Each week during the University of Kansas’ sports seasons, the Journal-World staff will select one athlete from a KU men’s sports team and one from a women’s sports team as athletes of the week.
For the week of March 9-15, the selections are Ashton Barkdull and September Flanagan.
Ashton Barkdull, track and field
The junior from Andover cleared a personal-best 5.80 meters in the pole vault at the indoor national championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to win the national title in the event. He is KU’s first indoor national champion since Bryce Hoppel in 2019 and first such winner in the pole vault since 2018.
September Flanagan, softball
A junior second baseman from Morrison, Oklahoma, Flanagan was starting at second base for the Jayhawks in February but missed a month of action. She returned as a pinch hitter in KU’s second and third games against Houston over the weekend and homered in each of her two at-bats. She is now 10-for-20 with 13 RBIs on the year.
