👟 Jayhawks Wrap Up Action at the Big 12 Indoor Championship

AMES, Iowa – The Kansas men’s and women’s track & field teams wrapped up their weekend at the 2020 Big 12 Indoor Championship at the Lied Recreation Center in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, with the KU women finishing sixth as a team, and the Jayhawk men placing ninth.

The Kansas women scored a total of 54 points, while the Jayhawk men scored 45 points. Iowa State claimed the men’s team competition by scoring 137 points, and the Texas women won the women’s competition for the second-straight year with 180.77 points.

"I thought we had some decent performance on the women’s side. But as a team we didn’t have enough depth, and it costed us, We had too many zeros, too many areas we didn’t have points. So we have to get healthy and get ready for outdoor season. "

Head Coach Stanley Redwine

On Saturday, Kansas earned 15 trips to the podium between the men and the women, including 10 points coming in the women’s 400 meters final. Senior Mariah Kuykendoll led the Jayhawks in the women’s 400 meters, running a personal best 53.40, which makes her the No. 3 performer in KU history, tying Nicole Montgomery’s time of 53.40 in 2017. Kansas’ Honour Finley followed Kuykendoll by placing sixth in 53.65, followed by Zantori Dickerson in seventh in 55.08.

In the women’s shot put, junior Alexandra Emilianov opened her day with a throw of 15.52m (50-11 ft.), before improving on the mark in her next two throws. After advancing to the event finals, Emilianov launched a throw of 16.68m (54-8.75 ft.), moving her into second place. Emilianov would stand in second after her final two throws, while her throw of 16.68m (54-8.75 ft.) made her the No. 3 performer in KU indoor history.

Senior Jedah Caldwell raced to a career-best Big 12 indoor performance in the women’s 200 meter final, as she finished in third in 23.97. Caldwell’s third-place performance comes after placing fifth in the event over the last two years.

In the women’s 1,000 meters, a pair of Jayhawks, freshman Addison Coppinger and sophomore Avryl Johnson, each earned a spot on the podium and set personal bests in the event. Coppinger placed fourth overall in 2:50.75 and Johnson coming in at 2:53.23, as the Jayhawks tallied eight points in the event.

In the final event of the day for the women, the Kansas women’s 4×400 meter relay team of Kuykendoll, Dickerson, Caldwell and Finley ran to a runner-up finish in the event, clocking a 3:34.41. The time ties a season-best that was run at last week’s Arkansas Qualifier, while also marking KU’s second-consecutive runner-up finish in the event.

On the men’s side sophomore Trevyon Ferguson made his first-career Big 12 Indoor podium appearance in the men’s triple jump, where he placed third overall. Entering his final jump, Ferguson stood in fifth with a top-mark of 15.72m (51-7 ft.), which came on his fifth attempt. On his last jump of the competition, Ferguson reached a personal best mark of 15.80m (51-10 ft.), moving him into third overall, while making him the No. 7 performer in KU indoor history.

After a full day of heptathlon competition on Friday, Kansas freshman Mark Burdin made his way into scoring contention in the final three events on Saturday.

In the men’s heptathlon pole vault, Burdin jumped a personal best 4.57m (15-0 ft.) to earn 781 points, topping his previous best of 4.25m (13-11.25 ft.) set earlier this season at the Jayhawk Classic. In the final event of the competition, Burdin ran a personal best 2:53.51 to cap off the heptathlon with 5,194 points, making him the No. 6 performer in KU indoor history.

Kansas will compete at the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., on March 13-14, with qualifiers being announced at a later date.