Kansas men up to No. 6 heading into Big 12 weekend
NEW ORLEANS – The Kansas men’s track & field team continued its climb up the national rankings after the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released its weekly top-25 Monday. The Jayhawks moved up two spots to check in at No. 6, marking the program’s highest ranking – indoors or outdoors – since the current weekly rankings system began in 2008.
The men find themselves ranked in the top-25 for the fifth-straight week this season. With the Big 12 Indoor Championship up next on the docket, the Jayhawks sit as the highest-ranked team among their conference foes. They are joined by three other Big 12 squads listed on this week’s chart, including No. 14 Texas, No. 16 Texas Tech and No. 20 Oklahoma State.
Kansas currently features nine athletes and a relay team that sit among the top-20 in their respective events. That number includes five Jayhawk pole vaulters, each of whom are ranked 15th or higher on this season’s NCAA vault chart.
A pair of KU throwers also maintained their high national standings with freshman weight thrower Gleb Dudarev and junior shot putter Nicolai Ceban ranking second and third in their respective events.
The Jayhawk 4×400-meter relay was the most recent to make its way up the national chart, posting a school-record time of 3:05.57 at the Alex Wilson Invitational. That time has the foursome sitting at No. 7 among NCAA DI relay teams.
The 6th-ranked Kansas men will now look to snare the team’s first conference title since 1983 when it heads to the Big 12 Indoor Championship in Ames, Iowa this week. The meet, scheduled for Feb. 24-25, will kick off at 10 a.m., Friday and will conclude at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. For live updates, highlights and results follow on Twitter and Instagram at @KUTrack and log on to KUAthletics.com.
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