Fort Hays State Track & Field hosts
the Alex Francis Classic
Thursday, April 23, 2026 • Noon
Hays, Kan • FHSU Track & Field Facility
 
The Fort Hays State track and field team will compete at home this week when the Tigers host the annual Alex Francis Classic on Thursday (April 23). Field events are set to begin at noon, with action on the track commencing at 2 p.m.
 
A grand total of 374 participants representing 15 schools are set to attend, including Barton County CC, Bethany, Butler CC, Cloud County CC, Colby CC, Cowley College, Dodge City CC, Emporia State, Fort Hays State, Fort Hays Tech Northwest, Hutchinson CC, Kansas Wesleyan, Northwestern Oklahoma State, Pratt CC and Sterling.
 
Fort Hays State will be represented by 77 student-athletes, including 44 men and 33 women. Competing for the men will be Avrey Albright, Hunter Angove, Josiah Ball, Brody Burns, Taran Castro, Trevor Christensen, Dean Clark, Brady Conway, Blake Dansel, Brady Deges, Brock Deterding, Brett Eckhardt, Kaiden Esfeld, Ervin Fierro, Kenny Fritsch, Aiden Heidari, Bret Jones, Kaeden Kasselman, Lucas Kirk, Cole Krug, Dalton Meyers, Jayden Michaelis, Zach Moore, Nakari Morrical-Palmer, Hayden Nemechek, Bradley Nkosi, Ben Pahls, Mayan Paz, Wyatt Probst, Ty Raulston, Spencer Rich, Jackson Rumford, Quade Smith, Bryce Steffan, Drew Tolar, Guy Tubbs, Dylan Velasco, Andrew Waller, Will Wegerer, Luke Wessel, Rylan White, Logan Willour, Emery Wolfe and Mason Younger.
 
Student-athletes competing for the women's team will include Annabeth Baalmann, Keziah Bachman, Kendra Blaylock, Liberty Booker, Hailey Brown, Margaret Browning, Esther Clark-Pavlovich, Eva Cortes, Addy Fields, Lillian Finke, Amelia Foster, Brynlee Frank, Janae Fugitt, Alonnah Gage, Jayme Hagerman, Ashlyn Harbaugh, Ellie Harper, Abbye Hudson, Bella Hudson, Carly Hutfles, Donna Jackson, Katie Linenberger, Chloe Mader, Reba Mader, Liz Moore, Brenna Murphy, Macy Nachtigal, Natalee North, Makenzie Premer, Joslyn Scheck, Emma Slade, Breanna Wells and Cate Wiese.
 
The Tiger men enter the week ranked 23rd in the latest USTFCCCA Division II Rating Index thanks to a trio of performers that rank in the top 10 in the country.
 
Fort Hays State student-athletes have put together 21 national qualifying performances this season, including 13 from the men's squad and eight from the women's team.
 
Both the men's and women's teams have a trio of performances that rank inside the top 10 nationally. Drew Tolar is ranked fifth in Division II in the decathlon with a total of 7,096 points, while Hunter Angove ranks sixth in the pole vault with a clearance of 17-3.5. Dean Clark also ranks inside the top 10, sitting in eighth with his school-record leap of 24-11.25 in the long jump.
 
For the women, Annabeth Baalmann ranks sixth in the pole vault with a top clearance of 13-6.25. Katie Linenberger is ninth in the country in the high jump after soaring over the 5-8 bar, while Emma Slade is 10th in DII with her school-record toss of 162-9 in the discus.
 
Looking ahead, the Tigers will next head to Pittsburg, Kan. for the 2026 MIAA Outdoor Championships May 1-3.