The Steve Miller Invitational was hosted Friday, Feb. 17th at the legendary Ahearn Field House, the last athletic event ever held in the arena. Kansas State had a memorable day on the field, finishing with 19 overall winners between the men and women.
Some of the best performances from this event came from the track events. The runners had themselves a day as six Wildcats finished in first and with a new personal best.
Distance runners Will Carroll and Jessica Caraway finished first in the men’s and women’s 600-yard race. Caroll posted a new personal time of 1 minute, 13.8 seconds as well as Caraway with a time of 1:29.21.
In the men’s and women’s 1,000-meter races, sophomore Matthew Hauser won and posted a personal best of 2:26.45. Freshman Grace Meyer also finished first with a personal best of 2:58.21.
Senior Stephen Kielhofner finished in second with a time of 2:27.18 with junior Jack Vincent following with a time of 2:27.18, allowing K-State to pull off the 1-2-3 victory.
In the 60-meter hurdles, three women recorded their personal bests. Junior Urte Bacianskaite finished second with a time of 8.91. Junior Maddie Righter finished third with a time of 8.97 which broke her personal best from 2021. Madelyn McCabe finished in fourth with a time of 9.05.
In the men’s mile race, sophomore Tommy Hazen and junior Jack Moore put on a show. Hazen finished first with a time of 4:17.77, and Moore finished a tenth of a second behind at 4:17.86.
The Wildcats also had multiple sprinters who ran a new personal best. Shalysa Wray won the 60-meter with a time of 7.47 and the 200 race with a time of 23.69.
Related:
Spletcher sets school record mile-time
For the men, junior Kyle Gale won the 300-meter with a new personal best of 33.78.
There were a number of Wildcats who competed for the first time in quite some time. Sophomore Marcus Gelphi competed for the first time since the Texas Tech Open on Jan. 26, winning the high jump with a height of 6-10.
Sophomore Emil Uhlin, who has not competed in any events since the Texas Tech Open, participated in two events. He placed first in the pole vault with a height of 16.075 feet and third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.57.
K-State’s next meet will be in the Big 12 Indoor Championship on Feb. 24 in Lubbock, Texas.
