Eugene, Ore. ? Kansas University sophomore Lindsay Vollmer is a national champion, an honor she hopes to share with her teammates today.
Vollmer earned the first individual outdoor title in program history Friday with a dominant performance in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Vollmer’s performance helped extend the Jayhawks’ lead in the women’s team standings with one day to go.
“This feels unbelievable,” Vollmer said after winning the event with 6,086 points, the best college total this season. “I never imagined I would be accomplishing something like this so early in my career. I’ve had such great support from my teammates, coaches and family. This is as much theirs as it is mine. It was just an all-around amazing day.”
Vollmer entered the second day of the heptathlon in third place before setting career bests in each of the final three events. She placed third in the long jump with 6.16 meters (20 feet, 2 1/2 inches), first in the javelin with 46.18 (151-6) and 13th in the 800 with 2:19.36. In all, Vollmer used personal bests in six of seven events to shatter a school record (Candace Mason’s 5,674 points in 1999) and turn in the 10th best performance in NCAA history.
Vollmer, along with runner-up finishes from senior Andrea Geubelle and junior Natalia Bartnovskaya, helped increase the KU women’s point total to 48. NCAA Indoor champion Oregon sits in second place with 33 points.
Geubelle leapt to 13.63 meters (44 feet, 8 3/4 inches) on her first attempt in the triple jump on Friday but could not improve on the final three jumps. The silver medal was her second of the Outdoor meet after a runner-up finish in long jump on Wednesday.
Bartnovskaya’s clearance of 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5 1/4 inches) in the pole vault was also good for second place.
Kansas men’s standout sophomore Michael Stigler was the runner-up in the 400 hurdles Friday and set a school record with a mark of 49.19 seconds.
The top-ranked Jayhawk women will try to add to their point total today with three events. The 4×100 relay team of Paris Daniels, Diamond Dixon, Denesha Morris and Tianna Valentine will start KU’s day at 4:05 p.m. Central time, followed by Daniels’ 200 final at 4:43 p.m. and the 4×400 relay of Daniels, Dixon, Morris and Valentine at 5:43 p.m.