Jayhawks Send Five to USA Championships
June 21, 2007
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
The University of Kansas track and field team will send five of its members to the 2007 USA Championships Thursday through Sunday in Indianapolis, Ind at the Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium on the campus of IUPUI. Freshmen Kirk Cooper, Jordan Scott and Lauren Bonds will compete at the 2007 Finish Line USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships while Crystal Manning and Julius Jiles will participate in the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
The duo of Cooper and Scott will compete in the men’s pole vault event. Scott, the reining Big 12 Indoor, Outdoor and Midwest Region champion in the event, enters the field as the top ranked competitor in among the participants with a season-best vault of 18-02.50. Cooper cleared 16-06.75 and ranks 12th among the field. Scott also qualified for the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and enters the field tied for 17th among the competitors. They will compete at 5:15 pm CST on Thursday.
Bonds will compete in the women’s 1,500-meter run with a season-best time of 4:58.02, which ranks 14th among the field. Bonds was an All-Big 12 performer after finishing fifth in the indoor 1,000-meter run and currently ranks second all-time on KU’s outdoor 3000-meter steeplechase performance list. The first round of the event will take place at 5:50 CST on Thursday.
Juniors Jiles and Manning will represent KU at the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, also held at the Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium on the campus of IUPUI, participating in the men’s 110-meter hurdles and the women’s triple jump respectively.
2007 has been a banner year for Jiles, who earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championships when he finished eighth in the 110-meter hurdle finals. Earlier at the Championships, Jiles broke the school record in the event with a time of 13.66 seconds. He enters the field ranked 26th. He is slated to compete in the first round of the event at 4:50 p.m. CST on Friday.
Manning was also a 2007 Outdoor All-American, finishing ninth in the triple jump at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Earlier in the year, she shattered the school record in the event, winning the Big 12 Outdoor title with a jump of 44-11.75. She is the fifth-ranked triple jumper in the field with that performance. She will compete at 6: 20 p.m. CST on Thursday.
For live results from the 2007 Finish Line USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships and the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, click here.
– KU –
