Jayhawks set new records for men’s weight throws and pole-vaults
The track and field team went to New York City last weekend to compete in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.
Three athletes broke records and automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The trip to New York helped increase team moral and prepared the team to split up for two separate meets this weekend.
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Senior sprinter Julius Jiles’ eyes lit up when he started to talk about his recent trip to New York City. “It was a great atmosphere for track,” he said. “They love track in New York.”
Senior pole-vaulter Kate Sultanova felt the same way. “I didn’t want to come back,” she said. “I wanted to stay. It was so amazing.”
The Kansas Track and Field Team’s visit to the New Balance Collegiate Invitational last weekend was a profound success. The 22nd ranked men and 18th ranked women faced a huge field of competitors, filled with some of the best teams in the nation, and managed to come away with three victories.
Photo by Jon Goering
KANSAN FILE PHOTO Senior pole-vaulter Kate Sultanova during this year's Jayhawk Invitational at Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
Sultanova won the women’s pole vault after she set a new meet record and automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Her vault of 4.30 meters (14 feet, 1.25 inches) is currently the highest jump made by a woman in the country.
Following Sultanova’s performance, sophomore pole-vaulter Jordan Scott had the opportunity to make his mark.
“It was really cool to watch her (Sultanova) break the meet record and tie her PR with the best jump in America. And then I got on the runway knowing what she had just done and wanted to do really well too because there’s no excuses if someone else did that well.”
Scott met his high expectations by doing essentially the same as Sulatanova. He won the event and set a new meet record with his automatic NCAA qualifying jump of 5.50 meters (18.5 feet.)
Regarding his trip to New York City, Scott said, “Thursday and Friday we got to walk around the city and sightsee. By the time I got to jump on Saturday, I felt like I was at home.”
The Jayhawks might as well have been at home. In addition to Scott and Sultanova’s domination, senior Egor Agafonov set yet another meet record in the men’s weight throw. His 22.13-meter throw landed him an automatic trip to the NCAA Championships. Agafonov was the first student-athlete in the nation this year to break the 22-meter mark.
Junior sprinter Nickesha Anderson continued to shine in New York as well. She broke her own school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.28 seconds. The performance was good enough for a respectable fourth place.
Anderson wasn’t the only one to run a season best time in New York. Jiles’ performance in the 60-meter hurdles was his best this season as well. He placed ninth with a time of 7.88 seconds.
“I had the greatest start of my life,” he said. “Coming out of the blocks, I really didn’t expect to be in front all ready.”
Jiles’ excitement isn’t limited to his own performance.
“The team is coming together a lot more quickly than I thought we would,” he said. “I’m expecting us to be at least in the top four at the end of the season.”
Junior sprinter Jarrell Rollins ran the 500-meter dash for the first time this season and faired well. He took eighth place with a time of 4.19 seconds. Rollins said the New Balance Invitational gave the Jayhawks positive momentum.
“A performance like this gives us great confidence going into the Big 12 Conference Championship,” he said.
The Jayhawks hope to take their positive energy from New York into their meets this weekend. The team will split up between the ISU Classic in Ames, Iowa and the Tyson Invitation in Fayetteville, Ark.
“I’m expecting a lot of big things to happen this weekend,” Jiles said. “Everybody’s a lot more focused just because they went into an atmosphere where it was just like a national championship meet.”
— Edited by Mandy Earles
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