Four of the top seniors on Kansas University’s track team will be held out of competition during the outdoor season.
KU coach Stanley Redwine will red-shirt seniors Charlie Gruber, Jabari Wamble and Andy Morris as well as junior Scott Russell.
“I think they could definitely use an extra year of development and I think they will be much better this time next year,” Redwine said.
At the same time, the first-year KU coach said, “We hope to have a much better team with those athletes next year.”
Gruber is coming off his best indoor season, breaking the four-minute mark in the mile and taking second at the NCAA Indoor.
Wamble was a member of the distance medley team that finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor, while Morris, the Jayhawks lone multi-events athlete placed second at the Big 12 Indoor in the heptathlon.
Russell, a native of Windsor, Ontario, broke the school record in the 35-pound weight throw and finished third at the NCAA Indoor with a toss of 76-73/4.
The Jayhawks will open their outdoor season on Saturday in Stillwater, Okla. The Jayhawks had been scheduled to go to a meet at North Texas, but opted for the Oklahoma State meet instead.
“The quality competition is in Stillwater,” Redwine said. “Our athletes are also coming off spring break and to travel down to Denton and have an extra day of competition would be hard on the athletes. So we opted to go to the one-day competition.”
