Kansas State Track & Field: Record Breaking Start to Season
By Stan Unruh
Kansas State opened the outdoor track and field season over the weekend. The Wildcats are off to a record breaking start.
Cliff Rovelto’s Wildcats sent a message to the rest of the Big 12 on Saturday at the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational in beautiful Coral Gables, Florida.
After a strong indoor season, the ‘Cats are among the team’s to watch this outdoor season.
Junior Mitch Dixon led the way in Florida. He broke the school record in the men’s hammer throw.
Dixon is from Southern California. He earned All American honors at Saddleback College. The school’s web site listed him among state’s best in the hammer throw and discus.
The most recent NCAA rankings includes three Big 12 men’s teams- Texas, Texas Tech and Kansas.
Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor are the the nationally ranked Big 12 women’s teams.
“It was a great start to the outdoor season,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto said about his team’s efforts. “The performance by our female throwers was very encouraging. As a whole, we saw a number of personal bests and we got some good work in with most of the team.”
Kansas State’s female throwers won the hammer and claimed the top two spots in the javelin.
Not to be outdone, Sophomore Shadae Lawrence won the discus by almost 4 meters.
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Equally important, Sophomore Emma Wren won the women’s 1500 meter, setting
“a massive person-best,” as described in a media release from Kansas State Athletics.
Her time of 4:37.97 topped the 4:42.43, set last season by almost five seconds.
Wildcat juniors took the top two spots in the men’s 3000-meter run.
The team returns to action this weekend at the Emporia State.