the discus, while placing second in the shot put. He will compete in all three events this weekend.
On the women’s side, KU will try to continue dominance in the pole vault. Freshman Ekaterina Sultanova was the winner of the pole vault at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships with a best effort of 13-5 ¼. Her senior teammate Amy Linnen is the defending indoor NCAA Champion and has the 17th best effort in the U.S. this year (13-11 ¼).
The Midwest Region, draws qualifiers from schools within the states of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming.
In individual events, the top five finishers at each of the four regional meets advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The top three relays also advance automatically.
After the regional qualifiers and the qualifiers from the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter run, the decathlon and heptathlon are put into the NCAA field, the NCAA Track and Field Committee issues at-large invitations to complete the field. A maximum of 544 men and 544 women are invited to the meet.
To qualify for the at-large pool, an athlete has to have competed in the event at the regional meet; and finished in the top eight at the regional. That list is then rank ordered by season best mark, including any marks recorded at the regional meet, and the field is completed. The events will be filled based on the strength of the field, meaning some events may have more entries than others with the 544 total athlete count in effect.
Regional action from Norman will begin on Friday at noon with the men’s discus and high jump.
KU’s Midwest Regional Competitors
Julius Jiles, 110-meter hurdles
Barrett Saunders, Long Jump
Benson Chesang, 5,000-meters
Eric Babb, Long Jump
Sheldon Battle, Shot Put, Discus, Hammer
Cody Roberts, Discus
Dan Ferguson, 3,000-meter steeplechase
Brett Terp, High Jump
Cameron Schwehr, 1,500-meters
Colby Wissel, 5,000-meters
Gavin Ball, Shot Put, Discus
Colin Dutton, Hammer Throw
Octavia Garrett, 200, 4×400-meter relay
Shatoya Hill, Triple Jump
Charisse Bacchus, Long Jump
Brooklyn Hann, Triple Jump, 4×400-meter relay
Abby Emsick, Discus
Denita Miller, Javelin
Amy Linnen, Pole Vault
Erin Wessely, Pole Vault
Kim Clark, 800-meters, 4×400-meter relay
Sondra Rauterkus, High Jump
Kara Euler, 4×400-meter relay
Crystal Manning, Triple Jump
Cortney Jacobs, 4×400-meter relay
Ekaterina Sultanova, Pole Vault
Jen Widerstrom, Hammer Throw
