LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas Track and Field team recorded strong numbers across the board in both Arkansas and Boston this weekend, highlighted by two school records being broken by the distance squad.
Kicking things off in Boston was Emmaculate Jemutai, who broke the women’s indoor mile record that had been previously held by Lauren Bonds (4:41.61, 2010) with a personal-best time of 4:39.55.
Chandler Gibbens would follow suit on the next day, running a 13:50.85 in the men’s 5,000m in a loaded Boston field to break Craig Watcke’s record (13:51.82, 1989).
On the Arkansas side of things, there were a multitude of Jayhawk PR’s, including Pearl Awanya’s 52.56 400m, which set the new Ghana National Record in the event. She was also a member of the women’s 4x400m relay squad that would obliterate the previous season-best of 3:43.60 with a 3:33.90 to finish third overall.
Devin Loudermilk also recorded a third-place finish in Arkansas in the men’s high jump invitational, tying his PR of 2.21m to get there. After this performance, the junior out of Howard, Kansas comes in at No. 5 in the NCAA rankings.
Taylor Mayo had a huge day in the women’s triple jump, PR’ing on five out of her six total attempts in the event (12.31m, 12.47m, 12.49m, 12.57m and 12.64m). She finished fifth overall.
Another Jayhawk who had a breakout day at the Randal Tyson Track Center was Clayton Simms, who jumped a season-best 5.62m to win in a stacked men’s pole vault invitational field. Simms is now the highest-ranked Jayhawk across the board, coming in at No. 3.
Rounding out the top finishes in Arkansas was TJ Robinson, who finished third in a loaded men’s 800m field, running a 1:48.60 in order to do so.
Up next, a small group of Jayhawks will head down the road to Kansas State next weekend for the Steve Miller Invite, which will take place on February 16th in Manhattan. The team will then get back into action on February 23-24 for the Indoor Big 12 Championship in Lubbock, Texas.
