πŸ‘Ÿ Kansas Stands Out at John McDonnell Invitational

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas track and field team has many strong performances at the Arkansas John McDonnell Invitational on April 19-20.

The women’s distance crew particularly stood out, taking the 1500m by storm as a collective. Avryl Johnson won the event with her new personal best time of 4:18.78, while Lona Latema took third with her new PR of 4:20.26, and Addie Coppinger rounded things out in fifth place with a 4:22.44 PR.

The women’s 4×1 of Kaycee McCoy, Ashley Wallace, Anna Siemens and Amiyah McKeithan were victorious in a strong field, running a season-best time of 45.93, while the women’s 4×4 took second, making for a successful day for the women’s relays.

Rylee Anderson took second in the high jump, clearing 1.76m, while Saudia Heard also had a second-place finish, recording a person best 12.99m mark in the women’s triple jump.

Tori Thomas was victorious in both the shot put and the discus, winning with 15.71m and 52.78m (personal best) marks respectively. Sofia Sluchaninova was the runner-up in the discus throw, recording a strong 49.77m throw. Rounding out the women’s throws was Lexy Farrington, who claimed fourth place overall in the javelin with a 41.26m mark in the event.

On the men’s side, Grant Lockwood broke 47 seconds in the 400m dash to claim third place overall, running an impressive 46.63 to set a new personal best for himself.

A.J. Green, Justice Dick and T.J. Robinson went one, two and four in the men’s 800m, with Dick recording a new personal best of 1:49.82 in the event.

The men’s steeplechase group made a statement as well, with Cale Littrell placing second, Gabe Birkmeier taking third and Christopher Stone placing fourth with a new personal best of 9:36.88.

Devin Loudermilk won the high jump with his 2.14m clearance, while Tayton Klein won the long jump with a new personal best of 7.66m.

The men’s pole vault had another fantastic meet, with Clayton Simms claiming the victory with his 5.50m clearance to lead the way. Anthony Meacham had a huge day, taking second with his new PR of 5.40m.

Dimitrios Pavlidis took second place in the men’s discus throw (57.93m) and Patrick Larrison placed third (55.87m), while Joe Kieny came in sixth place with his 49.88m throw.

Up next, the Jayhawks will host the Rock Chalk Classic on Saturday, April 29th for their senior day celebration.