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Kansas Invitational Lawrence, Kan. Quick Info and Links
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COLUMBIA, Mo.—Coming off a successful opening weekend, the Missouri Track & Field squads will travel to Lawrence, Kan., for Saturday's Kansas Invitational. The Tigers and Jayhawks will be joined in competition by Tulsa, UMKC, and Wichita State. Along with the meet, it will be a full-fledged Border Showdown Saturday as the men's basketball squads will dual Saturday night in Columbia and the women's basketball teams will hit the court Saturday afternoon, (literally) next door, in Lawrence.
Once again, one of the more intriguing storylines that could emerge from the meet is the men's pole vault competition. Sophomore Brian Hancock (Monroe City, Mo.), fresh off a school-record performance last weekend, will do battle with Kansas sophomore Jordan Scott, a two-time Big 12 Champion.
Hancock cleared the bar at 17 feet, 1 inch (5.21m) easily on his first attempt last weekend at the Missouri Invitational in bettering a 16-year-old school record. Hancock's three attempts at 17-4½ (5.30m), the bar Scott cleared on the opening weekend, where all close. The underclassmen duo of Hancock and Scott are the early, early, 1-2 in the Big 12 entering the weekend and within the top ten among all national marks.
Scott had an amazing 2007 season, doing all necessary to win both Big 12 indoor and outdoor titles and also added a USATF Junior National title.
The Tiger men are ranked 23rd in the USTFCCCA Preseason rankings while Kansas is No. 11, largely due to the expected return of weight-thrower Egor Agafonov who has thrown six feet farther than any other returner in the nation. Time will tell if the KU Russian will face the Tiger terzetto of Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.), Tyler Dailey (Joplin, Mo.), and Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) at some point in the season – Agafonov is not in this weekend's lineup. All three Missourians claimed early NCAA-provisional qualifying marks last weekend. For Morris, his throw of 64-7¼ (19.69m) was a personal best in the event.
The meet will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m., with the women's weight throw and hurdle and dash preliminaries.
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