👟 Kansas Track & Field in Action at Missouri Spring Opener
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas men’s and women’s track and field teams continue its outdoor season at the Missouri Spring Opener in Columbia, Missouri March 20-21, the second of Kansas’ 12 scheduled outdoor meets this season.
Kansas kicked off its outdoor season on March 6 at the Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas, where the Jayhawks competed in their first outdoor meet in nearly two years. This weekend’s Missouri Spring opener begins at 12 p.m., CT on Friday, before continuing at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
In their first meet of the outdoor season, Kansas saw several strong performers in their season debut, setting two top NCAA marks that weekend. Kansas’ Hussain Al-Hizam owns the No. 1 mark in the country in the men’s pole vault at 5.50m (18-0.5 ft.), while Mariah Kuykendoll has the fastest women’s 400 meters time in the country at 53.63.
NEWS & NOTES
- Kansas last competed at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on March 11-14, where five Jayhawks earned All-American honors, including Zach Bradford (pole vault), Honour Finley (400 meters), Alexandra Emilianov (shot put), Rylee Anderson (high jump) and Samantha Van Hoecke (pole vault).
- Coming off the 2019 outdoor season, Kansas returns 16 All-Americans from previous indoor and outdoor seasons, including seven men and nine women’s student-athletes.
- Entering the 2021 NCAA outdoor season, Bowerman Watch List honoree Gleb Dudarev is the No. 5 performer in the men’s hammer throw in NCAA history with his mark of 78.04m (256-1 ft.) set at the 2019 Kansas Relays. Dudarev has landed on both Bowerman Watch Lists this season and looks to contend as one of the best hammer throws in collegiate history.
- Kansas Head Coach Stanley Redwine is in his 21st season at KU, where he has coached 20 individual national champions, two Big 12 team titles and one NCAA team championship. Going into the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Redwine was named an assistant coach for Team USA.
- Kansas’ 2021 outdoor schedule consists of 12 meets that span six states, including the Rock Chalk Classic to be hosted at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kansas on May 1. The Jayhawks will prepare for the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, which take place on May 14-16 in Manhattan, Kansas, before competing in the NCAA West Preliminary on May 27-29 in Austin, Texas. Qualifiers will then compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon on June 9-12.
UP NEXT
Following this weekend’s Missouri Spring Opener, Kansas will split between the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas on March 24-27 and the Oral Roberts Invitational in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 26-27.
