Cats Return to Texas for Midwest Regional
May 23, 2006 | Track & Field
This Week For Kansas State
May 26-27 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships Mike A. Myers Stadium Austin, Texas Live results at www.texassports.com
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State track and field is set to make its fourth and final trip to Texas this season for the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional this weekend, May 26-27, at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The Wildcats will have 23 student-athletes in tow for this weekend’s meet.
Athletes who register an individual top-five finish this weekend are automatically placed into the NCAA Championship field. Athletes finishing in sixth, seventh, or eighth are entered into an at-large pool. The athletes in the at-large pool are then judged by their season-best mark to determine the final qualifiers for the national meet.
Wildcat Rewind: 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional
During the 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional at John Jacobs Field in Norman, Okla., K-State advanced 11 athletes to the NCAA Championships. The women recorded their third consecutive top-five finish, placing fifth with 46 points. The men finished 11th for the second straight year with 29 points.
The Wildcats had three athletes win event crowns in 2005 as Kyle Lancaster won the high jump (7-03.75), Chaytan Hill won the triple jump (44-00.75) and Breanna Eveland won the pole vault (13-11.75). Eveland set the Midwest Regional and John Jacob Field records with the clearance.
Kansas State has seven athletes competing at the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional who competed at the 2005 regional. These athletes are: Eveland, Laci Heller, Lisi Maurer, Shunte Thomas, Christian Smith, Stelios Kapsalis and Josh Scheer.
Wildcat Women Finish Fourth at Big 12 Outdoor Championship
Over the past two years, the Kansas State women had been shutout of any individual titles. During the course of the 10th Big 12 Outdoor Championship May 12-14 in Waco, K-State captured three individual crowns and its highest team finish since the 2003 season.
The three titles were the most for the Wildcat women since the 2002 Big 12 Outdoor Championships when K-State won its second straight Big 12 outdoor title. Winning event titles during the three days were: sophomore Laci Heller (hammer throw), senior Breanna Eveland (pole vault) and sophomore Marianne Schlachter (triple jump). More on these three athletes can be found in the following notes.
K-State to Host USA vs. Germany Decathlon and Heptathlon
Kansas State will host some of the top athletes in the world on Aug. 5-6 at R.V. Christian Track Complex for the USA vs. Germany Decathlon and Heptathlon. This is the first time the series will be competed since the summer of 2003.
Each team will be made up of seven decathletes and, for the first time in theseries’ history, four to six heptathletes. The U.S. has won eight of the 11 competitions, including a world record setting performance of 40,607 points in 1996.
K-State has a tie to this event, as head coach Cliff Rovelto has been a member of the U.S. coaching staff in 1997 and 2003.
The U.S. team will be determined following the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., June 21-25.
Heller Wins First Hammer Title, Second Big 12 Title
Sophomore Laci Heller won the first Big 12 individual title for the Wildcats in just over two years, winning the hammer throw with a toss of 193-07. The native of Meriden, Kan., entered the finals with a leading toss of 191-07, but was surpassed by Slata Tarasova of Kansas. Heller needed her final throw of the afternoon to win the event.
Heller becomes the first Wildcat to win the hammer and weight throw titles in the same calendar year since Renetta Seiler accomplished the feat in 1999. Heller entered this weekend ranked number one in the Midwest Regional with a personal-best of 202-01.
Eveland Breaks Three Records to Win Pole Vault Crown
Senior Breanna Eveland continued to rewrite the Kansas State record books in the pole vault with a winning clearance of 14-05.25 at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. The product of Grand Rapids, Mich., won the title at 14-01.25, after Nebraska’s Jenna Blubaugh cleared 13-07.25, then retired. Eveland continued on and broke the K-State school, the Big 12 meet and the Hart-Patterson Track records. Eveland broke both the Big 12 and track records by over a foot.
This is the first conference crown for Kansas State in the women’s pole vault and was the second of the weekend.
She enters competition this weekend ranked number one in the Midwest Region in the event and third in the nation.
Schlachter Wins First Big 12 Title
Sophomore Marianne Schlachter won the first triple jump Big 12 title for the Wildcats since Vannita Kinard won the first in 1997. Schlachter skipped to a winning distance of 42-00.00 to earn the title on her fifth jump of the competition.
The native of Albbruck, Germany overcame an hour and a half weather delay to win K-State’s third individual women’s title.
Schlachter has a personal-best of 43-05.00 during the UTEP Springtime Invitational on April 1.
Smith Wins First Career Big 12 Outdoor Title
Senior Christian Smith won his fourth career Big 12 title and first in an outdoor championship. Smith won the men’s 800-meter run in a personal-best time of 1:46.49. His previous career-best of 1:46.74 came at the 2004 USATF Club Championships and ranked second in school history.
The win by the Garfield, Kan., native is the first-ever conference title at 800-meters. The win extends K-State’s streak to three with at least one conference champion and the eighth time in the 10 Big 12 Outdoor Championships the Wildcat men have won an individual title.
Sellers Performing Well in Home State
Freshman Scott Sellers continues to perform well in his home state of Texas. The product of Katy, Texas and Cinco Ranch HS, finished second at the Big 12 Outdoor Championship with a height of 7-03.75 in the high jump.
In his two previous visits to the state, Sellers finished second at the UTEP Springtime Invitational on April 1 with a clearance of 7-02.50 and third at the Texas Relays on April 8 with a career-best of 7-04.50.
Kapsalis Records Runner-Up Finish
Senior Stelios Kapsalis registered a second-place finish in the triple jump during his final Big 12 Outdoor Championship. Kapsalis skipped to a distance of 51-03.00 on his final attempt to take the lead by a half an inch over Daniel Roper of Nebraska. Roper followed Kapsalis as the final jumper and used his final effort to uncork a jump of 52-00.50.
Maurer Breaks School Record Again
Junior Lisi Maurer reset the school record in the 100-meter hurdles twice during the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. The product of Salzburg, Austria advanced to the finals with a clocking of 13.21. In Sunday’s final, Maurer finished third with a time of 13.12 to set the record again. Maurer was just three-hundredths of a second from setting the Austrian national record in the event (13.09).
Reider of the Javelin
Freshman Ashley Reider recorded a new personal-best in the javelin with a toss of 152-08 for a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. The mark ranks sixth in K-State history.
Reider’s first career NCAA Midwest Regional came at the Ward Haylett Invitational. with a distance of 152-06 during the Ward Haylett Invitational on May 6, which was almost 20 feet better than her previous career-best of 132-07 at the Emporia Relays on April 8.
Women’s Hammer Throw Dominance
The K-State women’s hammer throwers, sophomores Loren Groves and Laci Heller and senior Ashleigh Rogers, have each competed in seven hammer throw competitions in 2006. Of the 21 final distances, 16 have resulted in tosses beyond the NCAA Midwest Regional qualifying standard of 177-07. Heller leads the trio with all seven of her distances surpassing the mark.
