Friday, May 14
Manhattan, Kan.
Kansas State University
vs
Big 12 Outdoor Championship
Wildcats Host 24th Big 12 Outdoor Championship this Weekend
May 13, 2021 | Track & Field
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State track and field teams will host the 24th Big 12 Outdoor Championship this weekend on Friday, May 14 through Sunday, May 16 at R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex. This will be the third time in Big 12 history that the Wildcats will host the outdoor contest, with the other two events taking place during the 2005 and 2012 seasons.
The NCAA's best will fill up the start lists in this year's installment of the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, which will be highlighted by two athletes in women's fields who made the recent cut on the Bowerman Watch List - Texas' Tara Davis (Long Jump/100-Meter Hurdles) and Texas Tech's Ruth Osoro (Long Jump/Triple Jump). A few others from the Big 12 received votes for the prestigious track and field award, including Kansas' Gleb Dudarev (Hammer Throw) and Baylor's Aaliyah Miller (800 Meters).
Nationally ranked Texas (No. 4) and Texas Tech (No. 8) are the lone programs who remain in the Top 25 for the USTFCCCA Women's Outdoor Track and Field National Rating Index. The men's national poll houses the Longhorns – who are currently slated at the No. 6 ranking – along with Iowa State (No. 7), Kansas (No. 15), Oklahoma (No. 19) and Texas Tech (No. 22).
Texas Tech's men's group and Texas' women's team will arrive to Manhattan in search of retaining their Big 12 Outdoor titles, as the Red Raiders recorded 164 points to claim first-place honors at the 2019 contest, while the Longhorns collected the second-highest total in meet history with 172 points in Norman, Oklahoma.
K-State will have an expanded roster to utilize from for the conference outdoor meet this weekend, highlighted by 11 All-Americans in the three-day competition – seniors Lauren Taubert, Helene Ingvaldsen, Ariel Okorie, Wurrie Njadoe, Akia Guerrier, Taishia Pryce, juniors Tejaswin Shankar, Chantoba Bright, Vitoria Alves and Taylor Latimer, and freshman Rhianna Phipps.
The covenant track and field meet amongst Big 12 schools will take off on Friday morning at 11 a.m., CT with the first segment of combined events. Saturday's schedule will commence at 10 a.m., CT with the final slate of combined events, and then field events will follow up at 2 p.m., CT. Sunday's finale will start at 1 p.m., CT in the field and then those on the track will compete in the final leg of the competition starting at 3 p.m., CT.
Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for youth, senior citizen and K-State students are currently on sale at www.kstatesports.com/buytickets. Tickets are also available via a walk-up basis on Friday beginning at 10 a.m., until 8 p.m., CT, Saturday from 9 a.m., to 7 p.m., CT then on Sunday from noon to 7 p.m., CT. Fans will be issued a digital ticket (print at home or mobile) and they can scan in and out throughout the day using their mobile ticket.
"We're very excited to host the (Big 12 Championship)," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto. "We hosted in 2005 and 2012 and here we are in 2021 so that gives you a pretty good idea of how infrequently you have an opportunity to host an outdoor championship, so you have whole classes of kids that never have an opportunity to compete at a conference championship at home. When you have that opportunity, it's special for everybody. It's special for them, their families, and certainly we hope for everyone that's associated with our university that they look forward to putting on championships."
Taubert and Shankar also spoke on the upcoming conference meet at R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex.
"Just thinking about coming here my freshman year and knowing that I was going to compete at home in my last meet as a senior, it's been super exciting all four years and just knowing my last meet at a Big 12 Conference meet will be at home, so I've been looking forward to it," said Taubert. "When COVID cancelled Big 12 last year, I was really scared that it was going to be taken away from us, the home meet so that's just a big blessing, a huge blessing to compete at Big 12's at home for my senior year."
"I feel like the magnitude of the event is the fact that last time the meet happened was in 2012 at K-State, and I
hadn't even started competing in track & field at that time, because I only started in 2013, and I was in sixth grade so just to imagine that I was in sixth grade when last time we hosted the meet and now I get a chance to compete at a home meet and I'm in my last year of college is a long span of time and just really incredible to think about," Shankar stated. "That being said, we go there every day. We train there in that track every day but then today when I walked in there, there's like tents and all these banners and posters all around the track so that's really interesting to see and it just looked like a different venue, didn't even look like our normal venue so I'm really excited to just go there and the fact that it's going to feel familiar but at the same time there's going to be our old competitors all the top athletes from different schools, and just the fact that there's going to be some teachers, some students, some friends who we were able to put on our pass list who will be able to come and watch so it's really exciting. Every time they listen to our story or they watch it on video or something like that but this time for them to have an opportunity to actually come and watch us live I think that's really exciting, and I've only competed once outdoors in any track meet at K-State, so this would be my second meet on the track, I'm really excited to see how that goes."
Tuning into the Big 12 Outdoor Championship
To follow along with the conference championship, fans can use the live results link provided by Prime Time Timing. A live stream will be provided on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ during Saturday and Sunday's event schedules, where fans will need to have a subscription to use the service.
Under COVID-19 guidelines, this weekend's meet at R.V. Christian Track will be open at full capacity. Those who attend the meet must wear facing coverings over both mouth and nose at all times.
For more information on the outdoor meet, including a full schedule of events, records and more can be found on kstatesports.com by clicking here.
Conference Leaders
This weekend, R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex will be the home of the best athletes from around the conference. To power past the rest of the Big 12, K-State will need to rely on a handful of athletes who have garnered top marks in the conference this outdoor season, including Shankar (2.25m, High Jump), Taubert (5,831 Points, Heptathlon), Ingvaldsen (66.89m, Hammer Throw) and senior Logan Wolfley (71.08m, Javelin). Taubert, Ingvaldsen and Wolfley will get started in Friday's slate of events, and then Shankar will lace up his spikes for Saturday's prestigious high jump competition.
Outdoor Champions
Over the last three seasons, the Wildcats have seen four of their own capture Big 12 titles at the outdoor championship. Shankar leads the charge on the men's team, as the junior searches for back-to-back titles in the high jump after snatching the 2019 outdoor title. The trio of Ingvaldsen (Hammer Throw), Latimer (Shot Put) and Pryce (Long Jump) will prepare to stave off the field to retain their crowns this weekend on the women's side.
Back in Time for the Conference Meet
Sitting out the entire indoor season, Njadoe (No. 4, 100 Meters) and seniors Jah Strange (No. 3, Triple Jump) and Kimisha Chambers (No. 2, 400-Meter Hurdles; No. 6, 100-Meter Hurdles) will get their chance to show their skills in the Little Apple. Strange – a transfer from Purdue – has performed admirably during his first season as a Wildcat in the triple jump, while Njadoe and Chambers continue to leave tread marks on the track, which has landed both sprinters in the top five of the Big 12 for their respective events.
2019 Big 12 Outdoor Championship Recap
It was an explosive outing from the Wildcats at the last outdoor conference championship – particularly for the K-State women – who scored a program-record 156.5 points that lifted the group to a runner-up finish in Norman, Oklahoma at the John Jacobs Track and Field Complex. The women's team was boosted by five individual winners over the three-day event – Ingvaldsen, Pryce, Latimer, and former Wildcats Ranae McKenzie and Shardia Lawrence – along with impressive performances in the women's heptathlon from Taubert (2nd, 5,770 Points) and senior Ariel Okorie (3rd, 5,394 Points).
The men's squad put together a fourth-place performance in the standings after collecting 85 points, which was highlighted by Shankar's first Big 12 Outdoor victory in the high jump. Senior Jullane Walker scorched past his competitors in both the 100 and 200-meter races, helping him earn top-five finishes in each event. For the combined eventers, K-State placed four of its members in the top five of the decathlon leaderboard, which included former Wildcat Aaron Booth's second-place outing at 7,602 points.
Big Stage, Big Results
When conference season hits the calendar, the K-State women have a tendency of making noise near the top of the standings at every Big 12 outdoor meet. Over the previous five seasons, the Wildcats have come away with victories at the 2017 and 2018 conference championships, along with tallying their highest point total ever at the Big 12 event in 2019 (156.5 points), held in Norman, Oklahoma. Over the past 25 years, the K-State women have acquired the most individual titles in conference history for the hammer throw (9) and are tied with former Big 12 rival Nebraska in the long jump competition (5).
In the men's high jump, K-State has accumulated the most individual titles in league history with an impressive combination of four athletes, who have tallied six victories in the event. Shankar has pocketed one outdoor championship title, with the other five coming from former Wildcats Erik Kynard (3), Scott Sellers (1), and Nathan Leeper (1). Dating back to the inaugural Big 12 outdoor season, the men's team has recorded a pair of third-place performances at the 1997 and 2018 conference meets, which are program bests.
Up Next
K-State will prepare for a three-day road trip to College Station, Texas on May 27-29, as the team will take a select group of individuals to the NCAA West Preliminaries, located at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
For the latest on K-State Track and Field follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.
The NCAA's best will fill up the start lists in this year's installment of the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, which will be highlighted by two athletes in women's fields who made the recent cut on the Bowerman Watch List - Texas' Tara Davis (Long Jump/100-Meter Hurdles) and Texas Tech's Ruth Osoro (Long Jump/Triple Jump). A few others from the Big 12 received votes for the prestigious track and field award, including Kansas' Gleb Dudarev (Hammer Throw) and Baylor's Aaliyah Miller (800 Meters).
Nationally ranked Texas (No. 4) and Texas Tech (No. 8) are the lone programs who remain in the Top 25 for the USTFCCCA Women's Outdoor Track and Field National Rating Index. The men's national poll houses the Longhorns – who are currently slated at the No. 6 ranking – along with Iowa State (No. 7), Kansas (No. 15), Oklahoma (No. 19) and Texas Tech (No. 22).
Texas Tech's men's group and Texas' women's team will arrive to Manhattan in search of retaining their Big 12 Outdoor titles, as the Red Raiders recorded 164 points to claim first-place honors at the 2019 contest, while the Longhorns collected the second-highest total in meet history with 172 points in Norman, Oklahoma.
K-State will have an expanded roster to utilize from for the conference outdoor meet this weekend, highlighted by 11 All-Americans in the three-day competition – seniors Lauren Taubert, Helene Ingvaldsen, Ariel Okorie, Wurrie Njadoe, Akia Guerrier, Taishia Pryce, juniors Tejaswin Shankar, Chantoba Bright, Vitoria Alves and Taylor Latimer, and freshman Rhianna Phipps.
The covenant track and field meet amongst Big 12 schools will take off on Friday morning at 11 a.m., CT with the first segment of combined events. Saturday's schedule will commence at 10 a.m., CT with the final slate of combined events, and then field events will follow up at 2 p.m., CT. Sunday's finale will start at 1 p.m., CT in the field and then those on the track will compete in the final leg of the competition starting at 3 p.m., CT.
Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for youth, senior citizen and K-State students are currently on sale at www.kstatesports.com/buytickets. Tickets are also available via a walk-up basis on Friday beginning at 10 a.m., until 8 p.m., CT, Saturday from 9 a.m., to 7 p.m., CT then on Sunday from noon to 7 p.m., CT. Fans will be issued a digital ticket (print at home or mobile) and they can scan in and out throughout the day using their mobile ticket.
"We're very excited to host the (Big 12 Championship)," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto. "We hosted in 2005 and 2012 and here we are in 2021 so that gives you a pretty good idea of how infrequently you have an opportunity to host an outdoor championship, so you have whole classes of kids that never have an opportunity to compete at a conference championship at home. When you have that opportunity, it's special for everybody. It's special for them, their families, and certainly we hope for everyone that's associated with our university that they look forward to putting on championships."
Taubert and Shankar also spoke on the upcoming conference meet at R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex.
"Just thinking about coming here my freshman year and knowing that I was going to compete at home in my last meet as a senior, it's been super exciting all four years and just knowing my last meet at a Big 12 Conference meet will be at home, so I've been looking forward to it," said Taubert. "When COVID cancelled Big 12 last year, I was really scared that it was going to be taken away from us, the home meet so that's just a big blessing, a huge blessing to compete at Big 12's at home for my senior year."
"I feel like the magnitude of the event is the fact that last time the meet happened was in 2012 at K-State, and I
hadn't even started competing in track & field at that time, because I only started in 2013, and I was in sixth grade so just to imagine that I was in sixth grade when last time we hosted the meet and now I get a chance to compete at a home meet and I'm in my last year of college is a long span of time and just really incredible to think about," Shankar stated. "That being said, we go there every day. We train there in that track every day but then today when I walked in there, there's like tents and all these banners and posters all around the track so that's really interesting to see and it just looked like a different venue, didn't even look like our normal venue so I'm really excited to just go there and the fact that it's going to feel familiar but at the same time there's going to be our old competitors all the top athletes from different schools, and just the fact that there's going to be some teachers, some students, some friends who we were able to put on our pass list who will be able to come and watch so it's really exciting. Every time they listen to our story or they watch it on video or something like that but this time for them to have an opportunity to actually come and watch us live I think that's really exciting, and I've only competed once outdoors in any track meet at K-State, so this would be my second meet on the track, I'm really excited to see how that goes."
Tuning into the Big 12 Outdoor Championship
To follow along with the conference championship, fans can use the live results link provided by Prime Time Timing. A live stream will be provided on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ during Saturday and Sunday's event schedules, where fans will need to have a subscription to use the service.
Under COVID-19 guidelines, this weekend's meet at R.V. Christian Track will be open at full capacity. Those who attend the meet must wear facing coverings over both mouth and nose at all times.
For more information on the outdoor meet, including a full schedule of events, records and more can be found on kstatesports.com by clicking here.
Conference Leaders
This weekend, R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex will be the home of the best athletes from around the conference. To power past the rest of the Big 12, K-State will need to rely on a handful of athletes who have garnered top marks in the conference this outdoor season, including Shankar (2.25m, High Jump), Taubert (5,831 Points, Heptathlon), Ingvaldsen (66.89m, Hammer Throw) and senior Logan Wolfley (71.08m, Javelin). Taubert, Ingvaldsen and Wolfley will get started in Friday's slate of events, and then Shankar will lace up his spikes for Saturday's prestigious high jump competition.
Outdoor Champions
Over the last three seasons, the Wildcats have seen four of their own capture Big 12 titles at the outdoor championship. Shankar leads the charge on the men's team, as the junior searches for back-to-back titles in the high jump after snatching the 2019 outdoor title. The trio of Ingvaldsen (Hammer Throw), Latimer (Shot Put) and Pryce (Long Jump) will prepare to stave off the field to retain their crowns this weekend on the women's side.
Back in Time for the Conference Meet
Sitting out the entire indoor season, Njadoe (No. 4, 100 Meters) and seniors Jah Strange (No. 3, Triple Jump) and Kimisha Chambers (No. 2, 400-Meter Hurdles; No. 6, 100-Meter Hurdles) will get their chance to show their skills in the Little Apple. Strange – a transfer from Purdue – has performed admirably during his first season as a Wildcat in the triple jump, while Njadoe and Chambers continue to leave tread marks on the track, which has landed both sprinters in the top five of the Big 12 for their respective events.
2019 Big 12 Outdoor Championship Recap
It was an explosive outing from the Wildcats at the last outdoor conference championship – particularly for the K-State women – who scored a program-record 156.5 points that lifted the group to a runner-up finish in Norman, Oklahoma at the John Jacobs Track and Field Complex. The women's team was boosted by five individual winners over the three-day event – Ingvaldsen, Pryce, Latimer, and former Wildcats Ranae McKenzie and Shardia Lawrence – along with impressive performances in the women's heptathlon from Taubert (2nd, 5,770 Points) and senior Ariel Okorie (3rd, 5,394 Points).
The men's squad put together a fourth-place performance in the standings after collecting 85 points, which was highlighted by Shankar's first Big 12 Outdoor victory in the high jump. Senior Jullane Walker scorched past his competitors in both the 100 and 200-meter races, helping him earn top-five finishes in each event. For the combined eventers, K-State placed four of its members in the top five of the decathlon leaderboard, which included former Wildcat Aaron Booth's second-place outing at 7,602 points.
Big Stage, Big Results
When conference season hits the calendar, the K-State women have a tendency of making noise near the top of the standings at every Big 12 outdoor meet. Over the previous five seasons, the Wildcats have come away with victories at the 2017 and 2018 conference championships, along with tallying their highest point total ever at the Big 12 event in 2019 (156.5 points), held in Norman, Oklahoma. Over the past 25 years, the K-State women have acquired the most individual titles in conference history for the hammer throw (9) and are tied with former Big 12 rival Nebraska in the long jump competition (5).
In the men's high jump, K-State has accumulated the most individual titles in league history with an impressive combination of four athletes, who have tallied six victories in the event. Shankar has pocketed one outdoor championship title, with the other five coming from former Wildcats Erik Kynard (3), Scott Sellers (1), and Nathan Leeper (1). Dating back to the inaugural Big 12 outdoor season, the men's team has recorded a pair of third-place performances at the 1997 and 2018 conference meets, which are program bests.
Up Next
K-State will prepare for a three-day road trip to College Station, Texas on May 27-29, as the team will take a select group of individuals to the NCAA West Preliminaries, located at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
For the latest on K-State Track and Field follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.
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