πŸ‘Ÿ Kansas Men Fare Well in First Rounds of NCAA West Regional

SACRAMENTO, Cal. – The Kansas track and field team had a strong first round of the NCAA West Preliminary in Sacramento, California.

Wednesday was the opening round of competition for the men, while Thursday kicked things off for the women.

Patrick Larrison led the charge, becoming the first Jayhawk to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships after placing 11th in the men’s shotput, throwing 19.38m to punch his ticket to Austin.

Clayton Simms was right behind him, securing fifth place overall in the men’s pole vault by clearing 5.40m. The sophomore will make the return to outdoor nationals after qualifying as a true freshman last year, as well as qualifying for and placing fifth at indoor nationals earlier this year.

Larrison and Simms will join Alexander Jung and Tayton Klein, two decathletes for the Jayhawks that punched their ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last week, ranking 21st and 24th respectively.

Other Jayhawks whose postseason fate still needs to be determined include A.J. Green and T.J. Robinson, who placed 13th and 18th respectively in the men’s 800m preliminaries to secure their spot in tomorrow’s final.

Michael Joseph will run in the men’s 400m final after taking 13th place in the preliminary round, running a 46.04 in the event.

Cameron Wilmington also secured his spot in a Friday final, running a new 400m hurdles personal best of 50.68 in Wednesday’s preliminaries to place 13th overall.

The three Kansas women who competed today include Samantha Van Hoecke and Gabby Hoke in the women’s pole vault, as well as Avryl Johnson in the women’s 1500m preliminaries. Hoke finished the highest, placing 18th with 4.12m being her best height. Johnson finished 36th overall, running a 4:23.09,while Van Hoecke finished 41st by clearing 3.82m.

Other men who hit the track on Wednesday were Justice Dick (800m, 32nd, 1:50.27), Klein (long jump, 21st, 7.43m) and Oleg Klykov (hammer throw, 20th, 64.73m). The men’s pole vault squad also saw jumps from Ashton Barkdull, who finished right on the cusp of qualifier status in 13th place (5.30m) and Andrew Saloga (16th, 5.30m). Jake Freidel finished 22nd with his 5.20m bar and Anthony Meacham came in 37th with 4.90m.