Kansas set for Texas Tech Open, Power Five Invitational

TEXAS TECH OPEN
  Feb. 1-2, 2019
  Lubbock, Texas
  Sports Performance Center
  Meet Schedule
  Friday Live Stream
  Saturday Live Stream
  Live Results
  Heat Sheets

 

POWER FIVE INV.
  Feb. 1-2, 2019
  Ann Arbor, Mich.
  U-M Indoor Track Building
  Meet Schedule
  Live Stream
  Live Results
  Heat Sheets

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas track & field will hit the road for the first time as a complete team this indoor season, with 50 athletes scheduled to compete at the Texas Tech Open in Lubbock, Texas and another 17 will run at the Power Five Invitational in Ann Arbor, Michigan, February 1-2.
 
FOLLOWING THE TEXAS TECH OPEN
The Texas Tech Open looks to be the most competitive meet to date this season for the Jayhawks, with a total of 11 Division I schools scheduled to compete, including Big 12 foes Oklahoma State and meet host Texas Tech.
 
The meet will be streamed live through Texas Tech TV at TexasTech.com/Watch. A 24-hour pass to watch Texas Tech TV can be purchased for $6.95, or a monthly recurring subscription, which can be canceled at any time, can be purchased for $9.95 per month.
 
Live results for the meet can be found at Results.FloTrack.org.
 
FOLLOWING THE POWER FIVE INVITATIONAL
The Kansas distance runners will toe the line at the Power Five Invitational in Ann Arbor, where a total of 10 teams from Power Five Conferences will be competing.
 
Both days of the Power Five Invitational will be broadcast on FloTrack Pro and Big Ten Network Plus subscription services. The stream will be produced by FloTrack. A BTN Plus monthly pass can be purchased for $9.95 per month at BTN2Go.com and FloTrack Pro subscriptions start from $12.49/month at FloTrack.org/SignUp.
 
Live results will be available through Delta Timing at Results.DeltaTiming.com/Michigan.
 
MEN’S VAULTERS
Associate head coach Tom Hays has high expectations for his group of men’s pole vaulters this season. Hays thinks his squad has potential to make history and be the first team to have four vaulters clear 5.60 meters (18-4.5 ft.). So far this season, Kyle Rogers has jumped 5.50 meters (18-0.5 ft.) and Hussain Al Hizam and Zach Bradford have cleared 5.58 meters (18-3.75 ft.). Paulo Benavides holds an indoor best of 5.47 meters (17-11.25 ft.). Al Hizam’s career best is 5.70 meters (18-8.25 ft.).
 
PAIR OF VAULTERS BREAK ANSCHUTZ PAVILION RECORD
Senior Hussain Al Hizam and freshman Zach Bradford broke the Anschutz Sports Pavilion facility record in the men’s pole vault at the Jayhawk Classic on January 26. Al Hizam and Bradford cleared 5.58 meters (18-3.75 ft.), bettering the previous record of 5.57 meters (18-3.25 ft.) set by Jake Albright in December of 2017.
 
HEADLINERS IN ACTION
This weekend hopes to be a big one for many Kansas track & field headliners looking to post marks that could potentially qualify them for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
For the KU men at the Texas Tech Open, Bryce Hoppel will try to put up a good time in the 800-meter run, Gleb Dudarev is slated to make his season debut in the weight throw and Hussain Al Hizam and Zach Bradford hope to improve on their No. 5 mark of 5.58 meters (18-3.75 ft.) in NCAA this season in the pole vault.
 
The Jayhawk women have potential NCAA qualifiers competing in their signature events at the Texas Tech Open as well. Marleena Eubanks will look for a qualifying time in the 800 meters, Rylee Anderson will try to improve her No. 14 mark in NCAA of 1.79 meters (5-10.5 ft.) in the high jump, Andrea Willis will try to match or better her season best in the pole vault to move up the NCAA charts and Alexandra Emilianov will compete in the shot put in hopes of moving into qualifying position.
 
In Ann Arbor, Dylan Hodgson and Sharon Lokedi will look to move into qualifying position in the one-mile run. Lokedi already holds a potential qualifying mark in the 5,000-meter run, currently sitting at No. 3 in the NCAA this season.
 
KANSAS MEN NO. 19 IN WEEK TWO RANKINGS
The Kansas men came in at No. 19 in the USTFCCCA week two ratings, released January 28. The KU men fell eight spots from the week one rankings. The Jayhawk women ranked No. 31 in the week two ratings.
 
JAYHAWK VAULTERS SOAR IN RENO
Seven Kansas pole vaulters traveled to Reno, Nevada for the National Pole Vault Summit on January 19. Out of those seven Jayhawks, three posted career-best marks and altered the Kansas all-time records.
 
Junior Andrea Willis became the No. 3 performer in Kansas women’s history with a clearance of 4.35 meters (14-3.25 ft.). The mark proved to be a tie for the sixth-best all-time clearance by a Kansas women’s vaulter.
 
Freshman Zach Bradford and sophomore Kyle Rogers moved into a tie for seventh on the Kansas men’s all-time performers chart with clearances of 5.50 meters (18-0.5 ft.).
 
The marks achieved at the National Pole Vault Summit are not recognized by the NCAA for championships qualifying, but if they were, Willis’ 4.35-meter clearance would rank seventh in NCAA Division I. Rogers’ height of 5.50 meters would rank 13th in Division I. Bradford has since bettered his clearance of 5.50 meters and currently ranks No. 5 in NCAA with a height of 5.58 meters (18-3.75 ft.).
 
FINLEY SETS SUNFLOWER TRIANGULAR MEET RECORD
For the second time in as many years, Honour Finley set the meet record at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular in the 400-meter dash. As a freshman in 2018, Finley tied the meet record by clocking with a time of 55.49 seconds. In 2019, Finley broke that record with a time of 55.23 seconds.
 
HOPPEL OFF TO FAMILIAR START
Junior Bryce Hoppel’s 2019 is off to a very familiar start. Last indoor season, Hoppel opened his campaign with wins in both the one-mile run and the 800-meter run at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular. This year, Hoppel matched those efforts with wins in the same events. Hoppel’s wins at the Sunflower Triangular in 2018 kick-started a season in which the Midland, Texas native won five of the first six individual races he competed in. The only race he didn’t win in that six-race stretch was the prelims of the 800-meter run at the Big 12 Indoor Championship – which he then went on to win the conference title in the event. Hoppel finished the 2018 indoor campaign as a First Team All-American in the 800-meter run, finished eighth in the NCAA final in College Station, Texas.
 
KANSAS WOMEN POST RECORD-SETTING SEMESTER IN THE CLASSROOM
The Kansas women’s track & field team were one of four KU teams to record a team-best semester in the classroom, leading to a department-record 3.11 all-sports combined GPA in the Fall 2018 semester. The KU women’s track & field team recorded a program-best 4.42 GPA for the Fall semester. The Kansas men’s team was able to notch a 2.91 GPA.
 
JAYHAWKS IN NATION’S TOP-25
Seven Jayhawks currently rank in the nation’s top-25 of their respective events. For the Kansas men, Hussain Al Hizam and Zach Bradford rank No. 5 in the pole vault with clearances of 5.58 meters (18-3.75 ft.) and Paulo Benavides ranks No. 25 with a mark of 5.29m (17-4.25 ft.).
 
Four Kansas women hold spots in the top-25, with Sharon Lokedi ranking No. 3 in the 5,000-meter run with her school record time of 15:1547 at the Sharon Colyear-Daville Season Opener, freshman Rylee Anderson holds the No. 14 mark in the high jump with clearances of 1.79m (5-10.5 ft.) at the Bob Timmons Challenge and KU-KSU-WSU Triangular, and junior Andrea Willis ranks No. 13 in the women’s pole vault with a jump of 4.26 meters (13-11.75 ft.).
 
Qualification to the NCAA Indoor Championships is based on the descending-order list for the season and adhering to the qualifying regulations/criteria published on www.NCAA.org. For each men’s individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 16 declared student-athletes will be accepted into the competition. For each women’s individual event contested, including the pentathlon, the top 16 declared student-athletes will be accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 12 declared relay teams will be accepted into the competition. The stated maximums are absolute and will not be extended as a result of ties.
 
LOKEDI SHATTERS SCHOOL RECORD, RECORDS NO. 6 MARK IN NCAA HISTORY
Kansas senior Sharon Lokedi got off to a hot start in her final season competing for the Jayhawks. In her first and only race so far this indoor season, Lokedi shattered her own school record in the 5,000-meter run at the Boston University/Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, Massachusetts on December 1. The Eldoret, Kenya native was the third-place finisher in the race, but clocked in at 15:15.47, which proved to be the No. 6 all-time mark in NCAA history. Her time proved to be nearly 25 seconds faster than her previous school record of 15:39.05, set last indoor season at the same meet. The raced boasted four of the top-seven all-time marks in NCAA history, with New Mexico’s Ednah Kurgat recording the No. 3 all-time mark of 15:14.78, UNM’s Weini Kelati posting the No. 5 time (15:15.24) and Boise State’s Allie Ostrander notching the No. 7 mark in NCAA history (15:16.38).
 
HOME GROWN
Stanley Redwine’s 2019 Kansas track & field teams boast 32 home-grown athletes from the state of Kansas. Each roster has 16 Kansas-bred athletes representing their home state.
 
FRESH FACES
A total of 31 new student-athletes are currently on the Kansas track & field rosters, including 20 new faces on the men’s team and 11 on the women’s squad.
 
REDWINE SIGNS NO. 3 MEN’S CLASS
According to Track & Field News, 19th-year head coach Stanley Redwine’s 2018 KU men’s recruiting class is the No. 3 signing class is the nation. Coming in behind Georgia and Texas A&M, the Jayhawks made the top-5 for the first time ever.
 
Highlighting the recruiting class is Zach Bradford, a pole vaulter out of Bloomington, Illinois, who represented the USA at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, where he earned a silver medal. Bradford posted the No. 8 all-time high school pole vault mark, clearing 18-2.5 ft. his senior season.
 
Also highlighting the signing class are Treyvon Ferguson, a triple jumper hailing from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Patrick Larrison, a thrower from Moore, Oklahoma and AJ Bennett, a hurdler out of Spring, Texas.
 
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will have another split weekend, where a portion of the KU squad will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational and the other portion will head north to Ames, Iowa for the ISU Classic. Both meets will take place February 8-9.
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