Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championship Live Blog
5/14/2021
By: Austin Siegel
Welcome to live coverage of the 2021 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championship here on KStateSports.com. With almost 60 different events in Manhattan this weekend, future Olympians and K-State school record-holders in attendance, there's a lot to keep track of if you're headed to the R.V. Christian Track Complex or watching from home on ESPN+.
Consider this blog a viewing partner throughout the weekend, your weirdly track-obsessed friend with info on the events worth keeping an eye on and the Wildcats who could become Big 12 Champions over the next 72 hours.
Friday - 11:10 AM: Two event finals get us kicked off on Friday that K-State will hope to score to big in - the Women's Hammer Throw and the Men's Javelin.
In the Women's Hammer Throw (12:00 p.m.) Helene Ingvaldsen will hope to defend her Big 12 title while Logan Wolfley eyes a school record in the Men's Javelin (6:30 p.m.).
This afternoon will also see the beginning of the Heptathlon, where Lauren Taubert should be in the mix for a conference title over the next two days. She was the Big 12 runner-up the last time the conference meet was held back in 2019.
On the fast track to success #KStateTF x #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/Q7vPnbPPEk
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 14, 2021
Friday - 3:45 PM: We're cruising along on Day 1 here in Manhattan, with all eyes on the throwing and combined events. The big name for K-State fans to keep an eye on is Lauren Taubert, a three-time All-American searching for her first Big 12 title in the Heptathlon.
Safe to say, it's going well. Taubert is in first place after day one of the Heptathlon with 3,487 points.
The seven events that make up the Hep are spread across two days, so Taubert competed in the 100m Hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put and 200m Sprint this afternoon. Scoring for the event puts all those times, heights and distances into an equation which gives you a score for each athlete.
Taubert's four-event total isn't quite on pace with her career-best performance in Arizona earlier this season, but it was more than enough to lock up first place heading into Saturday. A matchup to watch tomorrow will be Taubert and teammate Ariel Okorie, a top-three finisher in 2018 & 2019.
For K-State fans, this is a good problem to have.
Okorie is sitting in third place with 3,450 points after a very strong first day in the Hep, with some solid events still to come. In Arizona, she and Taubert tied in the Long Jump, while Okorie finished higher in the Javelin, before Taubert took the 800m.
Watching both Wildcats on Saturday should be appointment viewing.
Day 1 Complete ?
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 14, 2021
?? Women's Heptathlon
1. Lauren Taubert - 3,487 points
2. Kaylee Hinton (TTU), 3,472 points
3. Ariel Okorie - 3,450 points
8. Urte Bacianskaite - 3,261 points #KStateTF x #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/lCNXJCPzTi
"Coming out in the Hurdles, I was really happy with that time. Just making it under 13.60 was a big accomplishment for me during the hep. Then going into High Jump, it didn't go like I wanted it to, but I'm just glad I got close to 1.70. So, I was okay with that. Then the Shot Put was frustrating for me. I know I can throw further than that, but I'll take it. The 200 was a PR. I just got out and attacked it. I was pretty frustrated with some of my other events, so that definitely helped me.”Lauren Taubert
Friday - 4:45 PM: Over in the Hammer Throw, K-State showcased their depth in the throwing events with four Wildcats finishing in the top six. Helene Ingvaldsen grabbed 2nd (64.99) while Ashley Petr - who will be one of the favorites in the Discus - and Taylor Latimer - defending Big 12 champion in the Shot Put - claimed 4th and 6th place respectively with a pair of career-best throws.
Let's say you're focused on athletes who were included on the Big 12 Championship poster before the event. We already covered Lauren Taubert, who leads the Heptathlon heading into Saturday. Kansas hammer thrower Gleb Dudarev didn't disappoint.
The Jayhawks star delivered a 74.61m toss on Friday that was a top-30 throw in the world in 2021, as Dudarev became just the second hammer thrower in Big 12 history to win four conference titles in his career. The Belarusian was the runner-up at the 2019 NCAA Championship.
Placing 4? in the Top 6? for the hammer throw ??
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 14, 2021
Ingvaldsen - 2? (64.99m/213-2)
Ward - 3? (62.06m/203-7)
Petr - 4? (59.67m/195-9)
Latimer - 6? (59.20m/194-3)#KStateTF x #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/hrPw6y56fF
Friday - 9:15 PM: There have been Olympians and NCAA Champions at K-State who will never know how it felt to be Logan Wolfley on Friday night. The Silver Lake native won a Big 12 Championship in the Men's Javelin Throw on Friday in the first conference meet K-State has hosted since 2012.
Winning a Big 12 Championship is special anywhere. Doing it in Manhattan? Wolfley called it “the greatest moment of my life.”
With a hometown crowd behind him, the senior came up with a school-record toss of 73.08m to win the event and hold off Scott Fuchs of Iowa State. There haven't been many “and the crowd goes wild” moments in collegiate track & field this season, but when Wolfley's record-breaking throw touched down at the R.V. Christian Track Complex, the place was rocking.
He’s the first Wildcat in school history to win a Big 12 title in the javelin and delivered K-State their first conference championship of the weekend.
?? Big 12 Men’s Javelin Throw Champion ?? @LoganWolfley throws 73.08m (239.9 ft) to set the K-State school record and a new collegiate best.
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
He is the 1st Wildcat in school history to capture the Men’s Javelin title at the Big 12 Outdoor Championship. #KStateTF x #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/y6rEDwysKy
"This feels amazing. There were a lot of really good competitors coming in. I knew (Werner) Bauer from Texas Tech, Scott (Fuchs) from Iowa State, they were going to come in and compete. Scott threw 72 meters, so that's crazy. That is a huge PR for him, I am super proud of him...In warmups, I had a really good throw and then I also hit a really deep throw but I fell over the toe line so that didn't count. So, I knew I had it in me, I just had to do it legally. So that was the hardest part, 'Okay, I just did it now, let's do it again and make it count. Make it official'."Logan Wolfley
Saturday - 11:45 AM: The second day of competition in Manhattan kicked off with the Combined Events, where Lauren Taubert and Ariel Okorie are in the hunt with two events left - Okorie has been strong in the Javelin all year, while Taubert should be able to rack up the points in the 800m. Kristine Blazevica of Texas is your current leader, so keep an eye on her and Kaylee Hinton of Texas Tech - both Wildcats will need to put some distance between them to have a shot at the Heptathlon crown.
In the Decathlon, Matas Adamonis is in position for a medal as he prepares for the pole vault - the Lithuanian used a second-place finish in the Discus to put himself in third place with three events left.
Saturday - 1:30 PM: Kristine Blazevica was too much in the Heptathlon, as the Latvian took the Long Jump and 800m to deliver a Big 12 title to the Longhorns. Taubert finished as the conference runner-up with a second-place finish in the 800m, jumping two spots in the final event of the Hep.
Okorie and freshman Urte Bacianskaite came through with a pair of career-best performances to take fifth and eighth, giving the Wildcats 12 team points - more than any other school in the conference.
Now the spotlight will shift to the field events, where the Wildcats will be counting on 2018 NCAA champ Tejaswin Shankar in the high jump, with Taylor Latimer poised to contend in the Shot Put.
Saturday - 4:45 PM: The afternoon events on Saturday saw some of the most talented athletes in the conference simultaneously competing for Big 12 titles across the Women's Shot Put, Men's High Jump and Women's Long Jump.
The Shot Put was the first event to go final and it belonged to K-State star Taylor Latimer. The defending Big 12 champion came up with a season-best 17.73m throw to grab the first conference title of the day for the Wildcats.
?? Big 12 Women’s Shot Put Champion ??
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
Taylor Latimer throws a season-best 17.73m (58-2 ft.) to win claim the Shot Put title. #KStateTF x #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/QGEGPTEHr6
?? squad went crazy #KStateTF x @latimer_2017 pic.twitter.com/VSEL3vvv0A
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
Saturday - 5:15 PM: Over in the High Jump, it was a dual between Tejaswin Shankar and Vernon Turner of Oklahoma. Down to his final attempt at 7-4 ½, Shankar chose to gamble and raise the bar to 7-5 ¾ for what was basically a sudden-death jump. Miss and Turner was your Big 12 champion. Make it and the Oklahoma high jumper would need his best jump of the season in order to win.
Shankar didn't miss.
His Big 12-title winning jump was the third best in the nation this season and broke the the R.V. Christian Track Complex record.
????????#KStateTF x @TejaswinShankar pic.twitter.com/wyoGfhJWw2
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
?? Big 12 Men’s High Jump Champion ??@TejaswinShankar claims back-to-back Outdoor HJ titles with a jump of 2.28m (7-5.75 ft). His mark places him #3 in the nation and breaks the R.V. Christian Track Complex record. #KStateTF x @NCAATrackField pic.twitter.com/8Z98CIjbZD
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
Sunday - 11:30 AM: The final day of the Big 12 Championship is going to be defined by the weather, as thunderstorms roll through the Flint Hills today. The meet schedule was moved up to 11 AM this morning, so we're already into the finals of the running events at the R.V. Christian Track Complex.
With the rain coming down in Manhattan, the focus isn't going to be on PRs but scoring points for your school. Kassidy Johnson has already come up with a top-four finish for the Wildcats in the 1500 meters.
[Vernon Turner] made all the jumps in his first try to 2.25. So there was no point making that height and I had to try and make the one above that height because even if I would make that height... I would have no chance of winning. I passed my last try and then I had one shot at 2.28 and it was make or break. I knew I'd be second if I don't make it, but if I make it then you know you have to take such risks in such big competitions with big people, tough competitors... I think the last time I competed to such a cheer was in Eugene when I won the national title in my freshman year. So to have the same kind of reception or even more than that and the people behind me were the people I knew. I knew everybody's face. That just made my day really special and I can't really complain about anything.”Tejaswin Shankar
Sunday - 11:55 AM: One of the highlights from yesterday was in the Women's Long Jump, where Tara Davis - who already owns the longest jump in NCAA history - delivered a 6.97m leap to win the event for Texas.
It was a meet record, facility record and the third longest jump in NCAA history. With that historic mark coming on her first attempt, Davis then passed on her remaining five jumps to compete in the preliminaries of the Women's 100m Hurdles. The Olympic hopeful will look to make it two Big 12 titles in two days when she runs in the finals of the event this afternoon.
Sunday - 3:05 PM: The rain continues to fall on Sunday, pushing some of the field events indoors to Ahearn Field House. That's where Zach Bradford of Kansas won the men’s pole vault with a meet record 5.73m jump - the sophomore was the youngest member of Team USA at the IAAF World Championships in Qatar in 2019. Tara Davis also snagged her second Big 12 title of the weekend with a win in the Women's 100m Hurdles.
For the ‘Cats, some of the highlights on Sunday have been third-place finishes from Kimisha Chambers in the 400m Hurdles and Chantoba Bright in the Triple Jump. Bright's 13.29m leap was also the sixth-best in K-State history.
Shining in the rain ??#KStateTF x #Big12TF pic.twitter.com/vEbx0EBDxT
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 16, 2021
Sunday - 4:30 PM: That's a wrap from the R.V. Christian Track Complex, as Texas wins the men's and women's team competition, becoming just the fifth team in Big 12 history to sweep the indoor and outdoor titles in the same season. The Longhorns came into the meet ranked No 6 in the country on the men's side and No. 4 on the women's side.
For the Wildcats, the weekend was hardly a disappointment, as the K-State women finished second in the team competition with a Big 12 title in the Shot Put (Taylor Latimer). K-State also outperformed No. 8 Texas Tech, as the 16th-ranked Wildcats finished with 114 points to hold off the Red Raiders with 106.5 points.
The men's side saw K-State finish fourth in the team competition behind the three ranked Big 12 teams, with conference titles in the High Jump (TJ Shankar) and Javelin Throw (Logan Wolfley).
One other interesting note - only two schools scored better in a single event than K-State with 22 points in the Women's Hammer Throw, as Helene Ingvaldsen, Ashley Petr, Taylor Latimer and Shaelyn Ward showcased why this might be one of the deepest groups of throwers in school history.
