On January 24^th, 2014 the Friends University Track and Field competed at the 2014 Jayhawk Classic on the Campus of Kansas University. Freshman Angie Vailas hit the National Standard for the 4^th race in a row in the 60M with a time of 7.83 while the Falcons also received three KCAC #1 marks from Dylan Biedron in the High Jump (6'4.75"), Maxwell Burley in the 800M (1:59.75), and Rachel Renken in the 1000M (3:14.29). The team was only at half strength, but those in attendance recorded some very solid performances as the Falcons prep for the KCAC Indoor championships just two weeks away.

The sprint team put together another solid performance very similar to their first meet of the year at Kansas University back in December. Angie Vailas hit the National "B" Standard in the 60M with a time of 7.83. Abby Simon (Freshman from Andale, KS) ran 8.14 in the 60m and was the highest Falcon Finisher in the 200M with a time of 26.70. The Hurdles were again led by Madison Behny (10.15) and Lewis Taylor (9.07). The Falcon men also ran very well in the open sprints with Dexter Davis running 7.17 in the 60M. For the first time this season the Falcons raced some of their athletes in the 600 yard and they came away with some very promising results. Kaitlyn Keck finished with a 1:36.18 (2^nd best in the KCAC) and Brock Nooney ran 1:17.35 (4^th best in the KCAC)

The triple jump was led by freshman Connor Reh as she recorded her best jump of the season at 34'3". Dylan Biedron continues to improve in the high jump as he placed 8^th out of 31 jumpers while hitting his indoor personal record of 6'4.75" which is also the best jump in the conference this season. Abby Simon was the only female competitor for the Falcons in the women's long jump as she recorded her best jump of the season at 16'6". The throws team was small in numbers this meet as John Burba was the highest Falcon competitor in both the weight throw (44'4") and Shot Put (36'10").

Max Burley put together a great race in the 800M coming away with the best time recorded in the conference so far at 1:59.75. Teammate Brock Nooney was not far behind him in 2:02.93. Junior Mitch Heller recorded a 2:42.39 in the 1000M to round out the distance events for the men. On the women's side Rachel Renken again was the top competitor for the Falcons as she ran a conference best of 3:14.29 in the 1000M and a conference 2^nd best 11:01.03 in the 3K.

Head Women's Coach Cole Davis had these remarks on the meet. "I am very pleased with the way our athletes have been competing so far this indoor season, but in order to chase a conference title in 2 weeks, we definitely need to get better in a few areas. Our freshman sprinters Abby, Angie, and Jamie continue to impress me each and every day and I look forward to watching them peak towards the end of the season. We didn't get to take our normal crew to this meet, so it will be nice getting back on schedule this coming weekend at MSSU. It always shocks me how fast the Indoor season goes by as we are only 2 weeks away from the Indoor KCAC Championships."

Head Men's Coach Damian Smithhisler added these thoughts on the meet. "Competing in a meet like the Jayhawk Classic is such a great opportunity for our athletes. They are competing side by side with some of the Midwest's best athletes. We are truly battle tested when we reach the KCAC Meet. I feel like we have given our athletes an advantage over many of our conference opponents with several opportunities to compete beginning in December, and to also compete against top notch competition. Now we can begin to sharpen, and have a good feel for where we need to enter our athletes to maximize our points at the KCAC Meet."

The Falcons next competition will be this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31^st - Feb 1^st when the majority of the team heads to Joplin Missouri for the Missouri Southern Invite.