KSU Returns to Ahearn for Invite
Jan 25, 2006 | Track & Field
This Week For Kansas State
Jan. 27-28 Wildcat Invitational and Wildcat Heptathlon/Pentathlon Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kan. Live results at www.kstatesports.com
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Wildcats will return to Manhattan for a brief stay this weekend with the Wildcat Invitational and Wildcat Heptathlon/Pentathlon on Friday and Saturday in Ahearn Field House.
The multi-events will begin Friday at 10 a.m. with the women’s pentathlon 60-meter hurdles. The Wildcat Invitational will begin Friday with the men’s portion of the meet beginning at 4 p.m. The women will compete in the Invitational on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m.
Triple-Double for K-State at Triangular
Kansas State received strong performances from sophomore Marianne Schlachter and seniors Stelios Kapsalis and Christian Smith during the KSU-KU-MU Triangular . The trio won six events, two each, to aid K-State’s winning cause.
Schlachter won the high jump (5-06.00) and the triple jump (40-03.50) for her first two event wins of the 2006 season. The Albbruck, Germany native was the only competitor to surpass 40 feet in the triple jump.
Kapsalis won the long (22-09.75) and triple jumps (50-10.00). It was Kapsalis’ second triple jump title of the season and first long jump crown. The Limassol, Cyprus product missed the NCAA provisional standard in the triple jump by just one-hundredth of a meter (or a quarter of an inch).
Smith won the 800-meter run (1:50.69) and the one mile run (4:12.20). The native of Garfield, Kan., is provisionally qualified in the mile and ranks second in the nation.
Eveland Goes to New Heights; Resets Own School Record
Senior pole vaulter Breanna Eveland is well ahead of her record-setting pace of the 2005 indoor season. The Grand Rapids, Mich, native and 2005 NCAA Indoor All-American broke her own K-State school record with a clearance of 13-11.25 at the KSU-KU-MU Triangular on Jan. 20. Eveland originally set the school record at 13-09.25 at the 2005 KSU-KU-MU Triangular and tied it at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Eveland has now won nine of her last 12 indoor pole vault competitions and has sailed above 13 feet in those 12 meets.
This Week on the 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.
Lancaster and Sellers are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the high jump. Lancaster is automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, while Sellers is provisionally qualified.
Cost is ranked 10th in the men’s weight throw, an event he has provisionally qualified in.
Smith is ranked 10th in the 800-meter run. He has run the event twice in 2006, narrowly missing the provisional standard in his first 800.
Eveland is ranked second in the pole vault and is automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Thomas is ranked ninth in the 400-meter dash and is provisionally qualified in the event.
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 24 of 47 (.511) 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.
With his second win of the 2006 season, the Fort Scott, Kan. native has surpassed seven feet in the high jump 19 times in 28 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.
Maurer Zips to Provisional Status
Sophomore Lisi Maurer provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships during the KSU-KU-MU Triangular. The Salzburg, Austria product broke the tape in 8.41 to win her first hurdles title this season.
Maurer provisionally qualified for last season’s Indoor Championships, but was not selected. She currently holds the school-record in the 60-meter hurdles with a clocking of 8.32 during the 2004 Big 12 Indoor Championships
Heller Reaches a Dozen
With her victory on Friday at the KSU-KU-MU Triangular with a toss of 63-07.50, sophomore Laci Heller has now won 12 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.
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.
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.
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.
