RCW: Inside Cross Country 3.37
Get a quick look inside your favorite Kansas Jayhawk programs each week with Rock Chalk Weekly’s Inside Sports pages. Notable statistics, quick hits and the top social media posts get every Jayhawk fan up-to-speed and ready for another week of thrilling competition.
Number BY THE NUMBERS
With her first-place finish at the Big 12 Championship, sophomore All-American Sharon Lokedi became the first Jayhawk to win the league title in the history of the women’s program. She completed the 6K in 20:18.5. After her historic season, Lokedi was named the Big 12 Runner of the Year.
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Notes QUICK HITS
- Lokedi claimed fifth place at the NCAA Championships, marking the best finish ever by a Kansas female at the national race. She clocked a time of 19:52.2, which was the fastest 6K of her collegiate career thus far. Lokedi’s top-five performance earned her All-America honors for the second season in a row. She is the first two-time All-American in the history of the Kansas women’s cross country program.
- Lokedi has been the top Kansas finisher in each of her 10 races in the Crimson and Blue.
- Junior Chris Melgares was named the Big 12 Men’s Cross Country Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year. This is just the second time a KU cross country runner has won the award. Melgares has a 3.99 grade point average. In each race last season, he was one of the Jayhawk men’s top-two runners.
- For the second-straight year, the KU women placed in the top-five at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet. They tallied a total of 154 points.
- The women’s team saw top-20 performances at the regional race from Lokedi, as well as seniors Hannah Richardson and Malika Baker. It was the first time since 2000 that three KU women received All-Region accolades.
- Richardson’s 11th-place outing matched her career-best regional finish. She completed the 6K course in 20:30.2. Baker’s 19th-place finish at the Midwest Regional was the best of her career, crossing the finish line in 20:44.2.
- The Jayhawk men placed fourth at the Big 12 Championship after amassing 104 points. This was the fourth time in the past five years that the men have placed in the top-five against their conference opponents.
- Senior James Hampton earned All-Big 12 honors after placing 14th at the league meet with his 8K time of 26:01.5.
- In the opening meet of the year, both Jayhawk teams swept their competition at the Bob Timmons Dual Classic. For the women, it was the second year in a row where they won their season debut as a team.
