Jayhawks tally 5 victories, 22 personal records at Rod McCravy Memorial
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kansas track & field notched 22 personal records at the Rod McCravy Memorial at Nutter Field House in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday and came away with five event victories on the day. The meet featured the host Kentucky, as well as Clemson, Illinois, Purdue and Virginia Tech, with the Jayhawks finishing third on the men’s side with 95 points and the women tying for second with 89 points.
PERFORMANCES OF THE DAY
• Senior Laura Taylor continued to climb her way up the Kansas all-time charts with a second-place performance on Saturday. The Tualatin, Oregon native posted a personal-best clearance of 4.38 meters (14-4.5 ft.), which improved her standing as the No. 2 performer in Kansas women’s indoor history and proved to be the fifth-best height in KU women’s indoor history. Taylor’s performance comes on the heels of a PR set at the Jayhawk Classic of 4.34 meters (14-2.75 ft.) where she set an Anschutz Pavilion facility record, earning her Big 12 Track & Field Women’s Athlete of the Week honors. Saturday’s performance ranks Taylor No. 5 in the nation and first in the Big 12.
• Sophomore Bryce Hoppel remained unbeaten in individual events this season with a victory in the 800-meter run. Hoppel clocked a personal-best time of 1:48.36 notch the fourth-fastest time ever recorded in Kansas men’s indoor history in the event. The Midland, Texas product sits sixth in the nation and second in the Big 12 with his PR run.
• Junior distance standout Sharon Lokedi became the No. 2 performer in the Big 12 in the mile run with a first-place finish and a personal-best time of 4:45.56. The time was an improvement by 28-hundredths of a second, but did not improve her No. 7 standing on the KU women’s indoor all-time performers list.
• The men’s 4×400-meter relay team of Ivan Henry, Jaron Hartley, Tre Daniels and Isaiah Cole clocked a combined time of 3:09.77 to finished second in the event and move to No. 4 on the Big 12 performance list this season. The relay squad’s time ranks 31st in the nation and was the 10th-fastest 4×400 relay time ever ran by a Kansas men’s indoor team.
• Freshman Adia Eberle earned her second win of the indoor season in the women’s high jump, clearing a personal-best 1.76 meters (5-9.25 ft.) to move into No. 7 on the Big 12 performance list this season. Eberle’s jump also moved her into a tie for seventh in Kansas women’s indoor history.
STANLEY SAID IT
Quotes from Kansas head coach Stanley Redwine
On the team’s performance at the competitive meet…
“I thought we did good today, but not great. We had some really good performances, and that is great to see. Going against some tough teams from other big conferences will hopefully get our athletes to turn things up a little bit as we continue the season and head into the conference meet in a few weeks.”
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
• The Kansas women’s 400-meter dash runners racked up a plethora of KU top-10 marks. Junior Nicole Montgomery, who already sits second on the KU women’s indoor performers list with a time of 53.14 at last year’s Big 12 Championship, clocked a fifth-place time of 54.14 seconds to earn the highest finish by a Jayhawk in the event. Senior Megan Linder catapulted herself into the KU top-10 with a time of 54.56 to rank fifth, while sophomore Mariah Kuykendoll and freshman Honour Finley finished 10th and 11th, respectively, each clocking in at 54.57. The times moved them into a tie for sixth in the KU record books.
• Junior Dylan Hodgson became the No. 8 performer in KU history in the mile, clocking in at 4:04.16. Hodgson’s time notched him a third-place finish in the event.
• Senior Courtney Coppinger finished second behind teammate Sharon Lokedi in the mile run, moving herself into the Kansas women’s top-10 performers list in the event. Coppinger clocked in at 4:46.85 which ranks her ninth in the Kansas annals.
• Junior Hussain Al Hizam won the men’s pole vault with a clearance of 5.35 meters (17-6.5 ft.), giving him his second victory in a row in the event, dating back to the Jayhawk Classic on January 26.
• Finishing third in the women’s pole vault behind teammate Laura Taylor and the nation’s leader Olivia Gruver of Kentucky, sophomore Andrea Willis cleared a personal-best of 4.23 meters (13-10.5 ft.).
• Senior Barden Adams recorded his fifth-straight victory with a first-place finish in the triple jump. Adams jumped to 15.88 meters (52-1.25 ft.) for his third triple jump win of the season. The West Orange, New Jersey native has won the long jump twice this season as well.
UP NEXT
The Kansas squad will split up for the weekend of February 9-10, with some members traveling south to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational and others heading north to Ames, Iowa for the Iowa State classic.
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