Ames, Iowa ? Kansas University senior Jeremy Mims broke a 38-year old school record Saturday, finishing the 800-meter run in 1:47.04 at the Iowa State Qualifier.
Mims broke the mark set by KU legend Jim Ryun in 1967. The time also made Mims an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend in Fayetteville, Ark.
“Jeremy had an excellent race,” coach Stanley Redwine said. “He went into race determined that he could automatically qualify and in the process beat the old school record.”
It was the second Ryun record that has fallen in the past month. Junior Benson Chesang shattered Ryun’s 3,000-meter record at the Tyson Invitational last month in 7:59.46.
Mims is the second KU track athlete to automatically qualify for next weekend’s national meet, joining senior pole vaulter Amy Linnen, who already had qualified automatically.
The Jayhawks had several other athletes provisionally qualify or better their provisional-qualifying marks Saturday. Chesang lowered his 3,000-meter time to 7:57.86, while senior Brooklyn Hahn improved her previous school record in the triple jump by leaping 43-feet, 2.25 inches. It broke her previous best by 10 inches, and was good enough to place second Saturday.
Freshman Julius Jiles also provisionally qualified in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing in 7.89. It was just .03 seconds short of the school record, held by sprinter Anson Jackson.
“We had a lot of good performances today,” Redwine said. “Not only the people that qualified or broke school records, but the people in the middle that PR’d. This is a continued step in the right direction for Kansas track.”
