LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Josh Crawford competed in his first outdoor competition and set a new personal best in the men's triple jump as the Wichita State University track and field teams were at the KU Relays on Friday, April 22.

Crawford set a new personal best in his second attempt as he leaped 15.60 meters (51' 2.25") to move into fifth on the all-time list and best his previous PR by more than an inch.  Crawford finished second in the event with Chris Phipps of Nebraska landing .5" farther to lead the field.

Jeff Conner was the top men's thrower for the Shockers in the shot put, hitting a distance of 50' 6".  Conner's mark sets a new personal best and put him 12th in today's competition.

The women's 4x1 mile relay came out on top as Aliphine Tuliamuk, Rachel York, Leah Thompson and Tonya Nero led the four-team field by running a 20:28.14, coming out ahead of the rest of the field by more than 30 seconds.

In prelim competition, sophomore Tanya Friesen qualified for tomorrow's finals in the women's 100-meter hurdles as the Buhler, Kan., product ran a 14.40 to finish in the top eight.  Lawson Montgomery and Todd McKown ran times of 14.26 and 14.30 to qualify for the men's 110-meter hurdles.  The hurdle duo also teamed with Dylan Hartnett and Tyler Simmons to qualify for the finals in the men's 4x100-meter relay as the group combined to run a 41.77.

Natalie Morerod came in with a personal best time of 1:01.04 to move into 10th on the WSU all-time list and qualify for the finals on Saturday.  Morerod was joined by sopohomore Shamoya Pruitt who qualified for the finals by running a 12.19 in the prelims of the women's 100-meter dash.

In one of the final events of the day Morerod, Giles, Samantha Hallman and Jennifer Taylor took one of the last qualifying spots in the women's 4x400-meter relay.  The WSU group came in with a time of 3:50.22 to place seventh.  The men's group of DJ Lindsey, Austin Bahner, Aaron Young and Hartnett finished in 3:16.07 to also place seventh among 22 teams, qualifying for Saturday's finals.

- J'Lynn Ledesma cleared 5'3" in the high jump.

- Zack Steffen went over the bar at 15' 1" in the men's pole vault

- Danielle Walker, Kiara Giles, Samantha Shukla and Scarla Nero were third in the women's distance medley relay (12:15.65) while the men's group of Jake Wike, Zach Bland, Ryan Hocker and Marius Sava also came in third with a time of 10:27.64.

- La'Taish Brown, Monaye Williams, Jasmine Cato and Pruitt qualified for the women's 4x100-meter relay finals by running a combined 47.50 to come in fifth in the prelims.

The fourth and final day of the KU Relays will begin on Saturday at 10 a.m.