👟 28 Jayhawks Qualify for NCAA West Preliminary
LAWRENCE, Kan.– The Kansas track and field team will be sending 28 athletes to compete in the NCAA West Region Preliminary in Sacramento, California on May 24-27.
A total of 20 men and eight women will represent Kansas at the meet, which will be held at Sacramento State University in Sacramento, California.
The Kansas pole vaulters will be the most widely-represented event group with five men and two women qualifying. Clayton Simms will enter the meet with the highest ranking of the bunch, coming in at No. 3 in the West Region after jumping 5.65m at the Kansas Relays. Ashton Barkdull (15), Anthony Meacham (17), Andrew Saloga (21) and Jake Freidel (27) will join Simms, while Samantha Van Hoecke (20) and Gabby Hoke (29) will compete on the women’s side.
Big 12 Champions Chandler Gibbens and Rylee Anderson both qualified in their respective events, with Gibbens posting a No. 2 West Region ranking in the men’s 5k and Anderson coming in at No. 3 in the women’s high jump.
Patrick Larrison will be competing in two different events, qualifying in both the discus throw and shot put. He comes in at No. 12 in the discus (59.92) and No. 17 in the shot put (19.17m). Larrison will be joined by No. 4-ranked Dimitrios Pavlidis in the discus throw.
Tori Thomas and Sofia Sluchaninova will also throw discus at the prelims, with Thomas ranking No. 13 (55.74m) and Sluchaninova coming in at No. 39 during her freshman campaign (52.52m).
Oleg Klykov is the final thrower who will represent the Jayhawks, coming in at No. 14 in the hammer throw with his 68.09m mark.
Avryl Johnson and Lona Latema both qualified in their respective running events, with Johnson competing in the 1500m and Latema in the 3k steeplechase.
Tayton Klein is set to compete in the long jump, looking to qualify for the National Championships in a second event. The freshman ranks No. 24 in the decathlon, already punching his ticket to the NCAA Championships which will take place in Austin, Texas on June 7-10.
Other horizontal jumpers will be Jaden Patterson, who comes in at No. 10 in the men’s triple jump, and Saudia Heard, who ranks 20th in the women’s triple jump.
Devin Loudermilk ranks No. 6 in the men’s high jump, rounding out the field events for the Jayhawks. He will be looking to build off his 2.19m PR set at the Big 12 Championships last weekend.
Three men will run in the 800m prelims, led by No. 16 A.J. Green (1:47.66). Justice Dick checks in at No. 28 (1:48.45) and T.J. Robinson sits at No. 32 (1:48.68). All three of them ran PR’s at the Big 12 Championship last weekend to earn these regional-qualifying marks.
Michael Joseph ranks No. 3 in the 400m dash after his record-breaking 44.77 race at Big 12’s, so he will compete in both that as well as the 4×4. There are eight Jayhawks representing in the men’s 4x400m, including Joseph, Grant Lockwood, Ethan Fogle, Jameir Colbert, Cameron Wilmington, as well as Green, Dick and Robinson.
Wilmington will be running in the 400m hurdle prelims at this meet as well, coming in at No. 15 in the rankings with his 50.89 mark.
Things will kick off for the Jayhawks on Wednesday, May 24th with Klykov in the hammer throw starting at 10:00am. For a full schedule of events, head to this link.
