The Kansas State men's and women's track and field teams will get to compete for the first time in over eight months with two home meets this weekend in Ahearn Field House, as the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon will take off first on Friday, December 4 and then the K-State Winter Invitational will follow suit on Saturday, December 5.

For Friday's schedule of events, the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon will kick off at 10 a.m., CT, while the K-State Winter Invitational starts at 9:30 a.m., CT, on Saturday morning.
 
This is the eighth-consecutive year that the Wildcats will host the winter invitational while the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon enters its 20th-straight season on the indoor schedule. The K-State Winter Invitational will feature two other opponents for Saturday's slate, as Iowa State and Oklahoma will travel to Manhattan, Kansas for the annual winter meet.  
 
"We have Oklahoma and Iowa State coming, so it will probably be one of the more competitive December meets we have ever had," said Director of Track and Field Cliff Rovelto. "We have about 40 athletes competing for us. We have a number of athletes who only have outdoor eligibility, so we have some holes, particularly on the men's side. We do have athletes on both sides who I expect to perform at a fairly high level this weekend for a December competition."
 
"There are a couple of quality Division II female multis competing from other schools. There should be some good marks on Friday as well. (2016 Olympic gold medalist) Ryan Crouser is entered for the shot put as well. He is No. 1 in the world for shot."
 
Under COVID-19 guidelines, no fans or spectators will be allowed inside Ahearn Field House this weekend.
 
All-American Status
K-State returns a bevy of NCAA All-Americans for the 2020-21 indoor season, as 2018 NCAA Outdoor High Jump National Champion Tejaswin Shankar leads the charge for the star-studded roster. Along with Shankar, seniors Lauren Taubert, Ariel Okorie, Wurrie Njadoe, Akia Guerrier, Helene Ingvaldsen and Taishia Pryce as well as junior Taylor Latimer make up the All-American lineup for the Wildcats. Between the eight individuals, 14 All-American distinctions have been awarded since the 2017-18 campaign.
 
Top Marks in the NCAA
Closing out the 2020 indoor season with the Big 12 Indoor Championship, K-State held a plethora of national marks across the NCAA in the both the high jump and long jump competitions along with the pentathlon and heptathlon events. A leap of 6.65m/21-10.00 in the long jump event from senior Taishia Pryce would land her at the top of the NCAA. Her mark at the Tyson Invitational helped her achieve the second-best performance in school history for the indoor season, as she now only sits behind former Wildcat and All-American Akela Jones, who owns a mark of 6.80m/22-03.75.
 
Senior Lauren Taubert returns for another season in the Purple and White after posting the second-best mark in the nation for the women's pentathlon. Scoring an impressive outing in the 800-meter race down at the Razorback Invitational on January 31-February 1, Taubert would compile 4,352 points to improve her own personal record and leap all the way up to fourth all-time in school history during the indoor season.
 
A mark of 2.23m/7-3.75 ignited Tejaswin Shankar to clinch the Big 12 Indoor High Jump title, which boosted him to the fifth-overall spot in the NCAA leaderboard last season. Shankar fell just short of his personal best in the high jump when he vaulted over the bar at 2.28m/7-05.75 at the Big 12 Indoor Championship during the 2018-19 campaign. 
 
The men's group continued to pile on national feats at the Razorback Invitational and the Big 12 Indoor Championship with former Wildcats Aaron Booth and Edgaras Benkunskas both earning top-15 marks in the heptathlon event. Benkunskas powered his way through the competition down in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to rack up 5,631 points, which would end up being the eighth-best outing for any K-State athlete in school history. The Big 12 Indoor Championship saw Booth edge his way towards a third-place finish in Ames, Iowa. That performance inside the Lied Recreation Center catapulted Booth all the way to 13th overall in the NCAA heptathlon standings last year.  
 
Conference Indoor Champions
Three Wildcats achieved conference glory last season at the Big 12 Indoor Championship, as Taubert, Shankar and junior Kassidy Johnson all won their individual events in Ames, Iowa back on February 28-29, 2020. Shankar repeated his performance at the conference meet from the previous year to claim back-to-back Big 12 high jump titles with a leap of 2.23m/7-3.75. Taubert used a strong effort in the 800 meters to pull away in the women's pentathlon, as the Casper, Wyoming, native tallied 4,161 points inside the Lied Recreation Center. Johnson recorded her first victory at the conference indoor meet in the 1000-meters race with a time of 2:44.59. Over the last four seasons, K-State has owned four individual titles in the high jump competition while tacking on three more victories in the weight throw event at the Big 12 Indoor Championship.
 
Shankar's Record-Setting Performance at the 2019 Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon
A new school record and a bevy of newcomers highlighted the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon for the 2019-20 season. Tejaswin Shankar collected 4,137 points in his pentathlon debut for the Wildcats back on December 13, 2019, which would break the school record for any men's athlete during the indoor season. His outing earned him the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week honors during the week of December 17. Lauren Taubert and Ariel Okorie went neck-and-neck for the women's competition, as both placed second and third, respectively. A total of five Wildcats made their pentathlon debuts in Ahearn Field House last year.
 
Hodge Bolts Towards K-State Winter Invitational Record
Senior Travis Hodge blasted out the gates in the men's mile race with a scorching time of 4:11.54, which would end up being a new meet record for the K-State Winter Invitational last year. Hodge's time ousted former Wildcat Michael Pierce's record by one second, as Pierce would finish the 800-meter race at 4:12.26 back in 2008. For the entirety of the K-State Winter Invitational, 11 Wildcats posted first-place finishes in their respective events.
 
Individual Success at the Highest Level
For the last 11 years, the K-State women have sent at least one individual to the NCAA Indoor Championships. In the last 20 seasons for indoor track and field competitions, the K-State men squad has produced one athlete who has participated at the indoor national championships. Since 2010, K-State has collected 65 All-American certificates at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
Winning Ways
After partaking in nine events for the indoor season last year, K-State closed out the 2019-20 campaign with 72 individual first-place finishes on both the track and in the field.
 
Up Next
The Wildcats will continue their homestand with the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday, January 9 inside Ahearn Field House. This will mark the first time since the 2018-19 campaign K-State will host the winter invitational meet.