IOWA CITY – The Kansas Track and Field team had an impressive showing at the Iowa Black and Gold Invite, recording 18 first place finishes as well as setting 10 new meet records across various events.
The men’s and women’s pole vault squads both made some noise, led by Mason Meinershagen, who PR’d for a third-consecutive meet with an impressive 4.18m clearance. Unattached Erica Ellis cleared the same height, while Gabby Hoke was close behind with a best mark of 4.09m.
On the men’s side, Clayton Simms made his season debut with a first-place finish and new meet record of 5.41m, while Anthony Meacham tied the previous meet record in second place with 5.31m.
Taylor Mayo had a breakout day in the women’s triple jump, winning with a big personal best of 12.24m. The men’s side faired equally as well, with Jaden Patterson jumping a season-best 15.27m to break the meet record and win.
The men and women swept the 3000m, with Sawyer Schmidt and Makenna Anderson both taking first with new PR’s of 8:29.68 and 10:02.22, respectively. The 200m also went to Kansas on both sides, as Michael Joseph won by a new PR of 21.29 and Deshana Skeete with her 24.27.
TJ Robinson (800m), Kaycee McCoy (60m hurdles) and AJ Green (600m) all broke meet records in their respective events, all three claiming first place finishes as well. Other Jayhawk winners include Kenadi Krueger (mile), Pearl Awanya (400m), Aaliyah Lindsay (long jump), Devin Loudermilk (high jump), Tori Thomas (shot put) and both men’s and women’s 4×400 squads.
The Jayhawks will now be looking ahead to the Husker Invitational on February 2-3, which will get underway on Friday, Feb. 2 in Nebraska with the first day of multi events.
