Dudarev shatters Kansas hammer throw record at Sun Angel
Overall Results | Kansas Results
TEMPE, Ariz. –In the first collegiate hammer throw competition of his career, freshman Gleb Dudarev posted the top-five hammer throw marks in program history, including the school record, as he claimed victory in the event Friday afternoon at the 38th Sun Angel Classic. Dudarev’s performance moved him to the top of the NCAA’s yearly leaderboard and among the top-25 in the world rankings for 2017.
Seeing action for the first time in the outdoor season, Dudarev continued the awe-inspiring start to his Kansas career with another historic performance. The Belarus native, who earned First Team All-America status in the weight throw last month at the NCAA Indoor Championships, picked up right where he left off as he entered the throws cage inside Sun Angel Stadium Friday.
Jayhawk throws coach Andy Kokhanovsky was
all smiles after Dudarev’s performance Friday.To start his afternoon, Dudarev flung the 16-pound implement to a mark of 71.11 meters (233-3 ft.), immediately breaking Egor Agafonov’s 11-year-old school record by four inches on his first official collegiate attempt. The freshman wouldn’t stop there though, topping his seven-minute-old KU record on the very next toss.
Dudarev got the hammer out to a distance of 72.69 meters (238-6 ft.) on his second attempt, once again etching his name atop the school charts. Over the final four rounds, he notched three more throws over 235 feet, but could not surpass his mark from the second round and went on to claim the event victory by more than 23 feet over the rest of the field.
The performance has Dudarev at No. 1 on the NCAA’s most recent hammer throw rankings, his mark nearly three feet better than next-farthest throw on the DI list. He also now sits inside the top-25 on the world hammer throw chart.
A handful of other Jayhawks were also in action on day one of the Sun Angel Classic. Senior Mitch Cooper joined Dudarev in the hammer throw, posting a seventh-place finish with a personal-best mark of 58.94 meters (193-4).
Senior Dylan Poirier added a fifth-place finish in the open division pole vault after clearing a top bar of 4.95 meters (16-2¾). Freshman Chase Pennewell added a 10th-place finish with a mark of 4.80 meters (15-8¾).
The Jayhawks will continue their two-day swing in Tempe when they compete on the final day of the 38th Annual Sun Angel Classic Saturday. Action from Sun Angel Stadium will begin at 12 p.m. (CT) with the men’s discus and will conclude at 11:16 p.m., with the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays. Log on to KUAthletics.com for a complete recap of the day’s events and get live updates by following on Twitter and Instagram at @KUTrack.
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