Saturday was the return of the Kansas track and field team on the indoor track after taking a week off for training. The Jayhawks expected to bounce back at the Adidas Classic in Lincoln, Neb.

Instead, the women’s team took second behind Nebraska with 138.22 points, while the men’s team took fourth with 60 points. However, the weekend was highlighted by several impressive performances by the team.

Coach Stanley Redwine said this meet, compared with the Missouri meet, was much better.

“The team got their legs under them a little bit more and competed better,” Redwine said.

On the track, senior Victoria Howard took first place in the 200-meter with a time of 24.27 seconds and second in the 60-meter with 7.69 seconds. Howard said getting second in the 60-meter was a breakthrough because in previous years, she hadn’t had much success.

Senior Charity Stowers received a victory in the 600-yard dash with a time of 1:22.96. Stowers said she was more determined to have a better peformance for the Jayhawks after the defeat by Missouri.

“That meet was a little disappointing to see Mizzou come out on top,” she said. “We came out at the practices after that with a different mindset. That it’s time to get it done.”

For the men, freshman Keith Hayes took fourth in the 60-meter with a time of 8.07 seconds. Hayes said he felt there was room for improvemant and for more focus in order to qualifying time for the indoor championships.

In the men’s 3,000 meters, senior Colby Wissel ran with a time of 8:08 to take second place.

“It was disappointing, but I know that I’m taking the steps in the right direction,” Wissel said about his performance.

In the women’s 5,000 meters, freshman Rebeka Stowe took second place with a time of 18:38.81.

“Running a 5K indoors is tough, 25 laps on a track can be mentally tough, especially when there’s not many people,” she said.

The highlight on the track came during the women’s 4X400, when the team of seniors Sha’Ray Butler, Stowers, sophomore Kendra Bradley and freshman Shayla Wilson, received a victory with a time of 3:49.78.

“I feel really honored to run with them and know that they have so much experience,” Wilson said.

On the field, junior Jordan Scott repeated his performance from the Kansas home meet with a jump of 5.50 meters.

In the long jump, senior Eric Fattig took second place with his best jump of 7.22 meters. Despite a solid performance, Fattig fouled on three straight jumps.

“I still have technical problems that I need to work on,” he said. “If I fix that then I’ll be happy.”

The team will travel next weekend to compete in the New Balance Invitational in New York City.

— — Edited by Jesse Trimble