KU Track Ready for NCAA Championships

June 6, 2005

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The University of Kansas track and field teams will send 12 student-athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships this week (June 8-11) in Sacramento, Calif. 10 Jayhawks automatically qualified with top-five Midwest Regional finishes, while two KU athletes received at-large bids to the meet.

Junior Sheldon Battle will lead KU as he competes in three events. Battle, the 2005 Big 12 Outdoor Athlete of the Year, will compete in the hammer throw, discus and the shot put.

“Sheldon has been great in all three events this season, and we wanted to keep him in that rhythm,” head coach Stanley Redwine said. “It is really special for an athlete to qualify in three individual events at this level.”

Defending indoor pole vault national champion Amy Linnen will also head to Sacramento as a favorite in her event. The senior has broken every KU pole vault record in her only year in Lawrence. Joining Linnen in the pole vault will be KU freshman and Big 12 Champion Ekaterina Sultanova.

Other KU competitors at the national meet include, freshman Julius Jiles (110-meter hurdles), senior Jeremy Mims (800-meters), junior Benson Chesang (5,000-meters), sophomore Gavin Ball (discus), freshman Ekaterina Sultanova (pole vault), senior Brooklyn Hann (triple jump), freshman Crystal Manning (triple jump), sophomore Abby Emsick (discus), senior Jen Widerstrom (hammer throw) and junior Charisse Bacchus (long jump).

“It is an accomplishment to get to the NCAA meet, but our athletes don’t want to stop there. Our season isn’t over and we are going into this meet with the mindset of doing good things,” Redwine added.

Action from Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State University will begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday with the qualifying round of the women’s discus.