Decathletes, Culbertson Lead Wildcats at Big 12 Track
May 17, 2002 | Track & Field
May 17, 2002
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Josef Karas was third and Pat Pyle was fifth after the first day of the decathlon at the 2002 Big 12 Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships being held at the Audrey J. Walton Track-Soccer Stadium at the University of Missouri.
Karas won the long jump and had 3,718 points after the first day. Pyle rallied in the 400-meter dash, the last of Friday's five events, to earn fifth place with 3,677. Andy Morris of Kansas had a comfortable lead, finishing the first day with 3,926 points, nearly 200 points ahead of Rick Halberg of Texas with 3,742.
Karas went 23-8.75 to win the decathlon long jump and score 869 points. Pyle's highest-scoring event on Friday was the 100-meter dash, with his 10.95 placing second and earning 872 points.
"All the scores were down from what they would normally be, but you would expect that due to the weather," said K-State head coach Cliff Rovelto. "Coming into the meet you would expect to need 7,000 points to score, but there may not be three guys over 7,000 in these conditions. We thought we might come up with five points, but the way it looks, we could score a lot more than that. We'd be pretty pleased with that in terms of team points."
Wildcat freshman Trisha Culbertson had an outstanding performance for the Kansas State women, placing fourth in her first 10,000-meter run as a collegian.
As Baylor's Debbie Thornhill and Kara Newton led from wire-to-wire, Culbertson stayed in a pack of runners that chased the leaders throughout the race. The chase group went from eight to six to four runners over the fifth mile of the 6.2-mile race.
Culbertson finished hard to take the second spot in that group, earning five team points with a fourth-place finish of 35:34.66.Her time was the eighth-fastest 10K in K-State history for the women.
"It was very good for her to run that time in her first 10K," said Rovelto. "She did a very good job of competing."
Missouri led the team competition on the men's side after finishing 2-3-5 in the men's hammer and getting seven more points in the 10,000 meters. Scoring five points in the men's hammer, Kansas State was in a tie for sixth in the team standings after two events.
The 10K was the only women's final contested on Friday, with Baylor taking the team lead with 18 points after its 1-2 finish. K-State sat in third with five points in the women's team standings by virtue of Culbertson's effort.
Tarl Vetter was sixth and Adam Walker placed seventh for K-State in the men's hammer throw. On a rain-soaked field, Vetter went 181 feet, 2 inches, while Walker was just behind at 172-7.
Freshman Mathew Kimutai was 16th in the men's 10,000, finishing in 31:37.42. It was his first 10K outdoors this season for the Wildcats.
Kansas State senior Austra Skujyte was not entered in the heptathlon, as Wildcat coaches opted instead to try to maximize her chance to score team points rather than defend her Big 12 title in the combined-event. Skujyte is entered in five field events in the meet, and will wait until the NCAA Outdoor Nationals to participate in her next heptathlon this season, rather than attempt one this weekend in cold weather.
Heavy morning rains forced the delay of the start of the meet by 3 hours, 30 minutes. The decathlon began at 3 p.m. instead of the scheduled time of 11:30 a.m. The women's hammer throw was postponed until Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.
The Big 12 Championships continue through Sunday. Most of the heats in running events are Saturday, with some field event finals taking place on the second day of the three-day meet.
MEET NOTES
* Pyle was second in the 100-meter dash at 10.95, trailing only Rick Halbeerg of Texas, who earned 876 points with a 10.93 mark. Allen Bulick of Texas A&M was the only other male under 11 seconds in the chilly rain.
* Karas won the decathlon long jump, going 23-8.75 to earn 869 points. He moved from sixth to second with his performance in the second event of the day. Andy Morris went 23-0 to move from fourth to first, but held only a six-point lead over Karas. Only 10 points separated the top three athletes after the decathlon long jump, as Allen Bulick was 10 points behind Morris.
* Karas stayed in second place after the decathlon shot put, trailing Missouri's Knut Sommerfeldt by just one point. Karas had 2,319 after three events. There were 11 points separating the top three decathletes after three events, and a different person led after each of three events.
* Karas fell to third in the decathlon after four events, despite clearing 6-1.25 for a season-best in the high jump. Morris went 6-6 to take a lead of nearly 100 points after four events over Sommerfeldt.
WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES (Through 1 of 21 finals)
1. Baylor 18, 2. Colorado 9, 3. KANSAS STATE 5, 4. Kansas 4, 5. Texas Tech 2, 6. Texas A&M 1.
MEN'S TEAM SCORES (Through 2 of 21 finals)
1. Missouri 25, 2. Iowa State 11, 3. Kansas 10, 4. Colorado 8, 5. Nebraska 6, 6. (tie) KANSAS STATE, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech 5, 9. Texas 2, 10. Texas A&M 1.
WOMEN'S EVENTS (First-place and Kansas State results)
10,000m FINAL - 1. Debbie Thornhill, Baylor, 35:06.21... 4. Trisha Culbertson, K-State, 35:34.66.
HEPTATHLON FIRST DAY - 1. Katherine Livesey, Nebraska, 3,467 points; 2. Barbara Szlendakova, Iowa State, 3,213.
MEN'S EVENTS
HAMMER FINAL - 1. Scott Russell, Kansas, 218-5... 6. Tarl Vetter, K-State, 181-2; 7. Adam Walker, K-State, 172-7; 13. Ty Kane, K-State, 153-4.
10,000m FINAL - 1. Mike Mwangong, Iowa State, 29:47.26... 16. Mathew Kimutai, K-State, 31:37.42.
DECATHLON FIRST DAY - 1. Andy Morris, Kansas, 3,926 points; 2. Rick Halberg, Texas, 3,742; 3. Josef Karas, K-State, 3,718... 5. Pat Pyle, K-State, 3,677.
KARAS' MARKS - 100m: 11.29 (797 points), LJ: 23-8.75 (869), SP: 41-10.50 (653), HJ: 6-1.25 (679), 400m: 52.11 (720).
PYLE'S MARKS - 100m: 10.95 (872 points), LJ: 21-11 (739), SP: 39-6.50 (609), HJ: 6-1.25 (679), 400m: 50.81 (778).
--ksu--
