Sports

Jayhawks sharpen focus for outdoor national tournament

By i2wtcJune 3, 2024No Comments6 Mins Read

Aiden Droege/Kansas Athletics

Kansas athlete Aaliyah Moore will compete in the NCAA West Regional Qualifying Round on Saturday, May 25, 2024 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Kansas decathlete Alexander Jung has always known the importance of the mental aspect of track and field, but it’s become an area of particular interest to him since the first outdoor meet of his junior season, the Black and Gold Invite, in Orlando, Fla., in mid-March.

Now he’s working with a sports psychologist to stay focused as he prepares for his third appearance at the NCAA outdoor championships, held Wednesday through Saturday in Eugene, Ore. To be successful, he says, he needs to be totally focused on himself.

“Don’t think about points or rankings, just do what you can,” John said. “Don’t try to do anything special, just be yourself.”

It’s a message resonating throughout KU’s group of qualifiers — half returning, half first-timers — heading to the big stage.

Aaliyah Moore, one of Kansas’ captains and running in the 800 meters and competing in her first outdoor national championships, said she’s heard the same sentiment from her veteran teammates.

“They basically say it’s obviously the highest level of the NCAA, but I think there’s more of a sense of, you’re already there,” Moore said, “and a lot of guys go into the championships thinking they’ve already competed at nationals. It’s just another race, just another leap, whatever the event.”

High jumper Devin Loudermilk didn’t qualify last year but credited the same approach to his success at the NCAA Regionals: “In my mind, every meet and every bar is the exact same.”

After excelling in the conference championships and regional tournaments, the Jayhawks players were tasked with immediately building on that success to achieve their best performance at the national tournament.

Elicia Castillo/Kansas Athletics

Kansas high jumper Devin Loudermilk competes at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Waco, Texas.

Elicia Castillo/Kansas Athletics

Kansas’ Alexander Jung celebrates during the Big 12 Outdoor Championships on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Waco, Texas.

Aiden Droege/Kansas Athletics

Kansas athlete Aaliyah Moore celebrates qualifying during the NCAA West Regional qualifying round on Saturday, May 25, 2024, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“I think once I crossed that line I knew all my hard work had paid off,” said Moore, a junior from Georgetown, Guyana. “But at the same time, I also had to think, ‘Okay, obviously, it’s time to get prepared and put myself in position to play at the national championships.’

John said the Big 12 Conference title gave them “time and space to celebrate” and kept their momentum and confidence up while staying humble.

Now, at historic Hayward Field in Oregon, home of the Olympic Trials and the World Athletics Championships, the Jayhawks are being asked to approach the competition as similarly as possible to the many other sports they have participated in.

For John, who has already visited Eugene and knows the facilities well, “the most important thing about a national tournament is not to be intimidated. At least, that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”

“I don’t know if my brain can tell the difference,” he said.

For Loudermilk, staying focused means completely ignoring the rest of the field.

“I don’t like watching other people’s jumps because their jumping technique and the way they do it look different,” he said. “I think in competitions you need to focus on what you’ve been doing all year.”

Despite their ostensibly similar approaches, the two athletes each faced very different challenges once they arrived in Eugene. Jung noted that the mental aspect of the sport is especially important for decathletes, who “have to be mentally sharp for two full days.” Loudermilk, Jung said, needs to focus “for an hour at most.”

Loudermilk, on the other hand, understands the pros and cons of focusing on one event. As he said, when he shows up to practice or compete, he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Meanwhile, “You only get one chance to show what you’re capable of. You can’t go out there and have a bad day and then perform at another event and have a good day. There’s a lot of pressure at one event, but I wouldn’t trade that pressure for anything. I love going to one event.”

While many of their teammates compete in multiple events throughout the year, Loudermilk, Moore, Rona Latema (women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase), Mason Meinershagen (women’s pole vault), Joveiny Mota (women’s 100-meter hurdles), Dimitrios Pavlidis (men’s discus) and Clayton Sims (men’s pole vault) will only have one event to conquer while in Eugene.

Chandler Gibbens will compete in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Fellow decathlete, sophomore Teyton Klein, will compete in his usual events. Klein also qualified in the boys’ long jump.

“From the first year I coached him to now, he has grown so much mentally, physically and technically,” Chung said.

The NCAA Outdoor Championships will open Wednesday with the semifinals of various track events, the finals of the men’s 10-kilometer run, hammer throw, pole vault, javelin, long jump and shot put, and the first half of the decathlon.