THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 3B
THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014
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TRACK AND FIELD
Distance runner Jasmine Edwards leads her heat during the Jayhawk Classic in February.
Kansas begins outdoor season with Texas Relays
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
BEN BURCH
sports@kansan.com
The Kansas track and field teams will kick off the outdoor season this weekend at the 87th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas. The meet, which began Wednesday and will wrap up this Saturday, will mark the first outdoor meet for the Jayhawks since the Kansas women won the NCAA Outdoor title last June in Eugene, Ore.
The 40 male and female Jayhawk athletes that are making the trip will be among 6,000 competitors from 200 other colleges, all vying for
some early season success.
The women's squad enters the meet ranked No.10 in the NCAA preseason polls, which marks the third season in a row that the Jayhawk women have been ranked inside the top 10. The men's side barely missed making the top 25, being placed at No.26 in the preseason rankings for the fourth-straight season.
The Jayhawk women's top-10 preseason ranking has a lot to do with the talent they have returning from last season's championship team. One of these returning athletes is junior Lindsay Vollmer, who will compete this week in the
heptathlon for the first time since she took the NCAA title in the event last June. Vollmer, who competed in four of the seven heptathlon events yesterday, sits just barely behind the current first and second place competitors entering Thursday.
Also returning from last season's title squad is senior Diamond Dixon, who is fresh off an 11th place finish in the 400-meter at the NCAA Indoor Championships, which were held in Albuquerque, N.M., on March 14-15. Dixon, the three-time defending Big 12 Outdoor Champion in the 400-meter, will be looking to
SOFTBALL
Jayhawks prepare to face Oklahoma State on Friday
Yesterday's contest with Wichita State was postponed due to a weather forecast predicting rain to hit south central Kansas. The Jayhawks and Shockers have
rescheduled their match for next Wednesday, April 2, with first pitch at 6 p.m. in Wichita.
Next up for the Jayhawks is the opening of conference play. Kansas hosts Oklahoma State for a three-game series this weekend March 28-30 at Arrocha Ballpark.
First pitch on Friday is at 5 p.m.
Friday night is Faculty and Staff
Appreciation Night, for Kansas
softball, allowing free admission into the game to those with a valid state employee ID.
Amie Just
start off the outdoor season on a positive note later this weekend.
Sophomore Sydney Conley, who was the Jayhawks' standout performer in Albuquerque at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a fourth-place finish in the long jump, will be looking to ride the momentum from her
breakout indoor campaign into Austin.
Senior Alex Bishop, who was
On the men's side, junior Michael Stigler, who is the men's lone returning First Team All-American, will attempt to have the same success as last season's Texas Relays, where he took first in the 400-meter hurdles.
the only Jayhawk on the men's side to qualify for the Indoor Championships two weeks ago, tying for 15th in the pole vault, will lead a pole vaulting squad that also includes returning Honorable Mention All-American junior Casey Bowen.
Edited by Julie Etzler
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