K-State Travels to Fayetteville for NCAA Indoor Championships

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State track and field teams will look to ascend past the best athletes in the country this weekend, as they travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships set for Thursday-Saturday, March 11-13 at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

Six Wildcats qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, including senior Tejaswin Shankar (high jump and triple jump) and junior Chantoba Bright (long jump and triple jump) in two events, while junior Anigbata Grace Chinonyelum and freshman Rhianna Phipps will join Bright in the women's triple jump and senior Taishia Pryce in the women's long jump. Junior Vitoria Alves is the lone Wildcat entrant on the track in the women's 60-meter hurdles.

The Wildcats will send five of these student-athletes to the championships, as Chinonyelum will not compete due to injury.

In each of the past 12 seasons, K-State has sent a member of the women's team to the big stage while the men's squad has now had an individual punch a ticket to championships in each of the last 21 years.

The Wildcats will begin competition on Friday and Saturday. Shankar begins action in the men's high jump at 11:30 a.m., CT on Friday followed by Bright and Price in the women's long jump at 6:30 p.m., CT and wrapping up with Alves in the women's 60-meter hurdles at 7:15 p.m., CT. Saturday's action kicks off with Shankar in the men's triple jump at 1 p.m., CT followed by Bright and Phipps in the women's triple jump at 5 p.m., CT.

"The message is always the same," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto. "Do what you did to get to the national meet, and you will be in good shape. I think we have a number of opportunities to score if we do just that."

Arkansas – who ranks No. 1 in the women's leaderboard - will play host to the best programs in the country. Other Big 12 schools who will be represented inside the Randal Tyson Track Center beginning Friday include Texas (No. 3), Texas Tech (No. 10) and Baylor (No. 11) on the women's side. The men's competition will feature top-ranked Oregon and Big 12 foes Texas (No. 10), Iowa State (No. 12) and Texas Tech (No. 14).

Tuning into the NCAA Indoor Championships

Fans wanting to follow along with the national meet can use the live results link provided by Flash Results. The national championships will be live streamed on ESPN3. Spectators can catch up with the action on the ESPN app with any laptop or mobile device.

Under COVID-19 and NCAA guidelines, no fans or spectators will be allowed inside Randal Tyson Track Center this weekend.

For more information on NCAA Indoor Championships, including a full schedule of events, records and more can be found on kstatesports.com by clicking here.

Remaining in the National Poll

The K-State women have positioned themselves once again in the national poll, as the team sits at the No. 21 spot in the USTFCCCA National Rating Index. This is the fifth-straight week the Wildcats have made their mark in the national field. At the Big 12 Indoor Championship, K-State brought home a third-place finish with 100.5 points on the women's side, just behind Texas (154.5) and Oklahoma State (103) in the standings.

NCAA Leaderboard

The Wildcats have a firm grip at the top of the NCAA leaderboard with the indoor season nearing its end. Heading into the pinnacle meet of all track and field, K-State remains inside the top 16 nationally in four events. Those athletes include senior All-Americans Tejaswin Shankar (No. 3, High Jump; No. 12, Triple Jump) and Taishia Pryce (No. 10, Long Jump), junior Anigbata Grace Chinonyelum (No. 5, Triple Jump), freshman Rhianna Phipps (No. 8, Triple Jump), juniors Chantoba Bright (No. 6, Triple Jump; No. 8, Long Jump) and Vitoria Alves (No. 15, 60-Meter Hurdles).

Indoor National Champions

Since 2009, K-State has pocketed three national champions at the NCAA meet. Dating back to 1996, the Wildcats have been the home of 14 individual national titles. Dani Winters and Akela Jones were the last K-State athletes to achieve the highest podium spot in collegiate track and field back in 2016. Tejaswin Shankar remains the lone Wildcat on the 2020-21 roster to hold a national championship title, as he won the 2018 NCAA Outdoor High Jump Championship in Eugene, Oregon.

Shankar Three Peats at Big 12 Indoors; Becomes First High Point Award Winner

With the stakes at its highest this season, senior Tejaswin Shankar delivered like he has all year, collecting his third-straight Big 12 indoor high jump title in Lubbock, Texas on February 27. Tied with Oklahoma's Vernon Turner near the end of the event, Shankar nailed his last jump at 2.21m/7-3 to walk off with the win inside the Sports Performance Center. Historically, Shankar became the first Wildcat since Erik Kynard to capture three-straight titles in the event at the Big 12 Indoor Championship.

Competing in four events (high jump, triple jump, long jump and 4x400 meter relay) at the Big 12 indoors, Shankar wound up earning the Men's High Point Award with 21.25 points over the two-day stretch. That would give K-State its first High Point Award winner on the men's side in school history at the conference championship.

In addition, Shankar collected 10 points in the triple jump and long jump competitions to go along with helping the 4x400 meter relay team to a fourth-place finish. He was the runner-up in the triple jump with a new personal record of 16.09m/52-09.50, which tied for the third-best performance in school history. He was seventh in the long jump with a mark of 7.10m/23-03.50. He capped the weekend by joining freshman Kyle Gale and sophomores Tim Lambert, Jr., and Sean Wilson in the 4x400-meter relay, helping the team finish fourth with a time of 3:08.84.

Gale Notches Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year Honors

After superb outing at the Big 12 Indoor Championship, freshman Kyle Gale earned conference Co-Freshman of the Year honors on March 4 after his performances in the 400 meter and 4x400 meter relay. He posted a runner-up finish in the men's 400 meters with a personal-best time of 46.21 then helped the relay team place fourth with a time of 3:08.84. Gale shares the honor with Texas' Yusuf Bizimana.

Gale became the first Wildcat to be tabbed as the most outstanding freshman for the indoor season and secured K-State's second Big 12 Freshman of the Year award and the first since Christoff Bryan took home the hardware during the 2015 outdoor season.

Horizontal Jump Ambassadors

Under the leadership of assistant coach Vincent Johnson, four Wildcats have excelled in the horizontal jumps on the women's side this season and cemented their marks amongst the nation's best. After a great showing in Lubbock, Texas during the Big 12 Indoor Championship, the trio of Anigbata Grace Chinonyelum (5th, 13.61m), Chantoba Bright (6th, 13.60m) and Rhianna Phipps (8th, 13.52m) remained inside the top 16 nationally for the triple jump. Senior Taishia Pryce produced yet again in the long jump competition this season, posting a mark of 6.37m and the 12^th-best outing in the nation. The Wildcats have made it an annual trend to put their stake in the sand at the national indoor meet, as K-State has sent at least one horizontal jump athlete to the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2017.

Up Next

With the indoor season wrapping up after this weekend, K-State will venture into the 2021 outdoor campaign on March 19-20, as the team will travel down to San Antonio, Texas to compete in the Roadrunner Invitational.

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

K-State Travels to Fayetteville for NCAA Indoor Championships

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Players Mentioned

Chantoba Bright

Kyle Gale

Rhianna Phipps

Taishia Pryce

Tejaswin Shankar

Sean Wilson

Kansas State University Athletics