Jayhawks split for opening weekend of outdoor season

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The University of Kansas track & field teams will kick off the outdoor portion of the 2017 campaign at meets across the country this weekend. The Jayhawks will send squads to the Texas Relays, to run from March 29-April 1, the Stanford Invitational and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on March 31 and the Emporia State Relays on April 1.
 
JAYHAWK RELAY SQUADS LOOKING FOR SOLID WEEKEND IN AUSTIN
The Kansas men and women will see 35 journey to the 90^th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays to be held inside Austin, Texas March 29-April 1. The Jayhawks are slated to compete in eight relay events on the men’s and women’s sides as well as a handful of other open events. The KU runners will look to continue their successful ways at the meet held inside Mike A. Myers Stadium. Four active school relay records have been broken on The 40 Acres.
 
The Jayhawks will also have a large pole vault contingent in action in Austin. Senior Jake Albright and sophomore Paulo Benavides, both of whom have claimed Big 12 pole vault titles over the last 12 months, are slated to compete in the A-Section of the event on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. They will be joined by senior Nick Maestretti and sophomore Hussain Al Hizam, who are entered in the B-Section of the event. That Jayhawk duo will hit the runway on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
 
KU DISTANCE CREW TREKKING TO THE WEST COAST
Thirteen Jayhawks are set to journey to the west coast for a pair of meets that will feature some of the top distance runners in the nation. San Francisco State will host a distance carnival on Friday that will begin in the morning. Kansas will see nine compete in San Francisco, seven of whom are entered in the 5,000 meters.
 
Kansas will also journey to Palo Alto for the Stanford Invitational on Friday night. The Jayhawks will see the return of junior Sharon Lokedi, who utilized her redshirt for the indoor portion of the 2017 season. The two-time First Team All-American is scheduled to compete in the 10,000 meters, the same race in which she won the Big 12 title last season. At Stanford a year ago, Lokedi took down Karen Fitz’s 37-year-old school record in the 10K and will look to rewrite the record once again in the race set to begin at 11:24 p.m. (CT).
 
FIFTY JAYHAWKS PREPPING FOR SATURDAY ACTION IN EMPORIA
Half of the KU men’s and women’s rosters will make the 90-minute trip south to Emporia, Kansas for the Emporia State Relays on Saturday, April 1. Each event area will be represented with a strong contingent of throwers set to compete inside Fran Welch Stadium.
 
Three weeks removed from claiming a seventh-place finish and First Team All-America status in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships, junior Nicolai Ceban is slated to open his outdoor season Saturday in the discus throw. Ceban qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the event last season, where he went on to post a 13^th-place finish. The men’s discus is scheduled to begin at noon.
 
The only person that might stand in the Ceban’s way of earning the discus title Saturday is senior teammate Mitch Cooper, who is the Emporia Relays defending champion in the event. Cooper is also the Big 12’s defending discus champion and is coming off a record-breaking campaign in 2016, which saw him earn Second Team All-America status after a 10^th-place finish at the NCAA Championship meet.
 
Track events are scheduled to kick off at 12 p.m., with the men’s and women’s 3,000 meters and close out at 7:40 p.m., with the running of the 4×400-meter relays.
 
UP NEXT
Kansas will hit the road once again when the teams journey to Tempe, Arizona for the Sun Angel Classic April 7-8. For updates and results from the weekend in Arizona, log on to KUAthletics.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram at @KUTrack.
 
 
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