College Station, Texas ? Kansas University football player T.J. Hackler nearly pulled off an improbable feat on Friday at the Big 12 track and field championships.
Hackler, a 6-foot-1 KU walk-on receiver out of Olathe East who has been with the track team for less than a month, placed fourth in the conference high jump at Texas A&M’s track.
Hackler actually tied for first place in a personal-best 7-01/2, but finished fourth because of misses.
Missouri’s Jay Meystedt and the Nebraska duo of Kyle Odvody and Shaun Kologinczak each cleared 7-01/2, but had fewer misses than Hackler.
“Fourth place at conference feels great,” said Hackler, who played football the past two years at Fort Scott CC, but didn’t compete in track because his juco didn’t field a team. He transferred to KU at semester break and played spring ball for the Jayhawks.
“Still I’m disappointed because I had a few things go wrong early and it killed me in the end. Helping the team out feels great, but I plan on doing better next year.”
Hackler won the state high jump title his senior year at O-East.
KU sophomore long jumper Monique Peters placed eighth in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 19-53/4. A pair of eighths went to 10,000 runners Brent Behrens (31.22.50) and Paige Higgins (38:09.87).
Jennifer Foster placed ninth in the hammer in 149-10.
KU’s men and women both are in 10th place of 12 teams entering today’s final events.
In prelims, junior Katy Eisenmenger qualified for the 1,500 meter finals in 4:34.34. Senior Eric Patterson qualified in the 110-meter high-hurdles in 14.16.
Other qualifiers were Amanda Reves (800, 2:13.06), Jennie Wonder finished 400 hurdles, 1:01.86), Kerry Fink (400 hurdles, 1:03.1), Abby Nielsen (400 hurdles, 1:03.33.)
Today’s finals will feature five Jayhawks from the women’s side and one on the men’s side.
In other events, Chris Hercules of Texas won his third straight long jump and Tolga Kiseoglu of Texas A&M his second discus title.
Oklahoma’s Bambi Carson successfully defended her women’s discus title with a Big 12 meet record 179 feet, 7 inches, shattering her winning distance of 162-9 at last year’s meet in Columbia, Mo.
Carson broke the meet record of 174-10 set by Kris Curnyn of Iowa State in 1997.
Hercules didn’t have the best jump in the preliminaries, but his first leap in the finals was a personal best 26 feet, beating out Daniel Kaczmarczyk of Iowa State, who placed second after leading the qualifiers into the finals.
“It was good for me coming from behind, because I had to stay focused and get the lead,” Hercules said. “I usually don’t get going until the finals, which is not a good way to go in the event.”
Kaczmarczyk finished second with a leap of 25-103/4 and Bashir Ramzy of Texas A&M, who narrowly lost to Hercules in the long jump last year, was third at 25-10.
Kiseoglu of Texas A&M, cheered by the home crowd, won his second straight men’s discus title with a toss of 204-01, with his winning throw coming on his second effort.
Zech Schiebout of Iowa State finished second in the discus with a toss of 200-08, and Josh Ralston of Missouri was third at 193-08.
The Nebraska men and women are the defending team champions.
Through seven final events, the Kansas State women led in team standings 60 1-2 to 50 over Nebraska with host Texas A&M third and Oklahoma fourth.
Missouri held the men’s lead with 53 points followed by Texas A&M with 45, Texas with 26 1-2 and Nebraska, 26.
Pole Vault 1. Leslie Dunlap, Oklahoma, 12-02.75. 2, Alissa Koerner, Nebraska, 11-09. 3, Sarah James, Kansas St., 11-03. 3, Jenna Vaughan, Texas, 11-03. 5, Lanette Mosier, Nebraska, 11-03. 6, Keara Welsh, Kansas St., 11-03.
Long Jump 1, Chimika Carter, Texas A&M, 21-06.75. 2, Janel Hayes, Oklahoma, 20-09.25. 3, Barbara Szlendakova, Iowa St., 20-07.25. 4, Austra Skujyte, Kansas St., 20-05.25. 5, Vesna Kostic, Nebraska, 20-05. 6, Kendra Reimer, Texas A&M, 20-02.25.
Shot Put 1, Lisa Griebel, Iowa St., 54-03.75. 2, Austra Skujyte, Kansas St., 52-04. 3, Rebekah Green, Kansas St., 51-06.25. 4, Leann Boerema, Nebraska, 51-02.75. 5, Bambi Carson, Oklahoma, 49-09.25. 6, Meghan Koonce, Texas A&M, 49-09.25.
Discus 1, Bambi Carson, Oklahoma, 179-07. 2, Meghan Koonce, Texas A&M, 171-02. 3, Jennifer Cowher, Nebraska, 169-04. 4, Jessica Longfors, Oklahoma, 167-01. 5, Susan Sherman, Iowa St., 165-01. 6, Leslie Mikos, Kansas St., 161-03.
High Jump 1, Jay Meystedt, Missouri, 7-00.50. 2, Kyle Odvody, Nebraska, 7-00.50. 3, Shaun Kologinczak, Nebraska, 7-00.50. 4, T.J. Hackler, Kansas, 7-00.50. 5, Mike Beasley, Texas Tech 6-10.75. 6, Olavi Paavo, Texas Tech, 6-10.75.
Long Jump 1, Chris Hercules, Texas, 26-0. 2, Daniel Kaczmarczyk, Iowa St., 25-10.75. 3, Bashir Ramzy, Texas A&M, 25-10. 4, Brandon Evans, Texas A&M, 24-11.25. 5, Anderson Smith, Texas A&M, 24-07.25. 6, Tunji Giwa, Iowa St., 24-06.50.
Discuss 1, Tolga Koseoglu, Texas A&M, 204-01. 2, Zech Schiebout, Iowa St., 200-08. 3, Josh Ralston, Texas A&M, 193-08. 4, Russ Bell, Missouri, 192-08. 5, Christian Cantwell, Missouri, 186-07. 6, Kyle Bookout, Oklahoma, 183-02.
