RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.24 (Track & Field)
Courtney Coppinger takes ?? in the women’s mile! #KUtrack #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/OL2sKNIvJd
— Kansas Track & Field (@KUTrack) February 24, 2018
Day two lived up to the hype. #Big12TF #KUtrack
A post shared by Kansas Track & Field (@kutrack) on Feb 24, 2018 at 5:51pm PST
WHAT A FINISH! Courtney Coppinger powers through to take second in the 3,000! #KUtrack #Big12TF https://t.co/bJ3KggILcS
— Kansas Track & Field (@KUTrack) February 24, 2018
The Kansas women’s track & field team posted its highest team finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championship since 2013, finishing just five points behind champion Texas for second place.
Hordes of Jayhawk women appeared on the award stand all weekend, but none more frequently than senior distance runner Courtney Coppinger, who made three trips to the podium throughout the meet.
Coppinger first earned a trip to the stand as a member of the women’s distance medley relay team that finished third on Friday night, earning the KU women six points. Earlier in the day, the Mission Hills, Kansas native earned an opportunity to get a spot on the podium by qualifying for the mile final by finishing third in the preliminary round.
In Saturday’s mile final, Coppinger ran herself to a silver medal for her second trip to the awards stand and a big eight points for the Jayhawks.
Having already ran three races and more than 4,800 meters, the St. Teresa’s Academy product surged to a second-place finish in the 3,000 meters in the final individual event of the weekend, with teammate Sharon Lokedi, who won the event for her second gold of the weekend, urging Coppinger on from the finish line.
Once Coppinger crossed the line, Lokedi ran to hug her teammate and the two collapsed to the track in an exhausted embrace.
Coppinger and Lokedi will be headed to College Station, Texas for the NCAA Indoor Championships, March 9-10, as part of the women’s distance medley relay team, which is one of eight entries for the Kansas track & field teams. Lokedi is also entered in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter run.
Video courtesy of FloTrack. Watch more videos from the Big 12 Indoor Championship at FloTrack.org.
