Three Wildcats Notch First Place Honors on Day One at Jim Green Invitational

Three Wildcats Notch First Place Honors on Day One at Jim Green Invitational

Jan 10, 2020 | Track & Field

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Even with some setbacks and limited practice time coming into the first road meet of 2020, the Kansas State men's and women's track and field teams still delivered several quality performances on day one of the Jim Green Invitational at the Nutter Field House on Friday.

"I thought we had a fairly solid day across the board," said Director of Track and Field Cliff Rovelto. "Virtually, everyone came into this meet having to deal with an illness, lack of technical work or something that compromised their level of preparedness. The events that were finals we competed well in and we qualified well against some solid competition. Overall, good day from us."

The Wildcats produced multiple top-five finishes in several track and field events, which featured three student-athletes taking home first-place honors in the high jump and 600-meter competitions.

Sophomores Alex Ferguson and Antoni-Hoyte Small both ran away with the top honors in the 600 Meter Dash events, as Ferguson posted a time of 1:32.42 in her victory, just ahead of teammate Pippa Earley (1:36.28), while Hoyte-Small edged out teammate Gabriel Louw on the men's side, crossing the line with a time of 1:21.22.

Freshman Janique Burgher needed every inch to outleap her competitors in the women's high jump with a mark of 5-08.75/1.75m to notch her first win at K-State. Burgher clinched the top spot over fellow Wildcats Maddie Righter and Shanae McKenzie, who finished second and third with heights of 5-07/1.70m.

Several other Wildcats earned top-three placements in their respective events on the day, including seniors Ariel Okorie (long jump), Ashley Petr (weight throw) and Kimisha Chambers (60-meter hurdles) on the women's side and junior Tejaswin Shankar (long jump) and freshman Taylor Smith (high jump) on the men's side.

Petr set a new personal record in the weight throw competition, launching a throw of 66-07/20.31m, to take home a spot at third for the Wildcats, while teammates Helene Ingvaldsen (63-11.75/19.50m) and Shaelyn Ward (63-00.00/19.20m) followed in fourth and fifth places, respectively. Junior Colin Echols also performed well in the men's weight throw with a fifth-place toss of 60-10.50/18.55m.

Okorie and Shankar held their own in the long jump events with Okorie finishing in second place with a leap of 19-04/5.89m while Shankar climbed in the top-three amongst the men's field with a personal-best jump of 23-06.25/7.17m, narrowly passing teammate Aaron Booth (23-04.25/7.12m) who finished in fourth place. Seniors Lauren Taubert (18-10.75/5.76m) and Konstantina Romaiou (18-08.05/5.70m) also performed well in the women's long jump, finishing in fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Chambers set a new personal best in the 60 Meter Hurdles, crossing the line with a third-place time of 8.41 seconds, while senior Jullane Walker finished fourth in the 60 Meter Dash with a time of 6.83. Smith, taking part in his first competition at K-State, reached a height of 6-10.25/2.09m in the high jump to earn third place in the event.

Walker, Shankar, Booth, Chambers, Taubert, Alves and Okorie all advanced to the next round for Saturday's 60 Meter and 60 Meter Hurdle races after placing in the top of the leaderboards amongst the field.

The Wildcats will begin the final of day of the Jim Green Invitational on Saturday with the first event in Nutter Field House starting at 10 a.m., CT. After the completion of the Jim Green Invitational, K-State will next travel to Wichita, Kansas on January 18 for the annual KU-KSU-WSU Triangular.

For the latest on K-State track and field follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.

Jim Green Invitational
Nutter Field House
Lexington, Ky.

Women's Weight Throw
3. Ashely Petr, 20.31m/66-07.75
4. Helene Ingvaldsen, 19.50m/63-11.75
5. Shaelyn Ward, 19.20m/63-0.00

Men's Weight Throw
5. Colin Echols, 18.55m/60-10.05
7. Cameron Lewis, 17.78m/58-04.00

Men's Long Jump
3. Tejaswin Shankar, 7.17m/23-06.25
4. Aaron Booth, 7.12m/23-04.25

Women's Long Jump
2. Ariel Okorie, 5.89m/19-04
4. Lauren Taubert, 5.76m/18-10.75
5. Konstantina Romaiou, 5.70m/18-08.50

Women's High Jump
1. Janique Burgher, 1.75m/5-08.75
T-2. Maddie Righter, 1.70m/5-07
T-2. Shanae McKenzie, 1.70m/5-07

Men's High Jump
3. Taylor Smith, 2.09m/6-10.25

Men's 60 Meters
4. Jullane Walker, 6.83

Women's 60 Meter Hurdles
3. Kimisha Chambers, 8.41
8. Ariel Okorie, 8.49
11. Lauren Taubert, 8.53
12. Vitoria Alves, 8.55
28. Maddie Righter, 9.31
33. Kindel Nordhus, 9.56

Men's 60m Hurdles
9. Tejaswin Shankar, 8.34
13. Aaron Booth, 8.52
24. Kyle Parr, 15.75
DNS. Oscar Smith

Men's 600 Meter
1. Antoni Hoyte-Small, 1:21.22
2. Gabriel Louw, 1:22.38

Women's 600 Meter
1. Alex Ferguson, 1:32.42
2. Pippa Earley, 1:36.28