Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
Big 12 Indoor Championships
Shankar, Johnson Capture Conference Titles, K-State Ends Big 12 Indoor Championship on High Note
Mar 01, 2020 | Track & Field
AMES, Iowa – Witnessing many Wildcats earn podium finishes on Friday afternoon, the Kansas State men's and women's track and field teams swarmed the awards ceremonies on Saturday as a multitude of athletes placed in the top eight of their respective events to give K-State a nice send off from the 2020 Big 12 Indoor Championships at Ames, Iowa.
Two performances that stood out in a packed environment on Saturday included sophomore Kassidy Johnson and junior Tejaswin Shankar, who were crowned as conference champions in the 1000 meters and high jump events, respectively, to cap off a successful day inside the Lied Recreation Center.
Acquiring the hardware in the second half of the meet, Johnson posted a blazing time on the oversized track of 2:44.89 in the women's 1000-meter race to bring home gold for K-State. Johnson distanced herself from her opponents on the track and soared to her first Big 12 Indoor title. It was a payback moment as well for the Wichita, Kansas native as Johnson avenged a runner-up finish from the year before in the indoor conference meet.
"I made the goal to get first this year," said Johnson. "It was a little different competition this year, which helped, but a full year of training under my belt with all of that experience gave me a little more confidence in myself this year."
Shankar fulfilled his championship aspirations once again as the New Delhi, India native staked his second straight Big 12 Indoor Championship title in the high jump event, clearing the bar at 2.23m/7-3.50 to edge out Oklahoma's Vernon Turner. His accomplishment puts him in elite company as former Wildcats Christoff Bryan and Erik Kynard both repeated at the indoor conference meet during their tenures. The high jump victory marks four out of the last five years that K-State has won the event on the men's side.
"The conference championship is all about the team and the good thing is I made a contribution to the team," said Shankar. "I think that is the one good take away for me. Personally, I feel there was something lacking in my jump even though I won the meet. I wasn't satisfied with what I did, and I don't think my coach was satisfied as well. That just shows that he has high expectations and I have high expectations for myself."
The victories by Johnson and Shankar improved the total number of individual titles to three on the weekend, as senior Lauren Taubert continued her dominance in the women's pentathlon competition with a first-place performance. Taubert compiled 4,161 points in the process to notch her first Big 12 indoor pentathlon championship.
"Individual championships in a conference like the Big 12 are not easy to come by," said Director of Track and Field Cliff Rovelto. "In every event, there are multiple quality athletes in the field. All of them are there hoping to come up with the win but only one can accomplish this goal and provide 10 points for their respective institution and team. Kassidy (Johnson) and TJ (Tejaswin Shankar) got it done today. Both have trained and performed well the entire season. Obviously, we would love to win as many events as we can but when it is all said and done, it is all points scorers who have contributed to our team total. The sixth, sevenths, etc., are contributions we also appreciate. Personally, it is the athletes and their performances at the championship meets that leave with the greatest impact on me. It could be very well that a seventh or eighth-place finish were among the most outstanding performances on our team."
For the second-straight year, the women's team finished at third place in a 10-team field as the group pulled together 91 points inside the Lied Recreation Center. Texas (180.33) and Texas Tech (131) both finished a top the leaderboard on the women's side in the two-day span. The men's team clawed their way to the fifth spot with a grand total of 76 points. Those competing in the high jump event contributed 21 of the 76 total points for K-State.
"From a team perspective, I felt we would battle with Texas Tech for second on the women's side," said Rovelto. "They had a phenomenal day and ended up in second. We can relate as this is exactly what we did during outdoors last year, finishing second to Texas. Texas is outstanding. On the men's side, I felt like we would likely end up fifth, which is where we finished. The guys did a very good job competing here at the meet. We were missing a few guys due to injury and we just didn't have enough bullets here at the meet to score much more than what we did."
Finishing up the second part of the men's heptathlon, senior Aaron Booth and freshman Edgaras Benkunskasboth roped in top-five outings while medaling in the process. Booth brought his "A" game in the pole vault and 1000-meter events to climb into a spot at third. Benkunskas kicked off the latter half of the heptathlon with a crucial victory in the 60-meter hurdles, which advanced him into first place for a short while in the morning session of the meet. The top spot did not stay with Benkunskas for the duration of the heptathlon as Texas' Leo Neugebauer racked up 5,848 points to clinch the win with a mark of 4.97m/16-3.50.
Roaring down the track for the Wildcats, junior Ethan Powell managed his way towards another podium finish, this time in the men's 3000-meter race. Powell jumped the gun and ran well with his Oklahoma State and Iowa State counterparts near the end of the day, crossing the line at fourth place with a time of 8:16.58. During the 5000-meter event on Friday, Powell fought for a spot on the podium which paid off in an eighth-place performance.
Doubling down from Friday's weight-throw competition, senior Ashley Petr executed another podium-deserving finish, but this time it came in the shot put. Petr launched a personal-best throw of 14.71m/48-3.25, which put her on the podium in the mix of Texas and Oklahoma participants.
Competing in her first conference championship, freshman Janique Burgher obtained a spot at fourth place in women's high jump event, getting over the bar at a height of 1.72m/5-7.25. Burgher led the way for the women's team as senior Shanae McKenzie and freshman Maddie Righter filled out the heat sheet for K-State in the event.
Bouncing back over to the 3000-meter race, the women's team landed another individual up on the awards platform as freshman Emma Lucas delivered in an exciting race, pushing herself into the podium conversation after clinching the eighth spot at a time of 9:45.94.
The Big 12 houses some of the fastest athletes in the country and that was no different on Saturday during the men's 200 and 400-meter races. Seniors Justin Davis and Jullane Walker garnered Big 12 accolades as Davis nudged his way towards a seventh-place performance at a time of 47.44 in the 400 meters while Walker moved past a disqualification in the 60 meters to rack up fourth-place honors in the 200-meter dash.
Adding on to the individual flurry of awards, Macy Heinz (800 meters), Alex Ferguson (600 yards), Cayli Hume (800 meters), Hadley Splechter (mile run) and Noah Stevenson (1000 meters) made their way to the awards ceremony after placing inside the top eight for their distance races.
K-State made its presence felt all around the Lied Recreation Center for the Big 12 Indoor Championship, as the team finished with 26 individuals on the podium in Saturday's session, seven more than the 2018-19 squad.
"When someone ranked well down the list coming into the meet rises to the occasion and makes a final while contributing points to the team, I am very appreciative of that contribution," said Rovelto.
With the conference championship behind them, the Wildcats will take next weekend before heading south to Albuquerque, N.M., for the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday March 13 through Saturday, March 14. Iowa for the second round of the Big 12 Indoor Championship on Saturday, February 29 inside the Lied Recreation Center.Individuals who are granted the opportunity to compete at nationals will be determined by TFRRS next week.
For the latest on K-State track and field, follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.
Big 12 Indoor Championship
Lied Recreation Center
Ames, Iowa
Men's Heptathlon 60-Meter Hurdles
1. Edgaras Benkunskas, 8.30
6. Kyle Parr, 8.51
9. Aaron Booth, 8.70
Men's Heptathlon Pole Vault
2. Aaron Booth, 4.67m/15-3.75
7. Edgaras Benkunskas, 4.27m/14-0.00
13. Kyle Parr, 3.47m/11-4.50
Men's Heptathlon 1000 Meters
3. Aaron Booth, 2:45.52
6. Kyle Parr, 2:48.06
8. Edgaras Benkunskas, 2:50.16
Men's Heptathlon Scores
3. Aaron Booth, 5639 points
4. Edgaras Benkunskas, 5,609 points
11. Kyle Parr, 4,858 points
Women's High Jump
4. Janique Burgher, 1.72m/5-7.75
7. Shanae McKenzie, 1.68m/5-6.00
11. Maddie Righter, 1.68m/5-6.00
Men's Triple Jump
11. Angelo Gordon, 13.98m/45-10.50
Women's Shot Put
8. Ashley Petr, 14.71m/48-3.25
11. Urte Bacianskaite, 13.56m/44-6.00
12. Helene Ingvaldsen, 13.51m/44-4.00
15. Shaelyn Ward, 12.78m/41-11.25
Women's 60-Meter Hurdles
4. Kimisha Chambers, 8.36
8. Ariel Okorie, 8.50
Men's 60-Meter Hurdles
8. Donovan Turner, 8.20
Men's 60 Meters
DQ. Jullane Walker
Women's Mile Run
10. Emma Wren, 5:09.09
Men's Mile Run
5. Hadley Splechter, 4:18.53
Women's 600 Yards
2. Alex Ferguson, 1:22.29
Men's High Jump
1. Tejaswin Shankar, 2.23m/7-3.75
3. Kyle Alcine, 2.13m/6-11.75
4. Taylor Smith, 2.13m/6-11.75
Women's Triple Jump
4. Konstantina Romaiou,
8. Taishia Pryce,
Men's Shot Put
5. Cameron Lewis, 17.34m/56-10.75
Men's 400 Meters
7. Justin Davis, 47.44
Women's 1000 Meters
1. Kassidy Johnson, 2:44.89
7. Hannah Stewart, 2:53.59
Men's 1000 Meters
4. Noah Stevenson, 2:28.95
Women's 800 Meters
5. Macy Heinz, 2:08.79
8. Cayli Hume, 2:11.07
Men's 800 Meters
6. Travis Hodge, 1:50.65
Men's 200 Meters
4. Jullane Walker, 21.14
Women's 3000 Meters
8. Emma Lucas, 9:45.94
22. Cara Melgares, 9:58.87
26. Jaybe Shufelberger, 10:03.76
Men's 3000 Meters
10. Ethan Powell,
12 Cooper Schroeder,
15. David Lutgen,
Women's 4x400 Relay
5. Kansas State A, 3:38.93
Men's 4x400 Relay
8. Kansas State A, 3:13.38
Players Mentioned
