Stigler Repeats as Big 12 Athlete of the Week
LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the second-consecutive week Kansas junior Michael Stigler was tabbed the Big 12’s Male Athlete of the Week the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon. Stigler remained unbeaten in the 400-meter hurdles this season after winning the event and posting the third-fastest time of his career at the Drake Relays last weekend. The award marked the second of Stigler’s career and was the second time a Jayhawk was honored in consecutive weeks.
Stigler extended his unbeaten streak to five in the 400-meter hurdles this season as he claimed the event title in Des Moines Saturday. Stigler clocked in at 49.47, his second-fastest mark of the year and the No. 11 time in the world. Stigler now owns the top two times in Division I in 2014 and has won nine of his last 13 400m-hurdle races versus collegians, dating back to last year.
The win Saturday also marked a successful Texas-Kansas-Drake Triple Crown for the junior, as he won the event at the Texas Relays, Kansas Relays and Drake Relays all in the same year, a feat which has only been done two other times in the event and not since 1985. It was the 16th time a Jayhawk has pulled off the Triple Crown and the first in a track event since Jim Ryun did so in the mile in 1966.
Stigler and his Jayhawk teammates will be in action this weekend in Manhattan, Kan., as they take part in the Ward Haylett Invitational on Saturday, May 3.
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