Three from KU in track finals

? Three Kansas University track and field athletes qualified Wednesday for finals at the NCAA Championships at Sacramento State’s A.G. Spanos Sports Complex.

KU senior Charisse Bacchus had her best performance of the season in the preliminaries of the long jump. Her leap of 21 feet, 61â4 inches was good for second overall and qualified her for the finals.

Competing in the hammer at his first NCAA Outdoor Championships, sophomore Egor Agafonov qualified for Friday’s finals. The Togliatti, Russia, native, who currently sits third on the national performance list, qualified with a heave of 219-3. His mark was the fourth best of the preliminary round.

Also qualifying for Friday’s finals was KU senior Denita Young. Her toss of 157-0 in the javelin put her in 11th and was good for the qualification. Young was a 2001 All-American in the event while at the University of Tennessee.

Kansas University's Charisse Bacchus lands in the pit after an attempt in the long jump preliminaries at the NCAA track and field championships. Bacchus was second overall Wednesday in Sacramento, Calif., and qualified for today's finals.

After the first day of the decathlon, Kansas junior Josh Kirk is in 19th place through the first five events. His point total of 3,494 was highlighted by a time of 49.84 in the 400-meter dash, good for seventh overall.

Abby Emsick, KU’s record holder in the discus, missed qualifying for the finals by finishing 16th in the prelims with a toss of 159-8.

Day two of the competition for the Jayhawks gets under way early with the conclusion of the men’s decathlon (Kirk) and continues with the finals of the women’s long jump (Bacchus), as well as qualifying rounds for the men’s shot put (Sheldon Battle), women’s hammer (Zlata Tarasova) and men’s 1,500 (Cameron Schwehr).