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Graphic featuring Baker women's track and field athlete Julie Coffey
Posted: Mar 25, 2026

Coffey Clears NAIA Standard, Wildcats Open 2026 Outdoor Season

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LAWRENCE/LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - The Baker track and field teams began their 2026 outdoor seasons by competing in a couple of nearby meets with the Spire Distance Carnival and Team Challenge on Friday and the Jayhawk Spring Fling on Saturday.

Julie Coffey highlighted the weekend by clearing the NAIA 'B' standard in the women's javelin on Saturday, recording a career-best throw of 41.99 meters to place second in the event and secure her second straight trip to the NAIA Championships.

The senior from Indianola, Iowa, was a national qualifier last year and earned a top-20 finish at the 2025 NAIA Championships.

In Friday's meet at Saint Mary, freshman Steph Thomas took seventh in the shot put after tallying a mark of 11.40m, while Cutter Meade and Micah Sanders gave the Wildcats a couple of top-20 finishes in the men's 800-meter race.

Meade turned in a two-lap time of 1:56.25 to place 12th and Sanders wasn't too far behind, clocking in at the 1:58.16 mark to come in 17th in a field of over 60 runners.

On Saturday, the Wildcats sent a group up the road to compete in KU's season-opening meet. Along with Coffey's runner-up finish, the BU women's team had a couple of other top-four finishes in Ashby Graham in the 400m and Rylee Lansdown in the 400-meter hurdles.

Graham went 1:02.16 and took fourth in her first event of the outdoor season, while teammate Shanniel Graham followed right behind in fifth with a time of 1:07.51. Lansdown clocked a 1:17.07 in the 400m hurdles, which placed her fourth.

Makenna Longacre and Haylei Potter finished in back-to-back spots in the 200m with Longacre logging a career-best time of 26.32 to place 13th, while Potter (26.81) followed in 14th. Potter added a sixth-place showing in the pole vault, with her highest clearance coming at 3.05 meters.

Baker will remain in-state for its next meet and will compete at the ESU Spring Open on Friday, March 27, with the single-day meet set to start at 10:30 a.m. in Emporia, Kan.

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