YEAR IN REVIEW women’s review
2011 3,000-Meter Steeplechase All-American Rebeka Stowe The 2011 season saw the emergence of several women for the KU track and field program, women who had not previously been in the spotlight as they were for the duration of the 2011 campaign. Several heralded freshmen also came on board, who fans would later find out, would be just as good as advertised.
A week later, the teams would get one last crack at hitting the national qualifying marks to punch their tickets to the NCAA Championships. The 4x400-meter relay team of Dixon, Morris, Washington and Wilson would do just that, passing the baton around in a school record 3:35.65, which would earn them an at-large spot in the national meet the following week. Andrea Geubelle, who already earned the automatic mark in the triple jump, won The team got out to a fast start at the first two indoor meets of the season, the Bob Tim- the long jump at the Arkansas Last Chance but it would not be enough to move her on to mons Challenge and the Bill Easton Classic. Demi Payne, Jessica Maroszek and Diamond Nationals. Several other women would set personal bests at the last chance meets but would Dixon each notched victories in their first collegiate meets for the Jayhawks. These early come up just short of the national qualifying. season performances would be just a prelude to what fans would see later on in the year. The women would go on to dominate the Missouri Tigers in the KU vs. MU dual, 99-82, Five Jayhawks would earn their way to the NCAA’s, while Diamond Dixon, who earned a claiming their first victory over their archrival since the dual meets began in 2009. Top third-place finish in the 400 meters would also go on to help her 4x400-meter relay team performances came from senior Jaci Perryman, who claimed the pole vault title, newcomer to a seventh-place finish, making the freshman a dual event All-American in just her third sophomore Francine Simpson, winning the long jump and sophomore Denesha Morris, month of collegiate competition. Both performances would also rewrite the school record books as both Dixon and her relay team broke their own school records in each event. Geuwho took home both the 60 meter and 200 meter titles. belle also had a solid weekend in College Station, claiming eighth on an indoor personal Junior Rebeka Stowe made her season debut in the 3,000 meters at the final home meet best jump of 13.02 meters. The sophomore now had her name among the top five in both of the indoor season, winning the event in a time of 9:45.55 and moving up to fifth in the the long and triple jump all-time KU performance lists. event on the all-time KU record books. Morris continued her strong start to the season, winning the 60 meters in 7.47, the third-fastest time in the event in school history. The After a spring break trip to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico for the Mayaguez Spring Break Classic 4x400-meter relay team of Morris, Dixon, Kendra Bradley and Taylor Washington also took to kick off the outdoor portion of the 2011 campaign, the women jetted to Austin,Texas for home the event title with a time of 3:43.61. The meet would only be the first step in what the Texas Relays. The meet would send the season in a fantastic direction. Freshman Jessica Maroszek had an outstanding performance in the shot put, claiming the title and notching would turn out to be a record-breaking season for the quartet. the second-best throw in KU history. The performance would launch the Seymour, Wis., With the heart of the indoor season in full swing, the women made the trip to the north- native’s season to new heights. Francine Simpson also had a weekend to be proud of, placeast for the New Balance Invitational in New York City. The meet would be a coming out ing second in the long jump with a personal-best mark of 6.47 meters, which would rank party for the freshman, Dixon, who had already impressed in the season’s earlier meets, but in third in the West Region, all but assuring her a spot in the NCAA West Preliminary in showed her tremendous potential as a young sprinter.The El Paso,Texas native would finish May. fourth in the 400 meters, but her time of 53.93 would rank her second on the program’s all-time 400-meter chart. Seniors Perryman and Amanda Miller would turn in runner-up The team’s performance in Austin vaulted it into the USTFCCCA rankings for the first performances in their respective events, each notching personal bests. time of the young outdoor season, ranking the Jayhawks at No. 14 spot as they headed into the Kansas Relays. As always, the women didn’t disappoint the hometown crowd. The After returning from New York, the team split for four different meets across the country: Jayhawks won titles in four events with a handful earning top-five finishes through personal the ISU Classic in Ames, Iowa; the Air Force Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the bests. Sophomore Heather Bergmann asserted herself in the javelin throw, earning herself Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.; and the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. Although the modern day school record in the event, unleashing a throw of 168-07 ft., putting her as many Jayhawks put together career performances, the top would be Stowe, who was the one of the favorites in the event as the team moved closer to the post-season meets. lone competitor at the Husky Classic. The Olathe, Kan., native ran to a career-best 9:36.72 in the 3,000 meters and pushed into the top-25 of the NCAA rankings in the event. KU would have one more opportunity for its athletes to get a final tune-up before the It was then time for conference action as the team hit the road for Lincoln, Neb., and the conference and national meets arrived in mid-May. First, for the distance runners at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.With many of the young Jayhawks participating in the meet Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, Calif. Stowe would be the star for the Jayhawks, shatfor the first time, nine women would do the scoring for the team at the meet, including four tering the school’s Steeplechase record in a time of 9:53.12, over 10 seconds better than the previous record. Across the country at the at the Arkansas Twilight, Diamond Dixon again underclassmen. The team would go on to score 40 points to place eighth overall.
26 OLYMPIANS | 35 WORLD RECORDS | 69 INDIVIDUAL NCAA TITLES | 409 ALL-AMERICANS | 679 INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCE TITLES
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