Fourteen All-Region Honors For Jayhawks

June 3, 2008

Midwest All-Region Teams

<?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>LAWRENCE, Kan. – Following a successful trip to Lincoln, Neb., for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, 11 members of the University of Kansas track and field teams received a total of 14 all-region honors as announced by the USTFCCCA on Tuesday. Seniors Ashley Brown and Crystal Manning and junior Nickesha Anderson each earned the distinction in two events. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

Of the 43 teams in the Midwest Region, the Kansas women placed fourth while the men, behind Regional champions and meet record-holders Egor Agafonov (hammer throw) and Jordan Scott (pole vault), finished 11th. The all-region teams are determined by the student-athletes who finish in the top eight of his/her respective event at the Regional Championships.

Anderson won the honor after finishing second in the 200 meters, just one-hundredth of a second behind the winner. Her second all-region performance came in the 100 meters where she placed third.

Brown was a two-time honoree with her third-place finish in the 400 hurdles and sixth-place finish in the 100 hurdles, while Manning was eighth in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.

Seniors Maresia Pencil (800 meters) and Kate Sultanova (pole vault) and juniors Sha’Ray Butler (400 hurdles), Stephanie Horton (pole vault) and Zlata Tarasova (hammer throw) rounded out the eight women’s honorees.

Nearly joining all-region recipients Agafonov and Scott at the top of the podium, senior Julius Jiles was all-region in the 110-meter hurdles. The Kansas City, Mo., native placed second to regional-leader and stadium record-holder Shawon Harris of Texas Tech.

Nine Jayhawks have already locked up a spot in the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, June 11-14. The remaining athletes, those unable to automatically qualify at the Midwest Regionals, will hope for an at-large berth into the national championship meet when the accepted entries are announced on Wed., June 4.