FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. ? After finishing in a tie for 47th last season Kansas University’s men’s track and field team finished in eighth place at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on saturday, giving the Jayhawks their best place finish since 1989.
“We are excited for the eighth place finish but we are more excited for the athletes,” said first-year KU head coach Stanley Redwine. “I think all the hard work and dedication these six athletes have put into this season has paid off. They believed in the coaches and our system and had a great season.”
Senior All-American Charlie Gruber finished second in the mile with a time of 3:58.51, the second fastest time in school history just behind Jim Ryun’s record of 3:57.50. Gruber earned his second All-American honor for the season with his first coming in the distance medley relay yesterday.
“It’s nice to break the four-minute marK for the first time. It means a lot knowing you went out and gave it your best effort,” Gruber said. “I wanted to go out with a bang because this is my last indoor season and I feel like I did that. I’m also happy for our team. We all really performed at our best this weekend.”
Junior Ryan Speers also helped Kansas to its highest finished in 12 years with a sixth-place finish in the shot put. Speers moved his way into the Kansas record books as well, throwing the fourth best mark in school history with a toss of 62-7.
The Jayhawks now turn their attention to the outdoor season, which will kick-off March 24th at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.
“Again, we are excited for the team and athletes but now we need to focus on the outdoor season,” Redwine said. “We need to continue to get better day by day, week by week. If we have athletes that step up and perform at their best we will do great.”
The indoor team title slipped away from Texas Christian when Anthony Amantine bumped into the back of Baylor’s Bayano Kamani seconds after the first exchange and dropped the baton in the 1,600-meter relay. TCU only needed a seventh-place finish to outscore LSU. Instead, the Tigers’ Alleyne Francique, with a 44.6-second leg, passed Baylor’s Zsolt Szeglet in the final straight and LSU picked up 10 points for winning.
Amantine retrieved the baton and got back in the race, but precious seconds were lost and the Frogs wound up 12th in the event.
LSU finished with 34 points, one more than the Frogs and two more than Arkansas. The Razorbacks, seeking their fifth straight Indoor title, were a contender until the 3,000 meters when the best their three runners could do was a seventh by Daniel Lincoln.
UCLA repeated in the women’s division. Christina Tolson contributed 18 points with a first and second in the shot and weight throw. UCLA wound up with 531*2 points and South Carolina was second with 40.
