Eugene, Ore. ? Kansas University sophomore Sydney Conley earned first-team All-America honors Wednesday, placing seventh in the long jump finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“It feels good because being an All-American means you’re one of the top jumpers in the country,” Conley said. “Today wasn’t the best I wanted to do. The game plan was to try and come out and get top-three, so I wanted to do better of course. But being a first team All-American twice now gives me great confidence going into my junior year. Now I’m at a point that I know now what I need to do get a win out here.”
Conley, who finished 17th at the NCAA Outdoor last year, hit a mark of 6.30 meters (20 feet, 8 inches) to place sixth at the end of the semifinal round. She was unable to improve upon the distances in the finals and ended up one inch shy of fifth place.
Junior Michael Stigler ran the top qualifying time in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 49.34, the second fastest time in KU history and eighth fastest mark by an American this year.
The KU women’s 4×100 relay — Alisha Keys, Diamond Dixon, Tianna Valentine and Conley — did not make it out of semis after flubbing an exchange.
The Jayhawks return to the track today.