Current and future Jayhawks in action at junior nationals across the world
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Although the 2018 NCAA Track & Field season may be over, plenty of Kansas track & field athletes are still in action this summer, including six this weekend at three different junior national championships across the world.
A total of four Jayhawks – two from the 2018 squad and two signees – will be competing at the USA Track & Field Junior Outdoor Championships at Indiana University’s Hayes Track at the Haugh Complex in Bloomington, Indiana, June 15-17, while two other Jayhawks will be competing in Europe at their home country’s under-20 championships.
Freshmen from the 2018 squad, Honour Finley and Kyle Rogers, as well as signees Ally Ryan and Zach Bradford, will be competing against the best under the age of 20 in the United States in Bloomington. Freshman George Evans will be competing in the shot put and discus at England’s U20 Championships in Bedford, England, June 16-17, and freshman Lea Riedel will throw the shot put at the Baden-Wurttemberg U20 State Championships in Tubingen, Germany, June 16-17.
Rogers and Bradford will be two of 10 competitors in the men’s pole vault, scheduled for 4:15 p.m. EDT (3:15 CDT) on Friday.
Rogers finished his freshman campaign with a season-best clearance of 5.28 meters (17-3.75 ft.) at the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, which earned him an eighth-place finish. He also earned a trip to the NCAA West Preliminary Round where he finished 16th.
Bradford competed for Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Illinois, where he had a successful career that included clearing 18-0.5 ft. this year in the indoor season at the New Balance Nationals in New York, March 9-11, and jumping 17-9 ft. at the Illinois High School 3A Boys Belleville West Sectionals in Belleville, Illinois, on May 18.
Finley will run in the 400-meter dash at the USATF Junior Championships, with the first round scheduled for 5:10 p.m. EDT (4:10 p.m. CDT) on Saturday. The final is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday. The 400 was Finley’s primary event in her freshman season at Kansas, and she finished her rookie year as the No. 5 performer in the event in school history, with a season-best time of 53.48 seconds in the preliminary round of the Big 12 Outdoor Championship.
Ryan will compete in the 800 meters, with the first round scheduled for Friday at 4:55 p.m. EDT (3:55 p.m. CDT) and the final slated for 6:20 p.m. EDT on Saturday. Competing for Jenks High School in Jenks, Oklahoma, Ryan’s prep career was full of records, as she broke a 13-year-old state record in the 800 meters in 2017 (2:09.28) and broke the Jenks HS record this season (2:08.74), which would have also been a state record but was ran outside of Oklahoma, and also broke a 14-year-old state record in the 1,600-meter run this season (4:51.55).
Evans will throw the shot put on Saturday and the discus on Sunday at Bedford International Stadium. He finished his freshman season with a trip to the NCAA Championships where he earned Second Team All-America honors with a 13th-place finish in the discus. Evans is the No. 8 performer in KU history in the discus to this point in his career after posting a throw of 58.67 meters (192-6 ft.) at the Big 12 Championships, where he earned a second-place finish.
Riedel will compete in the shot put on Sunday at 12:20 p.m. GMT+2 (5:20 p.m. CDT). She finished her freshman campaign as the No. 7 performer in school history in the shot put with a mark of 15.24 meters (50-0 ft.) at the Big 12 Championships.
There will be a handful of Jayhawks, both present and past, in action next weekend at the USATF Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, June 21-24 as well as a pair of current student-athletes in action at the Jamaican National Senior Championships at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, June 21-24.
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