The Kansas men’s and women’s track and field teams will send 28 athletes to compete in the NCAA West Regional, which will determine who goes on to compete for a national championship.
Look for a flock of Jayhawks in the air at the track meet set for May 24-27 in Sacramento.
KU will have five men and two women competing in the pole vault competition. On the men’s side, Clayton Simms enters the meet ranked No. 3 in the West Region. Ashton Barkdull (15), Anthony Meacham (17), Andrew Saloga (21) and Jake Freidel (27) will join Simms, while Samantha Van Hoecke (20) and Gabby Hoke (29) will compete on the women’s side.
The top 12 finishers in events at Sacramento will move on to compete in the NCAA National Championships June 7-10 in Austin, Texas.
While the pole vault squad is the biggest one representing KU, a distance runner is KU’s top-ranked athlete heading into the meet. Chandler Gibbens is the No. 2 ranked runner in the West Region in the 5K, an event he won at the Big 12 Championships earlier this month.
On the women’s side Rylee Anderson also is a Big 12 Champion in the high jump. She goes into the West Region as the No. 3 ranked competitor in that event.
Other highly-ranked Jayhawks include:
— Michael Joseph, No. 3 in the men’s 400 meters;
— Dimitrios Pavlidis, No. 4 in the men’s discus;
— Devin Loudermilk, No. 6 in the men’s high jump;
— Jaden Patterson, No 10 in the men’s triple jump
In total, KU is sending 20 men and 8 women to the West Regionals.