Jayhawks set for season-opening Bob Timmons Challenge
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas men’s and women’s track & field teams will open the 2017-18 indoor season by hosting the Bob Timmons Challenge at Anschutz Sports Pavilion on Saturday, December 2. This marks the ninth-straight season the Jayhawks will begin their season at home with the meet. Field events are scheduled to kick things off at 1 p.m., with action on the oval beginning at 3 p.m.
SETTING THE STAGE
Fifty-two Kansas athletes are slated to compete this weekend, including 25 men and 27 women.
Missouri State, Oral Roberts, Tulsa and UMKC are expected to be among the teams competing at this weekend’s meet.
HEADLINERS IN ACTION
Notable Jayhawks slated to compete at the Bob Timmons challenge are First Team All-Americans, senior Barden Adams and junior Nicole Montgomery, Big 12 Champions Tre Daniels, Jaron Hartley and Ivan Henry, and Second Team All-American Laura Taylor.
EAST COAST ACTION
Two Jayhawks, junior Sharon Lokedi and senior Courtney Coppinger will travel to Boston, Massachusetts to compete against some of the nation’s best in the 5,000-meter run at the Boston University Season Opener. Lokedi and Coppinger are scheduled to run at 3:20 p.m. CST. Live results from the meet are available through LancerTiming.com and a live stream will be available with a paid subscription at FloTrack.org.
FRESH FACES
A total of 21 new student-athletes are currently on the Kansas track & field rosters, including 10 on the men’s team and 11 new faces on the women’s squad. Of those 21 athletes, 14 are expected to make their collegiate debut at the Bob Timmons Challenge.
SUCCESS AT THE BOB TIMMONS
The Bob Timmons Challenge has proven to be the perfect season-opening meet for the Jayhawks in the previous eight years. Since 2009, Kansas has won 101 individual titles, including 18 victories last season.
The highlight of last season’s meet was the women’s 4×400-meter relay team of Adriana Newell, Mariah Kuykendoll, Whitney Adams and Nicole Montgomery posting a new Anschutz Pavilion record time in the event, clocking in at 3:42.89.
WATCH FOR…
The Kansas men’s 4×400-meter relay team will be looking to replace an integral piece of the team that broke the Kansas school record at the Alex Wilson Invitational and notched a Big 12 title last indoor season. The Jayhawks lost Strymar Livingston to graduation, and the three returning pieces of the puzzle – Jaron Hartley, Ivan Henry and Tre Daniels – hope to find someone to fill Livingston’s shoes to continue the team’s run of success.
Sophomore Isaiah Cole will be running with the three returning pieces on Saturday, and will be looking to find a permanent spot on the relay team.
UP NEXT
Kansas will have over a month off before its next meet action. Select members of the Jayhawk squads will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Arkansas Invitational on Friday, January 12. Other Jayhawks will remain in the Sunflower State to compete in the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kansas. The Jayhawks will look to repeat as champions of the meet, after defeating both K-State and Wichita State last season by tallying nine victories in the final 20 events.
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