The Kansas State track and field teams officially opened the outdoor season with a historic weekend at the Stanford Invitational on April 3-4. Competing at Angell Track & Cobb Field, the Wildcats combined for a new school record, multiple individual victories and several additions to the program’s all-time top-10 list.
The successful trip to California followed an elite indoor campaign that saw the Wildcats produce NCAA triple jump national champion Daniela Wamokpego, silver medalist Selva Prabhu and bronze medalist Tah Chikomba. With 12 First Team All-Americans returning to the track, and K-State head coach Travis Geopfert — recently named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Men’s Coach of the Year — the program carried significant momentum into the spring opener.
Junior Riley Marx provided the definitive highlight of the opening day. On his fourth attempt in the men’s javelin invite, Marx launched a throw of 74.24m (243’ 7”), shattering the previous school record of 73.08m (239’ 9”) set by Logan Wolfley in 2021. The performance marked a personal best for Marx by five feet.
“The highlight of the day was obviously Riley Marx and the school record,” Geopfert said. “Super happy for him and coach [John] Newell. He’s been putting in work this whole indoor season, and I’m just really proud of the way he executed. He had to just work through it a little bit and keep building, and then he hit that big throw, and then wisely, shut it down.”
The momentum from the indoor season carried over to the Stanford track, where senior Vanessa Mercera clocked a 57.38 in the 400-meter hurdles on April 3, securing the No. 6 spot in Wildcat history. On April 4, junior Tah Chikomba highlighted the sprint finals by clocking 10.33 seconds in the 100-meter dash — moving into a tie for No. 6 all-time.
On day two, the Wildcats continued to find success on the field with sophomore Lindsey Cure. In her first meet wearing the K-State uniform, Cure secured a podium spot in the women’s javelin collegiate event. Her throw of 46.23m (151’ 8”) earned her a third-place finish and landed just six inches shy of her lifetime personal best.
“I do want to give a couple of shout-outs to a couple of athletes that started their careers for us,” Geopfert said. “Lindsey Cure in the javelin came out and had a great opener right at her personal best javelin, first time uniform, so I’m really proud of her.”
In the middle distances, junior Tavon Underwood delivered a breakthrough performance in the 800-meter run. The 400-meter specialist finished runner-up in his section with a time of 1:48.30, a three-second personal best that earned him the No. 9 spot on the school’s all-time list. Underwood later joined Cyrus Ways, Nen Matlock and Jack Guthridge to win the men’s 4×400-meter relay in 3:07.38.
The Wildcats remained dominant in the jumping events throughout the weekend. Sophomore Selva Prabhu won the men’s triple jump with a leap of 15.76m (51’ 8.5”), while senior transfer Apalos Edwards took second at 15.27m (50’ 1.25”). Freshman Chisom Nwafor also earned a runner-up finish in the long jump invite (6.17m).
Following the successful trip to California, K-State is hosting the inaugural high school K-State Relays on April 10-11 at R.V. Christian Track before traveling to the Oregon Team Invitational on April 17-18.