👟 Emilianov Places Second in the Discus on the Final Day of the NCAA Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – Kansas senior Alexandra Emilianov closed out her KU career with a second-place finish in the women’s discus and junior Rylee Anderson earned second team All-America honors in the high jump on the final day of the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday.
With her second place finish, Emilianov becomes the first Jayhawk in school history to finish with four first team All-America honors in the women’s discus throw, with her finish on Saturday being the best in her career. Emilianov also earned outdoor first team All-America honors in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Throwing in the second flight of the discus, Emilianov recorded a throw of 56.95m (186-10 ft.) on her second attempt, which placed her in second going into finals. On her fifth attempt, Emilianov launched a throw of 58.44m (191-9 ft.) to take over first place, though it wouldn’t last.
On the next attempt, Arizona State’s Jorinde Van Klinken reclaimed the lead with a throw of 62.16m (203-11 ft.), which would win her the event and place Emilianov in second.
Along with Emilianov, Anderson earned All-America honors on Saturday by placing 13th in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.80m (5-10.75 ft.).
Anderson opened her afternoon at 1.72m (5-7.75 ft.) and cleared her first two heights on her very first attempt. With the bar set at 1.80m (5-10.75 ft.), Anderson missed on her first two attempts before coming up with a clutch third-attempt clearance. Anderson would go on to miss three times at 1.83m (6-0 ft.), ending her day in 13th place.
The Kansas women’s team finished the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships in a tie for 30th with 8 points, while the KU men tied for 64th place with 2 points. Kansas finishes the NCAA Outdoor Championships with nine NCAA All-American honors, including Rylee Anderson (second team, high jump), Alexandra Emilianov (first team, discus), Honour Finley (second team, 800 meters, 4×400 meter relay), Clayton Simms (first team, pole vault), Zach Bradford (second team, pole vault), Satanya Wright (second team, 4×400 meter relay), Mariah Kuykendoll (second team, 4×400 meter relay) and Anna Siemens (second team, 4×400 meter relay).
Saturday’s NCAA Championships marked the finale of the 2022 NCAA season for Kansas, while several Jayhawks will be in action for their respective countries at junior and senior events this summer.
