FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kansas men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out its regular season portion of its indoor schedule at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Friday.
The Jayhawks competed across five events on Friday, including the women’s shot put, women’s weight throw, women’s pole vault, men’s triple jump and men’s pole vault.
Sophomore Jaden Patterson had a strong performance in the men’s triple jump, jumping personal bests on two of his attempts on Friday. Patterson initially jumped a personal best of 15.45m (50-8.25 ft.) on his third attempt, before jumping 15.81m (51-10.5 ft.) on his final attempt. Patterson’s mark of 15.81m (51-10.5 ft.) made him the No. 7 performer in KU indoor history.
In the men’s pole vault, freshman Ashton Barkdull continued his standout freshman season by jumping a personal best 5.45m (17-10.5 ft.) to place second overall. Junior Andrew Saloga tied his personal best with a jump of 5.30m (17-4.5 ft.), while Bradey Koolen and Anthony Meacham each cleared 5.15m (16-10.75 ft.).
On the women’s side of the pole vault, senior Samantha Van Hoecke, junior Gabby Hoke and junior Taylor Starkey all cleared 4.00m (13-1.5 ft.) to place in the top-10 of the event.
Junior Tori Thomas improved upon her personal best in the women’s shot put by throwing 14.89m (48-10.25 ft.), placing her second overall. Freshman Sophia Sluchaninova placed seventh in the women’s weight throw with a throw of 15.55m (51-0.25 ft.).
The Jayhawks next get into postseason competition with the Big 12 Indoor Championships Feb. 24-25 in Lubbock, Texas and the NCAA Indoor Championships March 10-11 in Albuquerque, N.M.
