Barton County CC’s track uniforms are identical to Kansas’ pink and blue outfits.
So it seemed only natural to assume one of Barton’s dominant junior college sprinters, not an unheralded Jayhawk, broke the tape in the women’s 100 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Closer inspection, however, showed it was KU freshman Natasha Shafer outlunging Barton’s Cynthia Tylor for first place at the Kansas Relays.
“No one puts too much pressure on me because they don’t expect much from a Kansas sprinter,” said Shafer, a freshman from Denver. “This ranks as the best win of my college career.”
KU’s sprint corps is starting to follow the lead of the distance runners and field event competitors.
It’s improving.
Shafer, however, was the only KU sprinter to earn a Relays watch this year.
“I wasn’t sure I could win,” said Shafer who won the 100 and was second in the 200 at last year’s Colorado state high school meet. “I knew I could beat some of these girls, but there were a couple that had faster preliminary times.”
She was clocked in 11.58 to Tylor’s 11.74.
“I really don’t plan on qualifying for nationals or anything,” Shafer said. “I just want to go into the Big Eight championships strong.”
Former Jayhawk Pat Manson won the rain-shortened pole vault with a leap of 18-4 . He had just one miss all afternoon, before the competition was wiped out by rain.
Manson, who traveled to international meets this past indoor season, says training sessions with former KU gymnastics coach Bob Lockwood have helped him immensely.
“He’s the guru of gymnastics,” Manson said. “He’s a former pole vaulter. A lot of our moves in pole vaulting are the same as in gymnastics. He knows a lot about body movements.”
Scott Huffman, another former Jayhawk who placed second to Manson, says he asked world record holder Sergei Bubka of the Unified Team to attend the Relays.
“He gets $50,000 to $60,000 just to show up at a meet. I said I’d give him $100,” Huffman joked. “He’s head and shoulders above the rest.”
Huffman competed in Russia this past winter.
“It was a lot different this year. People smiled and were very friendly. I didn’t expect it to be that way with economic conditions the way they are. I asked somebody about it. I was told they’re happier now because they can express themselves. That is worth more to them than money.”
Still, the Russian landscape is bleak. “On the sidewalks, there’s mud everywhere. Every building looks condemned,” Huffman said. “There’s no heat in the hotels. We took our own food, soap, toilet paper. But they had 8,000 (spectators) for our meet. They love the pole vault there.”
