👟 Gibbens, Gibson Break School Records, Lead Efforts at Stanford and LSU
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Chandler Gibbens and Gabrielle Gibson had school record-breaking performances in their respective events to lead the charge for Kansas Track and Field at the Stanford Invitational and the LSU Battle on the Bayou.
Gibbens opened up his outdoor season in the men’s 10k at the Stanford Invitational on March 29, where he ran a new personal best time of 28:12.14. This mark was good enough to surpass Craig Watcke’s 1989 10k record of 28:51.24, making this Gibbens’ third school record so far.
In the same meet last season, Gibbens smashed Jim Ryun’s outdoor 5k record of 13:47.8 by running a 13:28.71. He also holds the indoor 5k record as of February 10, surpassing another one of Watcke’s records by running a 13:50.85 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston.
Gibson went sub-13 in the women’s 100m hurdles at LSU, breaking her own school record of 13.07 with her time of 12.99, which was good for the No. 4 mark in the NCAA event rankings. Her previous record came just two weeks prior in her outdoor debut at the UCF Black and Gold Invite, breaking Ashley Brown’s 2007 13.27 record.
Other noteworthy performances of the weekend came from Sofia Sluchaninova, who threw huge discus PR of 57.29m to take second place in a loaded field and move up to No. 9 in the NCAA event rankings. Clayton Simms was another second-place finisher, clearing a best bar of 5.30m in his outdoor pole vault debut to move up to No. 13 in the NCAA.
The women’s pole vaulters went 3, 5 and 8, starting with Erica Ellis who jumped a season best of 4.25m to rank No. 8 in the NCAA. Mason Meinershagen made her outdoor debut with a fifth-place finish, posting a best mark of 4.15m and moving up to No. 15 in the NCAA. Kade Joslin rounded things out for the Jayhawks in eighth place, clearing 4.00m to do so.
Oleg Klykov found his place at No. 14 in the NCAA men’s hammer throw rankings after throwing 66.75m to finish third in a stacked field at LSU. Aaliyah Moore was another third-place finisher for the Jayhawks, running a new 800m PR of 2:04.04 to kick off her outdoor season. She is now No. 4 in the NCAA event rankings.
Emmaculate Jemutai moved up to No. 6 in the NCAA after running a 4:17.87 (fourth place) in the women’s 1500m, while Addie Coppinger also broke through the Top 15 in the same event, taking eighth place at LSU and No. 14 in the NCAA with her time of 4:21.07. Both of these performances were new personal bests.
Up next, the Jayhawks will head to the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Arizona on April 5-6, continuing their road stretch of the outdoor season before hosting back-to-back home meets to follow.
