Hoppel shines on day two of Kansas split squad action
A day after junior Sharon Lokedi broke the school record in the 3,000-meter run at the Iowa State Classic, sophomore Bryce Hoppel clocked the second-fastest time in Kansas track & field men’s indoor history in the 800-meter run at the Lied Recreation Center in Ames, Iowa, surpassing Jayhawk legend Jim Ryun on the all-time performance list. Hoppel’s run was the highlight of the day in a successful Saturday of split squad action for the Jayhawks in Ames and at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY
• Midland, Texas native Bryce Hoppel took the 800-meter title at the Iowa State Classic by clocking the second-fastest performance in school history and the No. 2 time in NCAA Division I this season. Hoppel turned in a time of 1:47.09, which sits behind only Jeremy Mims’ time of 1:47.04, set in 2005, in the Kansas record books. Hoppel’s time is second to UTEP’s Michael Saruni’s altitude-adjusted time of 1:44.89 this season in the NCAA. The victory for the sophomore marks the sixth-straight outing in an individual event that Hoppel took first, making him perfect on the season. Before his personal-best performance on Saturday, Hoppel was the No. 4 performer in Kansas history, clocking in at 1:48.36 at the Rod McCravy Memorial last weekend in Lexington, Kentucky.
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
• Junior LaTyria Jefferson became the No. 9 performer in Kansas women’s indoor history in the high jump, clearing a bar of 1.75 meters (5-8.75 ft.). The clearance gave the DeSoto, Texas product a second-place finish in the invitational section of the event at the Tyson Invitational.
• The men’s 4×400-meter relay team of Ivan Henry, Jaron Hartley, Isaiah Cole and Tre Daniels clocked a time of 3:08.32 in the invitational section at the Tyson Invitational to finish fourth and recorded the No. 7 time in Kansas men’s indoor history. The quartet improved on its time from a week ago where it cracked the Kansas top-10 with a time of 3:09.77 at the Rod McCravy Memorial.
• The women’s 4×400-meter relay team at the Tyson Invitational consisting of Megan Linder, Mariah Kuykendoll, Honour Finley and Nicole Montgomery, also clocked a top-10 time in the Kansas record books, moving to No. 7 in KU women’s indoor history of 3:35.07.
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will split up again next weekend, with part of the team returning to Fayetteville for the Arkansas Qualifier meet on February 16 and the other part of the team will travel to South Bend, Indiana for the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame on February 17.
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