Kansas State wrapped up its regular indoor season during the Steve Miller Invitational on Feb. 20 at Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track. The Wildcats made more headlines throughout the meet, along with placing on the board.
Junior Vienna Lahner had quite the day, breaking the school record in the women’s 1,000 meters with a time of 2:44.33. Lahner shaved nine seconds off her previous time, making a new personal best to go along with her first-place finish. The Spring Hill, Kansas native now holds two indoor records — breaking her first record in the mile with a time of 4:38.84 during the DeLoss Dodds Invitational earlier this season.
“Vienna Lahner is on fire,” K-State head coach Travis Geopfert said. “Coach Trey Brokaw and Stephanie Brokaw helping her out, just unbelievable. Vienna to run another school record, Trey leading her in that, I’m just really proud of those efforts.”
Another Wildcat showing lots of improvement this season is senior Monique Hardy, who placed first during the women’s throw at 22.12cm (72’7”), only a quarter of an inch short of her personal record. With Hardy’s new throw, she is now No. 10 in the NCAA.
“One thing that really stood out to me tonight that I need to shout out is Monique Hardy,” Geopfert said. “[She] is a senior, it’s her last season of eligibility, and she threw 22 meters, punched her ticket to nationals in the weight throw, and, you know, got the weight off of her back. Proud of her, happy for her and we’re really excited to go into this conference, meet this next weekend and go see what both of our teams can do.”
During the men’s 60-meter hurdles, freshman Mattix DaCunha clocked in at 7.88 during the preliminary race. With DaCunha’s time, he reached the No. 5 spot for fastest time in the K-State school records. On the women’s side for the 60-meter hurdles, Vanessa Mercera finished with a time of 8.38, and Jourdin Edwards stopped her time at 8.44. The pair of Wildcats took first and second place.
The Wildcats’ 4×400 relay reached the No. 3 spot in the K-State indoor top-10. Junior Nen Matlock, senior Cyrus Ways and the junior pair of Bongumusa Nkosi and Tavon Underwood ran a time of 3:05.95.
Cheyla Scott, senior from South Carolina, competed for the first time in the K-State uniform. Scott showed out, winning the women’s high jump, clearing the height of 1.81m (5’ll.25”).
“Cheyla Scott opened for us, transferred just this semester, jumped 5′ 11″ in the high jump as a season opener,” Geopert said. “She’s another significant bullet that we have in the women’s program.”
Rounding out the Wildcats’ placings, junior Ricardo Hayles threw a distance of 18.67m (61’3) during the men’s weight throw to take the No. 1 spot.
K-State will be on the road to Lubbock, Texas, to round out the indoor track season. The Big 12 Championship will be a two-day event, held on Feb. 27-28 at the Sports Performance Center.
