Wildcats Look to Defend the Jug
Jan 18, 2006 | Track & Field
This Week For Kansas State
Jan. 20 KSU-KU-MU Triangular Anschutz Pavilion Lawrence, Kan.
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State will look to continue its dominance of the KSU-KU-MU Triangular on Friday, Jan. 20 in Lawrence. The Wildcats have come away from the Triangular with “The Jug” in 14 of the 16 meets, including the last seven, dating back to the start of the series in 1990.
Eveland Vaults to Big 12 Weekly Honor
The Big 12 Conference announced its first recipients of the weekly track and field athlete of the week honor on Tuesday, with Kansas State senior Breanna Eveland earning the nod on the women’s side. The citation is the second of Eveland’s indoor career.
Eveland became Kansas State’s first NCAA Indoor Championship automatic qualifier for the 2006 season on Friday afternoon at the Arkansas Invitational. Eveland finished tied for the top clearance at 13-09.25, but due to misses on her first two attempts fell into second place. The effort ties Eveland’s own school record height, which she set at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center and places her atop the 2006 Big 12 performance list in the event by nearly a foot.
K-State Among National Poll
Kansas State debuted this week in the Trackwire top 25 men’s and women’s track and field polls. Both squads made the season-opening poll tied for 20th and predicted to score 10 points at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The poll conducted by www.trackwire.com, is a prediction of the final NCAA Indoor Championship standings. Factors used to determine the polls include current athlete performances, national performance lists, athlete history and strength of meets competed in.
Wildcats Debut on Dandy Dozen
Six Wildcat student-athletes debuted in the first Trackwire.com “Dandy Dozen”.
Seniors Coby Cost, Kyle Lancaster and Christian Smith and freshman Scott Sellers appeared on the men’s listing, while senior Breanna Eveland and junior Shunte Thomas were tabbed for the women’s poll.
Cost is ranked sixth in the men’s weight throw, an event he has provisionally qualified in.
Lancaster and Sellers are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the high jump. Lancaster automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, while Sellers is provisionally qualified.
Smith is ranked 10th in the 800-meter run. He has run the event once in 2006, narrowly missing the provisional standard in the event.
Eveland is ranked second in the pole vault and is automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Thomas is ranked seventh in the 400-meter dash, while running her first 400 at the Arkansas Invitational.
Factors used to determine the “Dandy Dozen” include current athlete performances, national performance lists, athlete history at national meets and strength of meets competed in.
Working Hard in the Fields
The Wildcats have continued their success from the 2005 indoor campaign in the field events, opening the 2006 season with similar results. K-State has won 17 of 35 (.486) field events.
K-State won 45 of 132 field events (34.1 percent) in 11 indoor meets in 2005. Individuals with the most field event titles in 2005 were Coby Cost and Laci Heller with eight weight throw titles apiece.
Six-Foot, Seven-Foot, Eight-Foot High Jumper
Senior high jumper and 2006 NCAA Indoor Championship automatic qualifier Kyle Lancaster continues to clear dizzying heights.
The Fort Scott, Kan. native has surpassed seven feet in the high jump 18 times in 27 career indoor meets for K-State. The lowest career final height Lancaster cleared was 6-07.50 on February 22, 2003 in the KSU Open.
Sellers Market
Freshman Scott Sellers made an impressive debut for the K-State track team during the KSU Invitational. Sellers won the high jump with an NCAA provisional qualifying clearance of 7-02.50.
Sellers, a product of Katy, Texas, was the 2005 National High School Indoor Athlete of the Year, according to Track and Field News and was an All-American for the publication in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Sellers set the national high school indoor record in the high jump last season with a height of 7-05.00. To put this height in K-State historical perspective, it would rank tied for second with Kyle Lancaster (2004) and Itai Margalit (1993) on K-State’s all-time list.
Cost of the Weight Throw
Senior Coby Cost added yet another weight throw title to his mantle during the KSU Invitational. The El Dorado, Kan., product and 2005 NCAA Indoor All-American has won 22 of 29 weight throw competitions (.759) during his time with the Wildcats.
Thomas Provisionally Qualifies in 400
Senior Shunte Thomas captured her first 400-meter dash crown of the 2006 season at the Arkansas Invitational with a clocking of 53.94. The time provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The title for the product of Coral Springs, Fla., was the first since the Sevigne Husker Invitational on Feb. 5, 2005, in which she recorded the second-fastest 400 time in school history of 53.44.
Heller Reaches 11th Heaven
With her victory on Friday at the Arkansas Invitational with a toss of 60-11.25, sophomore Laci Heller has now won 11 career weight throw titles. The Meriden, Kan., native has surpassed the NCAA Indoor provisional mark in 11 of her 13 career meets.
Heller has also surpassed 60 feet in every competition during her career.
Eveland Goes to New Heights
Senior pole vaulter Breanna Eveland is ahead of her record-setting pace of the 2005 indoor season. The Grand Rapids, Mich, native and 2005 NCAA Indoor All-American tied her own K-State school record with a clearance of 13-09.25 at the Arkansas Invitational. Eveland set the original record at the 2005 KSU-KU-MU Triangular and tied it at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Eveland has now won eight of her last 11 indoor pole vault competitions and has sailed above 13 feet in 11 straight meets.
Moore Deep in a Blog
Senior distance runner Joe Moore is providing an insight to the 2005 cross country season and 2006 track and field season with an on-line journal at www.trackshark.com. Moore is a frequent visitor to the site and saw the opportunity on the site to become a contributor.
To see what is on Moore’s mind, just visit www.trackshark.com and click on Journals.’
Wildcats Bestow Captaincy Upon Six
Kansas State has selected six captains to lead them during the 2006 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. Captains for the women are senior Breanna Eveland and junior Shunte Thomas. For the men, seniors Avantae Arrington, Coby Cost, Kyle Lancaster and Christian Smith were dubbed captains this season.
Smith Joins Distinguished All-American Company
Senior middle distance runner Christian Smith joined a distinguished group in K-State history following the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships.
By earning his third career indoor All-American honor in the men’s 800-meter run, Smith is now tied with Thomas Randolph (1991-93), Jeff Schemmel (1974-76), Clardy Vinson (1971-72) and Dave Peterson (1969, 1971) for third on the Most All-America Designations in a career. The all-time leader is Kenny Harrison with seven All-American honors (1985-88).
The three consecutive honors by Smith tie him with Randolph for second for Most All-America Designations - Consecutive. The leader is Harrison with four.
K-State Athletes Dominate Weekly Big 12 Honor in 05
Kansas State led the Big 12 Conference in 2005 with five Big 12 Athlete of the Week citations. The only other schools to have a multiple winner on the women’s side is Nebraska and Texas A&M on the men’s side with two apiece.
Coby Cost earned the honor twice, while Kyle Lancaster, Breanna Eveland and Laci Heller earned the citation once.
Wildcats Announce 2005 Indoor Award Winners
The Kansas State track and field coaching staff announced its selections for indoor postseason honors. Chaytan Hill and Coby Cost were named Most Valuable female and male athletes. The duo also earned the high point award, given to the male and female athletes who tabulate the most meet points over the course of the season. Weight thrower Laci Heller and distance runner Ben Delay were named Freshman of the Year.
