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Tyson Invitational/ISU Classic
Fayetteville, Ark. // Ames, Iowa.
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| Brendan Soucie’s 1:51.31 in the 800 meters was the fastest by a Jayhawk in nearly seven years. |
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the second-straight night senior Diamond Dixon tallied a season best as she posted a career time in the 200 meters Saturday at the Tyson Invitational. The men’s and women’s track teams left the Randal Tyson Track Center having notched 13 personal bests at the two-day event.
For the second week in a row, Dixon shaved time off her personal best in the 200 meters. The senior out of Houston had already seen a successful weekend after notching a season best in the 400 meters Friday, but one-upped that performance in the 200 meters Saturday. She finished her lap on the curved banks of the Tyson Center track in 23.61, which was .22 seconds faster than her previous best set last week in New York. Dixon’s run earned her the victory in her heat and a seventh-place overall finish in the 79-person field. Her time now has her among the top-15 nationally in the event. Dixon is now sitting in the NCAA’s top-15 in three events; the 200 meters, 400 meters, and 600 yards.
In the men’s pole vault Alex Bishop was unable to back up his career performance of a week ago but still had a productive outing. The senior posted a top clearance of 5.26 meters (17’3″) en route to a fourth-place finish. The height marked his fourth-straight outing that he has vaulted 17 feet or better, the longest stretch of his career.
The 4×400-meter relay took center stage to close out the event. The women were first up and put together their best performance of the season thus far. A pair of freshman ran the opening two legs for the Jayhawks as Whitney Adams (56.49) and Adriana Newell (54.91) completed the first half of the race with their team in second. Dixon then took over and got her team in the lead after running the team’s fastest split at 52.72. Rhavean King kept her team in the lead over the final stage of the race with her 56.08 split, which was good enough to give KU the win in that heat. The squad combined for a time of 3:41.18, their fastest this season, to finish 15th overall.
Other notable performances from Fayetteville Saturday came from junior Colleen O’Brien, who tied for fifth in the championship division high jump after clearing 1.72 meters (5’7¾”), as well as sophomores Jake Albright and Nick Maestretti, who each got over 5.01 meters (16’5¼”) in the college division pole vault and finished fifth and seventh, respectively.
AMES, Iowa – Several Jayhawks also saw career performances on the final day of the ISU Classic inside the Lied Recreation Center, the same venue which will host the conference championship meet in two weeks.
In his second outing of the indoor season, Reid Buchanan turned in a career performance in the 3,000 meters. The Manhattan, Kan., product completed the 1.8 mile-race in 8:14.50, which was good enough to earn him the runner-up finish. His time was more than 10 seconds faster than his previous best and has him among the top-10 3K runners in the Big 12 this year.
Brendan Soucie followed Buchanan’s lead and tallied a personal best of his own in the 800 meters later in the day. The event ended up producing six times ranked inside the top-20 run so far this year and Soucie did his best to hang with the stacked field. The senior ran the half-mile in 1:51.31 to finish second in his heat and 16th overall. His time was a career best and the fastest indoor 800-meters by a Jayhawk in nearly seven years. Soucie now sits at third on the yearly Big 12 charts with the league meet looming in two weeks.
The Jayhawk women saw three solid outings in the mile. Sophomore Hannah Richardson was the top KU finisher after crossing the finish in 4:48.89, just .3 seconds off from her career best set a week ago. The time earned Richardson a 10th-place finish in the event. Her freshman teammates Nashia Baker and Malika Baker were able to record their fastest miles as Jayhawks after Nashia posted 5:00.36 to finish 26th and Malika clocked in at 5:06.30 to place 34th.
Kansas will now have 13 days to prepare for the Big 12 Indoor Championships to be held back in Ames, Iowa. Action from the Lied Recreation Center will kick off on Friday, Feb. 28 and conclude Saturday, March 1. The Kansas women won the event last season and return a pair of defending indoor champions in Vollmer (pentathlon) and Dixon (400m). Follow all the action throughout the weekend at Big12Sports.com and through Twitter at @KUTrack.
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