K-State Prepped for Final Tune-up
Feb 15, 2006 | Track & Field
This Week For Kansas State
Feb. 18 KSU Open Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kan. Live results available at www.kstatesports.com
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State will return to Ahearn Field House this weekend for its final tuneup before the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships next weekend in Lincoln. The Wildcats will welcome a host of athletes for the KSU Open on Saturday. The field events begin at 10 a.m. with the women’s weight throw. Events on the track begin at 1:30 p.m. with the women’s distance medley relay.
Thomas Improves Provisional Status in 400; Sets Record
Senior Shunte Thomas broke her own school record for an oversized track in the women’s 400-meter dash at the ISU Classic on Feb. 11. The product of Coral Springs, Fla., set the mark with a clocking of 53.36 and a third place finish. The previous record was 53.39 set during the 2005 ISU Classic.
Thomas also checked in with the second-fastest oversized track 200-meter dash time in Wildcat history with a 24.00. The clocking trails her own school record of 23.82 set at last year’s ISU Classic.
Just What the Schlachter Ordered
Kansas State sophomore Marianne Schlachter reached the provisional qualifying distance in the triple jump for the first time in her career at the ISU Classic. The Albbruck, Germany product finished third with a mark of 41-06.50. This is the second time this season Schlachter has reset her personal best, accomplishing the feat first during the Wildcat Invitational on Jan. 28 with a mark of 41-03.00.
Schlachter has set personal-bests this season in three events: the high jump (5-06.00), pole vault (11-02.25) and pentathlon (3,403 points).
Becker Wins First 600-Yard Run
Junior Casey Becker won his first career 600-yard run on Saturday at the ISU Classic. The Aurora, Colo., native zipped around the 300-meter Lied Athletic Facility track in 1:10.93 for the win. The clocking registers as the third-fastest oversized track time in K-State history for the event.
Garrett Leaps to Career-Best
Senior high jumper Lamar Garrett posted a career-best height of 7-00.25 during the ISU Classic on Feb. 11. It is the first time in his career he has cleared seven feet in the event.
The native of Oklahoma City, Okla., had a previous career-best of 6-11.75 during the Wildcat Invitational on Jan. 28.
Smith Breaks National Collegiate Record; Named Big 12 AOW
Senior Christian Smith was named Big 12 Athlete of the Week on Feb. 7 after breaking a 20-year old national collegiate record while winning the men’s 1,000-meter run during the Sevigne Husker Invitational.
Smith, a native of Garfield, Kan., broke the national mark with a clocking of 2:19.57 and finished over seven seconds ahead of runner-up Chad Bergen of North Dakota State. Smith broke the previous college mark set by Doug Consiglio of Arkansas in 1986 of 2:19.64. The time has been accepted as a national record by Track and Field News.
The time also broke the following records (previous mark): the Kansas State record (2:20.24 Smith, 2004), the Bob Devaney Sports Center record (2:20.24 Smith, 2004, Big 12 Championships) and the Sevigne Husker Invitational record (2:25.20 Jeff Pigg, Missouri, 1985).
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 an NCAA automatic qualifying clearance of 14-01.25 at the Sevigne Husker Invitational on Feb. 4. With the clearance, Eveland became the first female in Wildcat history to soar above 14 feet during the indoor and outdoor seasons. She also leads the NCAA Division I performance list in the event.
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. She then outdid herself earlier this season with a clearance of 13-11.25 at the KSU-KU-MU Triangular on Jan. 20.
Eveland has now won 12 of her last 15 indoor pole vault competitions and has sailed above 13 feet in those 15 meets.
Lancaster Defeats Three All-Americans for Title
Senior high jumper and 2006 NCAA Indoor Championship automatic qualifier Kyle Lancaster continues to clear dizzying heights.
To earn his fourth win of the 2006 season, the Fort Scott, Kan. native and two-time NCAA Indoor All-American had to outperform three other All-Americans. Lancaster cleared 7-02.50 on his first attempt at the height, while Dusty Jonas and Aaron Plas of Nebraska and Mickael Hanany of UTEP cleared the height on their second or third attempts.
Lancaster has surpassed seven feet in the high jump 21 times in 30 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. This season, Lancaster has a season-best of 7-04.25 during the KSU-KU-MU Triangular.
Maurer Resets Own K-State Record
Junior Lisi Maurer broke her own school record during the Husker Invitational on Feb. 4. The native of Salzburg, Austria zipped over the 60-meter hurdles during the semifinals in 8.30. Maurer’s previous school mark was 8.32 at the 2004 Big 12 Indoor Championships on the same Devaney Sports Center track.
With the time, she imrpoves on her NCAA provisional status for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Maurer provisionally qualified for last season’s Indoor Championships with a personal season-best time of 8.35 at the Big 12 Championships, but was not selected to the national championship field.
My Name is Bonds, Morgan Bonds
Sophomore Morgan Bonds won her second straight 600-yard run title, breaking the tape in 1:23.35 at the Sevigne Husker Invitational. Bonds set her personal season-best of 1:23.11 during the Wildcat Invitational on Jan. 28.
The Hutchinson, Kan., product is the defending Big 12 champion in the event, becoming the first true freshman in K-State history to win a Big 12 title and first female freshman to win a conference title since Rita Graves won the Big Eight high jump in 1983.
This Week on the Dandy Dozen
Five Wildcat student-athletes remained on the fifth Trackwire.com “Dandy Dozen”.
Seniors Coby Cost, Kyle Lancaster, 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 third and ninth, respectively, in the high jump. Lancaster is automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and climbed two spots this week after winning the Husker Invitational crown. Sellers is provisionally qualified in the event and dropped three places after holding in sixth since the debut of the rankings this season.
Smith remains ranked 10th in the 800-meter run, despite provisionally qualifying in the event over the weekend.
Eveland dropped two places to number three in the women’s pole vault and is automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships with a height of 14-01.25.
Thomas is ranked 10th 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 33 of 83 (.398) 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.
Cost of the Weight Throw
Senior Coby Cost added yet another weight throw title to his mantle during the Wildcat Invitational. The El Dorado, Kan., product and 2005 NCAA Indoor All-American has won 23 of 31 weight throw competitions (.742) during his time with the Wildcats.
Heller Reaches a Baker’s Dozen
With her victory at the Wildcat Invitational with a toss of 64-01.25, sophomore Laci Heller has now won 13 career weight throw titles. The Meriden, Kan., native has surpassed the NCAA Indoor provisional mark in 13 of her 15 career meets.
Heller has also surpassed 60 feet in every competition during her career.
Takin’ a Staab at 60 Feet
Kansas State shot putter T.J. Staab became the first Wildcat to surpass 60 feet in the shot put since 2001. The senior from Plainville, Kan., reached a distance of 60-10.00 to win his third title of the season. The effort ranks sixth on the K-State shot put top-10 list.
Staab is provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Second Place, but Not in Our Hearts
Kansas State throwers Ryan Creadick and Loren Groves have toiled in the shadows of teammates Coby Cost and Laci Heller in 2006. Their efforts have not been fruitless however.
Creadick, a senior from Camarillo, Calif., moved into third-place on the K-State weight throw record book with his toss of 64-05.25 during the Wildcat Invitational. Creadick has surpassed the provisional qualifying standard in his last three events and has finished second in three of five competitions and third in the other two this season.
Groves, a redshirt freshman from Scott City, Mo., provisionally qualified for the first time this season with a toss of 63-11.50 during the Wildcat Invitational. The distance places her in fourth on K-State’s women’s weight throw record book and was her third second place finish of the season.
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.
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.
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.’
