Jayhawk men rise to No. 12 in latest NCAA rankings

Link USTFCCCA Top 25

NEW ORLEANS – Top-five performances from freshman Gleb Dudarev and sophomore Hussain Al Hizam helped the Kansas men’s track & field squad jump four spots to 12th in the latest top-25 rankings released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Monday. The ranking matches the program’s all-time highest standing in the outdoor top-25 since the current format began in 2008.
 
The Jayhawk men’s team currently features nine athletes and a relay squad that rank inside the NCAA’s top-25 in their respective events. That number includes four Jayhawks who have marks that put them inside the top-five in their events, all done with performances over the last two weekends.
 
Dudarev, competing for the first time in the 2017 outdoor season, posted an NCAA-leading and school record mark en route to a win in the hammer throw at the Sun Angel Classic Friday. In his first collegiate competition he posted a winning throw of 72.69 meters (238-6 ft.), a mark that leads the DI ranks by more than three feet.
 
Sophomore Hussain Al Hizam cleared a personal-best bar of 5.60 meters (18-4½) in the pole vault in Tempe to move to No. 4 on the collegiate list. He’s joined there by senior teammate Jake Albright, who got over the same height the week prior at the Texas Relays.  
 
Junior Nicolai Ceban has the nation’s fifth-best mark in the discus so far this season. He won the event in his season-opening outing at the Emporia State Relays, posting a career-best toss of 60.01 meters (196-10).
 
Kansas is one of four Big 12 teams that found themselves among this week’s top-25. The Jayhawks were joined by Texas at No. 9, Texas Tech at No. 10 and Baylor at No. 17.
 
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