SE: Expectations High for K-State Track and Field's Indoor Season

By Corbin McGuire

When Cliff Rovelto says the K-State women's track and field team will be better in the outdoor season, it's not a knock on the indoor squad but a compliment to two Wildcats who will only compete in the spring.

Janee' Kassanavoid, a senior with only outdoor eligibility left, and Shadae Lawrence, a discus thrower, both won Big 12 outdoor titles last season to help boost K-State to a team conference championship.

Even without those two All-Americans, Rovelto said the potential the Wildcat women hold is still high for this indoor season, which starts on Friday with the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon and on Saturday with the K-State Winter Invitational, both at Ahearn Field House.

"We should be really good if we're healthy," said Rovelto, entering his 26th season as K-State's Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. "On paper, we've got people that can compete at the very top of the conference in almost every event."

Of the 72.5 individual points scored by K-State's women at last year's Big 12 Indoor Championships, 74 percent of them were earned by returning Wildcats.

This returning core includes an extremely strong sophomore class, starting with Nina Schultz.

Schultz, a Canadian multi-event standout, picked up 14 individual points as a freshman between three events at last year's Big 12 indoor meet. She went on to place third in the pentathlon at the NCAA Championships.

Ariel Okorie and Lauren Taubert, two more sophomores, add serious depth to K-State's multi-event roster. They respectively placed fourth and ninth in the Big 12 pentathlon a year ago.

"To have three true sophomores that are as good as these three are is rare," Rovelto said. "Obviously Nina had tremendous success as a freshman, but under normal circumstances you would look at what the other two did and you'd say that was pretty good."

Other sophomores who scored at last year's indoor conference championship include: Helene Ingvaldsen, who finished second in the weight throw, behind only her teammate Kassanavoid; Konstantina Romaiou, who placed fifth in the triple jump; and Shanae McKenzie, who came in sixth in the high jump.

If not for injuries, Wurrie Njadoe would likely have been in that group as well. She finished second in the long jump at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

"The women should be very, very competitive if we're healthy," Rovelto said, as his women's team also brings back key contributors in Shardia Lawrence, Claudette Allen and Rhizlane Siba. Those three combined for 18.5 points at last year's Big 12 indoor meet.

On the men's side, Rovelto said he anticipates much better results from a year ago. Again, he added, it will come down to staying healthy and how quickly a few mid-year additions transition.

"The men are certainly going to be better than we were a year ago," Rovelto said, as K-State's men finished sixth at the 2017 Big 12 Indoor Championships. "When it's all said and done, two of our top five or six athletes on our team, looking ahead to this spring, will be coming in January."

One of these mid-season boosts will be Aaron Booth, a decathlete out of New Zealand. The incoming freshman has an impressive resume already, placing third in the decathlon at the World University Games with 7,523 points.

Recently, Booth has been working to reach the standard to compete for New Zealand in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. The amount of work Booth has been putting in to do so, Rovelto said, should put him ahead of the curve in terms of January add-ons.

"He'll be way ahead of most of our combined eventers just because he's done so much technique work and he would have already competed," Rovelto said. "It'll be different with him."

Rovelto believes this season will be different for the men's team as a whole.

Brett Neelly (shot put), Jayce Brock (shot put), Mitch Dixon (weight throw), Simone Fassina (heptathlon), Lukas Koch (1-mile), Kurt Loevenstein (800) and Terrell Smith (200-meter dash) all scored for K-State at last year's indoor meet. All return with more experience and bigger expectations for this season.

"We'll definitely be better than we were a year ago, but part of the reason we weren't as good a year ago as we hoped was because of injuries. Again, a lot of it depends on if we stay healthy," Rovelto said, "but I think that there's definitely more quality athletes on the team this year than there were a year ago."

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Expectations High for K-State Track and Field's Indoor Season

Players Mentioned

Claudette Allen

Simone Fassina

Helene Ingvaldsen

Janee' Kassanavoid

Lukas Koch

Shadae Lawrence

Shardia Lawrence

Kurt Loevenstein

Shanae McKenzie

Brett Neelly

Wurrie Njadoe

Ariel Okorie

Konstantina Romaiou

Nina Schultz

Rhizlane Siba

Terrell Smith

Lauren Taubert

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