MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State track and field team continues its two-meet road trip in the state of Kansas as the Wildcats head to Wichita to compete in the third annual KSU-KU-WSU Triangular at the Heskett Center on Thursday. Field events are set to begin at noon, CT, while track events are slated to begin at 5 p.m., CT.

“We look at this meet as the start of things because with the other two meets, you are limited in what you can do,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto said. “This is our first real thing where you are trying to do well from a team perspective and hopefully people will compete hard. Whether or not they are ready to have great marks is a different story, but at least they will compete hard.”

K-State looks to win its second Triangular in three meets after the Wildcats won the inaugural meet in 2015 with a total score of 261 points. Kansas won the 2016 edition of the competition with a total team score of 254 points. The Wildcats have also had the high point scorer of the meet in each of the first two competitions, with Akela Jones scoring 20 points in 2015 and 21 points in 2016.

To win the meet, the two top finishers from each school in each event will earn points. The final scores from both the men and women are then combined to determine the meet winner.

The tradition started with an annual Triangular between K-State, Kansas and Missouri from 1989-2006. Over that span, the Wildcats had won eight-straight meets before the event was discontinued in 2006 and 15 of the 17 meets overall in the series.

 

The Wildcats will also see the return of some of their top performers from a year ago on Thursday, notably First Team All-American Christoff Bryan, who won the indoor Big 12 Conference title and finished tied for third place at the Indoor NCAA Championship in high jump and Kim Williamson, who finished runner up at the indoor conference meet and tied for third place at the Indoor NCAA Championship in high jump. Williamson also won the 2016 Outdoor National Championship in the event.

 

“We definitely will have people competing that have not competed, like Kimberly and Christoff,” Rovelto added about his roster for Thursday’s meet. “There will be multiple athletes competing this week that have not competed yet this season.”

 

K-State is coming off a strong showing at the Bill Easton Classic, winning 10 events, seven of which came from the distance and throws groups. The Wildcats also saw multiple personal bests set in the meet as well as numerous top-10 program marks, with the biggest move coming from senior Janee’ Kassanavoid, who used a personal best mark of 20.84m/68-04.50 in the weight throw to claim first in the event and move her to third on the school’s all-time list.

 

Fans can watch the meet on WSUtv on Cox Cable Channel 13 in Wichita, as well as live on Facebook and YouTube. More information on the meet, including a full schedule and live results, can be found on Wichita State’s meet homepage here.

For the latest on K-State track and field follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.
Josh Brunner
Graduate Assistant | Athletics Communications