Busy Opening Weekend for Wildcats
Dec 07, 2004 | Track & Field
MANHATTAN - Kansas State will open the 2004-05 indoor track and field season on Friday, December 10, with the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon and Saturday, December 11, with the KSU All-Comers. Both meets will be held at Ahearn Field House.
The Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon will have 16 male and 16 female athletes. The Carol Robinson started in 1990 with Karen McGauhey of Kansas State winning the women’s title with 3,235 points. The men’s champion in 1990 was current assistant coach Steve Fritz of Kansas State with 3,858 points. In 2003, Kansas State’s JaNelle Wright won the women’s side of the Carol Robinson with 3,876 points. On the men’s side, Andy Geisler, competing unattached, scored 3,784 points. Overall, Kansas State has won eight women’s titles and five men’s titles in the Carol Robinson.
The KSU All-Comers meet is an open meet and will not be team scored. Field events will begin at 10:00 a.m., with events on the track beginning at 3:15 p.m. Wildcat senior Chaytan Hill returns to defend her record in the women’s triple jump of 42’08.75” and junior Kyle Lancaster will look to improve his high jump record of 7’05.00”.
Teams taking part in Saturday’s All-Comers meet include: Bethany College (m/w), Emporia State (m/w), Kansas (m/w), Haskell University (m/w), Oklahoma Baptist (m/w), Oklahoma State (w) and UMKC (m/w). Live results throughout the day can be found at www.k-statesports.com and clicking on “Live Statistics” in the “Live” drop down menu at the top of the site.
Home Sweet Home
Including the two upcoming meets at Ahearn Field House, K-State will host six indoor meets this winter. After taking a break for the holidays, the Wildcats will host the KSU Invitational, January 7-8, followed the next week by the Wildcat Invitational, January 14-15. The month of January concludes for the Wildcats with the KSU-KU-MU Triangular, January 22. The Wildcats will then return home after three meets on the road to host the KSU Open, February 19.
Kansas State will make the most of this opportunity during the indoor campaign, as they do not host an outdoor meet until the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, May 13-15.
Four All-Americans to Return for KSU
Four NCAA Indoor All-Americans will return for head coach Cliff Rovelto’s squad. Seniors Chaytan Hill and Joseph Lee and juniors Kyle Lancaster and Christian Smith will represent the Wildcats this winter. Hill earned her first indoor All-American honor in 2004 with a second-place finish in the triple jump (44-08.25) at the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Lee was the lone Wildcat All-American at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing fifth in the 800-meter run (1:48.46).
Lancaster and Smith each earned their first indoor All-American citations last season; Lancaster finished third in the high jump (7-02.50) and Smith crossed the tape in the 800 in second (1:48.18).
Five Captains Selected for 2004-05
The Wildcats will be led by five captains this season, three for the men and two for the women. The male tri-captains are seniors Will Jones, Erik Sproll and Tarl Vetter. Jones, from Lansing, Kan., will compete during the outdoor season in the sprints as his eligibility has expired for the indoor season. Sproll, after competing in the cross country season, will run the mid-distances for K-State in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Vetter is the defending Big 12 champion in the weight throw and will also compete in the outdoor throws events.
The female co-captains are seniors Trisha Culbertson and Chaytan Hill. Culbertson finished in 16th at the 2004 Big 12 Cross Country Championships and will run the distance races during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Hill will utilize her 2004 United States Olympic Trials experience to lead K-State in the triple jump during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Former Wildcat Wins 2004 Olympic Silver Medal in Heptathlon
K-State assistant coach Austra Skujyte captured a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics in the heptathlon for her native country of Lithuania. Skujyte recorded 6,345 points including a discipline win in the shot put and a heat win in the 200-meter dash. The 6,345 points were a new personal-best and the second-place finish was her highest international placing.
Skujyte was a two-time NCAA heptathlon champion for the Wildcats, winning in 2001 and 2002. She is also the current collegiate, Big 12 and Kansas State indoor record-holder in the pentathlon with her score of 4439 points at the 2002 Big 12 Championships.
Rovelto Signs Four to 2005-06 Roster
Kansas State track and field head coach Cliff Rovelto has announced the signing of four student-athletes for the 2005-06 season. The fresh faces for 2005-06 are: Jana Gwinn of Overland Park, Kan.; Marianne Schlachter of Birndorf, Germany; Scott Sellers of Cinco Ranch, Texas; and Breanna Yost of Montezuma, Kan.
Gwinn, who attends Blue Valley North and will compete in both cross country and track, was the 2003 Kansas girls cross country state champion for class 6A. Gwinn set a new state course record, finishing the 4,000 meter course in 14:16. She also has clocked a time of 11:05 on a two-mile course at the Cowboy Jamboree in 2003 and has track personal records of 10:58 for 3200-meters and 5:06 in the 1600-meter run.
Schlachter will compete in the triple jump and pole vault for the Wildcats. The first international recruit for 2005-06 has registered personal records of 42-05.50 in the triple jump and 12-05.50 in the pole vault.
Sellers enters with the most distinction, soaring to a national high school indoor record height of 7-05.25 in the boy’s high jump. The current K-State indoor high jump mark is 7-05.25, set by former All-American Percell Gaskins in 1993. The Cinco Ranch High School product has also leaped to a height of 7-05.00 in the outdoor season at the 2004 Texas 5A Regional.Sellers also has the 29th best outdoor triple jump in the nation at 49-00.50 and has competed in the long jump as well.
Yost will compete on the trail and on the track for K-State. She was the 2004 Class 1A track state runner-up in the 3200-meter and 1600-meter runs. The South Gray High product has registered personal records of 12:01 in the 3200, 5:24 in the 1600 and 2:21 in the 800-meter run.
Rovelto Named Assistant for Team USA
Kansas State track and field head coach Cliff Rovelto was named as an assistant coach to Team USA’s 2005 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships squad. Rovelto will serve as one of the team’s administrators for the women and will serve as the team’s combined events coach for the championships, which take place in Helsinki, Finland.
Under Rovelto’s tutelage, combined athletes have earned seven All-American certificates and have won 10 conference titles. In 2000 and 2001, Rovelto coached Austra Skujyte to back-to-back NCAA championships in the heptathlon.
Rovelto will serve as an assistant for Team USA head coach Sandy Fowler, who currently coaches at Alabama. Fowler is in her first stint as Team USA’s senior administrator.
