Track team gets All-Americans

By By Jack Weinstein (Contact)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Six Kansas Track and Field athletes became All-Americans at last weekend’s NCAA outdoor championships at Sacramento State University. To become an All-American, one must finish in the top eight or among the top eight American competitors in their respective events. Seniors Sheldon Battle, Charisse Bacchus, Cameron Schwehr and Denita Young and sophomores Egor Agafonov and Paul Hefferon did exactly that.

“Overall, we did very well,” Bacchus said. “People did things they weren’t expected to do. It shows that hard work pays off.”

Battle became an All-American for the sixth time by qualifying in shot put, hammer throw and weight throw at different points through out his two-year career at KU. His throw of 64 feet 9 1/4 inches in the shot put placed him fifth in this year’s outdoor championships. Battle became an All-American in both the shot put and the weight throw at last springs NCAA indoor championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

Bacchus became a two-time All-American last weekend when she finished seventh in the women’s long jump finals with a jump of 20 feet 8 inches. Her preliminary jump of 21 feet 6 1/4 inches was a personal best.

“I felt that there were bigger things to come, but then I got injured,” Bacchus said referring to an injury she suffered on her third jump in the finals. She could not complete her last three jumps.

Bacchus earned All-America status this past spring at the indoor championships.

Schwehr missed qualifying for the finals in the 1,500 meter run, but became an All-America by finishing among the top eight Americans. His time of 3:45.16 placed him in 13th place, .08 seconds from qualifying for the finals. He is an All-American for the first time.

Young concluded her career at KU as an All-American with a throw of 158 feet 7 inches in the javelin. This honor was the second for Young, her first coming at the 2001 outdoor championships as a member of the University of Tennessee Track and Field Team.

Hefferon became an All-American for the fist time. He placed 14th in the finals of the 5,000 meter with a time of 14:28.37. Hefferon qualified as one of the top eight Americans in that field.

“It’s an honor, but in all honesty, it’s not quite the thrill I thought it would be, maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Hefferon said. “I hold myself to a really high standard, I thought of a million things I could have done better after the race.”

Agafonov became a two-time All-American in only his first season on the KU track team when he finished fifth in the hammer throw with a toss of 219 feet 3 inches. Agafonov earned All-America honors after finishing second in the weight throw at the indoor championships this past spring.

Juniors Josh Kirk, Abby Emsick and Cody Roberts and Freshman Zlata Tarasova competed at the outdoor championships, but did not qualify for All-America status. Kirk was forced to pull out of the men’s decathlon after reaggravating a foot injury. Emsick and Roberts both finished out of contention in the discus. Tarasova did not qualify for the finals in the women’s hammer throw.

The KU men’s team finished tied for 30th place while the women’s team finished in a tie for 64th. Florida State captured the men’s team title while Auburn finished first for the women’s team title.

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