| |
| ARKANSAS QUALIFIER |
| Date |
February 17 |
| Time |
Fri. – 3:15 p.m. |
| Location |
Fayetteville, Ark. |
| Stadium |
Tyson Track Complex |
|
|
|
|
|
| ALEX WILSON INVITATIONAL |
| Date |
February 18 |
| Time |
Fri. – 11 a.m. | Sat. – 12 p.m. |
| Location |
Ames, Iowa |
| Stadium |
Lied Recreation Center |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LAWRENCE, Kan. – With the Big 12 Indoor Championship looming next week, Kansas track & field will send a handful of Jayhawks to a pair of meets this weekend for one final tune-up prior to the league meet. Fifteen Kansas tracksters will journey to the Randal Tyson Track Center for the Arkansas Qualifier on Feb. 17, while the both men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays and the women’s distance medley relay squads will shoot for one of the nation’s fastest times of the season at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, on Feb. 18.
JAYHAWK 4X4 RELAY TRYING FOR MORE HISTORY
Over the last two weekends, the Kansas men’s 4×400-meter relay team has turned in two of the school’s three fastest indoor times ever, posting a school record 3:07.82 at the Husker Invitational on Feb. 4 and nearing that mark with a time of 3:08.18 last weekend at the Iowa State Classic. The KU quartet consisting of Ivan Henry, Tre Daniels, Jaron Hartley and Strymar Livingston, will try to shave off some seconds this weekend when the Jayhawks hit the oval in South Bend at the Alex Wilson Invite. The squad currently ranks 16th on this season’s NCAA 4×400-meter list, meaning it will need to cut around two seconds off its season-best time to try and find itself inside the all-important top-12 at season’s end and qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Jayhawks will settle into the blocks for the event scheduled for 2:55 p.m. (CT), Saturday.
KU WOMEN LOOKING FOR STRONG DMR OUTING AT NOTRE DAME
The Jayhawks are sending a star-studded lineup to the Alex Wilson Invitational Saturday in hopes of qualifying a team to the NCAA Championships in the Distance Medley Relay. The KU quartet is expected to include sophomores Riley Cooney and Nicole Montgomery as well as seniors Whitney Adams and Hannah Richardson. All four Jayhawks have already constructed stellar indoor campaigns.
Richardson is a three weeks removed from breaking the KU record in the 3,000 meters and is ranked third in the Big 12 in the event. Montgomery is coming off a career outing in the 400 meters at the Tyson Invitational last week, when she became the fourth-fastest KU female in the indoor event with her time of 54.14. Adams is also a week removed from an impressive outing in the 800 meters, when she posted a season-best 2:07.01 at the Tyson Invitational, the No. 4 time in program history. Cooney has tallied personal records in the 800 meters, the 1,000 meters and the mile already this season, with her mile time sitting ninth among Big 12 runners in 2017.
The foursome will hit the track inside the Loftus Sports Complex on Saturday for the distance medley relay event that routinely produces some of the best times every indoor season. The women’s DMR is slated to begin at 10:45 a.m. (CT).
OTHER JAYHAWKS COMPETING AT NOTRE DAME
Strymar Livingston – 800 meters (1:20 p.m. CT)
Whitney Adams, Mariah Kuykendoll, Nicole Montgomery, Adriana Newell – 4×400-meter relay (2:40 p.m. CT)
CONLEY SCHEDULED TO BE BACK ON THE RUNWAY FRIDAY IN FAYETTEVILLE
Senior Sydney Conley is scheduled to make her much anticipated 2017 long jump debut this weekend when she laces her spikes up at the Arkansas Qualifier Friday. Conley, who has been sidelined with injury for the last six weeks, is a three-time First Team All-American in the event but has not seen long jump action in a collegiate track meet since January of 2016. The Fayetteville native will return to her hometown in hopes of knocking off the rust before the conference meet next week. Conley has a history of seeing her best performances at Arkansas and the prospects of that happening are good. The Randal Tyson runway has been the site of six of the 13 best long jump marks of 2017.
The women’s long jump is slated to kick off at 3:30 p.m., Friday.
OTHER JAYHAWKS COMPETING AT ARKANSAS
Laura Taylor, Alexis Romero, Andrea Willis – Pole Vault (3:15 p.m.)
Quentin Dancer – 60 meters (5:25 p.m.)
Megan Linder – 400 meters (5:35 p.m.)
Isaiah Cole – 400 meters (5:50 p.m.)
Jake Albright, Hussain Al Hizam, Paulo Benavides, Nick Maestretti, Nick Meyer, Chase Pennewell – Pole Vault (6:15 p.m.)
Chloe Akin-Otiko, Jedah Caldwell – 200 Meters (6:45 p.m.)
Quentin Dancer – 200 meters (7 p.m.)
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will head back to Ames, Iowa for the Big 12 Indoor Championship to be held in the Lied Recreation Center for the fifth-straight season. The league meet is scheduled to kick off Friday, February 24 and conclude Saturday, February 25. Get live updates and results from the Jayhawks’ performances by following on Twitter and Instagram @KUTrack.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
