Hunter Veith - Can He Make It 3

[1972Shocker]

Hunter Veith heads to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship as the #2 seed in the Heptathlon on March 9th and 10th.. Hunter put up a PR and school record 5,998 (6,023 converted) score in his 1st outing of the year at the Shokcer Multis way back on December 1st at which point he and Coach Rainbolt said that's good enough to get us to where Hunter wanted to be in March and decided to work on individual events and saving his legs, staying healthy and fresh but still sharp. Hunter's total was #1 in the nation until Kentucky Sr. Tom Duckworth recorded a 6,071 on Janurary 19th.

Hopefully, Hunter's strategy will payoff although he hasn't exactly been just sitting on his butt. At this past weekends AAC Championships Hunter finished third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.03. He also finished fourth in the long jump (7.40m/24-3.5), sixth in the pole vault (4.94m/16-2.5), seventh as a member of the 4x400m team (3:20.04) and eighth in the high jump (1.96m/6-5), to score a total of 16.5 points in the meet. BTW in that 4x400 race the Shockers had a fall on Leg 3 which killed any chance they had.

The bottom line is that Hunter has a legitimate chance at becoming only the 3rd WSU T&F athlete (both men and women) to be an NCAA National Champion. Einars Tupuritis was the last Shocker to win an NCAA Indoor Title winning the men's 800m title with a time of 1:45.98. Only Harold Manning who won the Indoor 2-mile Title 60 years earlier in 1936 can make the same claim. Einars was also the 800m Outdoor National Champion in 1997. WSU has never won a women's national title in any event.

While winning a National Title in any event is outstanding, and not to take anything away from Einars and Harold, winning a Heptathlon or a Decathlon Championship would IMHO be a really, really, really special accomplishment. The Shocker Hall of Fame is already in the bag for Hunter down the road.

While Hunter is not likely to match his PR's in all 7 events if he did he would score 6,257 points. The Shot Put is his weakest event followed by the 1,000m run. He is good to very good in the other 5 events (60m, LJ, HJ, 60h and PV).

Hunter, I don't know how many Shocker fans even know who the hell you are but this Shocker fan does and I am pulling for you as hard as I can.

Nothing would make me happier than if this summer when on US 54 about 30 miles west of Wichita I come upon a sign as I'm getting close to 383rd Street West that said:
"CHENEY, KANSAS - HOME OF ......................"

(No not Lubbers Chevrolet)

Go Hunter!

:poster_shocks:

[1972Shocker]

BTW, Shocker Jr. Ben Johnson just came up short for qualifying at the NCAA National Championships in the Heptathlon. His season best was 35 points short of qualifying. That isn't very much. A 1.5" better long jump, 60M and 60H times each 0.03 seconds faster and cut off 1 second in the 1,000m run and he is there.

However, there is next year for Ben and, if he stays healthy which is always a challenge for multi-event athletes, I think he will make it next year.

3 years from now the Shocks may not be looking too bad either in the multi-events. Former Shocker All-American Austin Bahner's younger brother Davis out of Wichita Heights, Jake Horsch out of Andale and Grant Downes out of Kansas City all competed in the Heptathlon at this year's AAC Indoor Championship and look like they could develop into pretty good multi-event athletes. Davis and Jake are redshirt freshman and Grant is a true freshman this year.

Hard to predict how these young guys will progress but I've got my antenna up to follow the progress of Jake Horsch in particular. He torched the AAC heptathlon field in the final event (the 1,000m run) and finished 4th overall with 5,161 points which was 236 points better than the next best freshman. I don't think that is too far off of the numbers Hunter Veith was scoring at a similar point in his career.

For now though the spotlight is on Hunter Veith out of Cheney. Maybe in a few years the spotlight will shine on the Andale boy.

[WuDrWu]

Excellent breakdown sir. Really appreciate it and I'll be following along too. It's amazing what the coaching staff has done in developing these multis over the years.

[1972Shocker]

[goshox74]

I would say the picture above is the definition of "LEAN". Thanks for the write-up about Hunter, it should be an exciting weekend in College Station. Duckworth from Kentucky will be a handful and every event will be critical. There is not a clear cut favorite. And keep in mind Hunter is probably better at the outdoor Decathlon so if he could pull off a title indoor that bodes really well for the spring!

[1972Shocker]

Here are a couple of past articles on Hunter for anyone whose interested in a bit more background on this young man:

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article150049812.html

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article154698294.html

[1972Shocker]

Here is the list of the 16 qualifiers for this years NCAA Indoor Heptathlon:

1 Tim Duckworth SR Kentucky 6071
2 Hunter Veith SR Wichita State 6023
3 Tyler Adams SR Sam Houston 6016
4 Karl Saluri SR Georgia 5866
5 TJ Lawson SO Kent State 5865
6 Trent Nytes JR Wisconsin 5810
7 Gabe Moore JR Arkansas 5777
8 Nick Guerrant SO Mich State 5758
9 Scott Filip SR Rice 5725
10 Johannes Erm FR Georgia 5716
11 Nathaniel Mechler SO Houston 5703
12 Teddy Frid JR Minnesota 5680
13 Zachary Lorbeck SO Wisconsin 5663
14 George Patrick SO Texas 5657
15 Joe Delgado SR Louisville 5653
16 Alex Bloom SR Cincinnati 5649

[1972Shocker]

Quotables: Rainbolt and Veith:

Transcipt: http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/7/...olt-veith.aspx

Video:
https://photos.smugmug.com/AMERICAN-...-03-05-640.mp4

[1972Shocker]

The RoundHouse: Vieth Heads to Texas With Chance to Win

Championship Central

Heptathlon Schedule (With Hunter's PR's and what they would score in parenthesis) - All times are central times:

Friday, March 9th:

12:00 PM 60m Dash (6.90 - 918)
12:40 PM Long Jump (7.78m/25'-6.25' - 1,005)
1:50 PM Shot Put (13.76m/45'-1.5" - 714)
3:00 PM High Jump (2.09m/6'-10.25" - 887)

Saturday, March 10th:

12:00 PM 60m Hurdles (7.94 - 997)
12:50 PM Pole Vault (5.10/16-8.75" - 941)
4:00 PM 1,000m Run (2:47.18 - 795)

Hunter's PR's in the 60m Dash, Shot Put, 60m Hurdles and 1,000 M run were set this year.

Hunter's PR's in the Long Jump and Pole Vault were set at last year's MVC Indoor Championship. His best long jump this year has been 7.58m/24'-10.5"/ His best Pole Vault this year has been 5.05m/16'-6.75".

His High Jump PR was set in January of last year at KU. IIRC correctly I read somewhere earlier this year that Hunter was bothered by an ankle issue on his high jump plant leg. Not sure if that is still an issue or not. Hunter's best high jump this season is 2.02m/6'-7.5".

If you want to play with the scoring you can find a Heptahlon Scoring Calculater here: https://www.usatf.org/statistics/cal...EventsScoring/

Hopefully, Hunter's health is as good as it can be and he is in top form. He will need to be to bring home a Natty.

GO HUNTER!

:poster_shocks:

[1972Shocker]

GoShockers.com: Veith Eyes a National Title

This article has some good info on each event showing how Hunter stacks up to the top competitors in each event. However, it does contain an error. His best time in the 1,000m run is 2:47.18 not 2:14.18.

Looks like Kentucky's Tim Duckworth is going to be very difficult to beat. Hunter will need to be on the top of his game.

The article also contains links to Watch ESPN.

[1972Shocker]

I mentioned previously that if Hunter equaled his PR in all 7 events he would score 6,257 points. Unlikely, that he will do that.

Kentucky's Tim Duckworth who has the top mark coming into the Championship would score 6,260 points if he equaled his PR in all 7 events. Again, ulikely to do that but it is an interesting comparison (and quite frankly Hunter is closer than I thought he would be).

Obviously neither guy has a big advantage over the other. Based on their PR's Duckworth his a bit better in the 60m dash, the high jump and pole vault. Hunter is a bit better in the shot put, 60m hurdles and the 1,000m run. The long jump is pretty much a toss up.

The biggest advantage in any event belongs to Hunter in the 1,000m run (the final event of the heptathlon) where his PR scores 102 more poiints than Duckworth's PR does.

Hard to ever predict how an individual athete will perforn in any given event at any given time but if Hunter can hang with 100 points of Duckworh going into the 1,000m run on Saturday afternoon he should have a shot at beating Duckworth. And chances are if you beat Duckworth you will win the National Championship.

I think Duckworh has to be the favorite. Hunter is one of a few who can challenge.

[1972Shocker]

Here is a chart comparing Hunter's PR's vs Tim Duckworth's PR's on an event by event basis. As actual results come in I will replace the PR's with the actaul results in an effort to track how Hunter stands vs Duckworth. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with this on a fairly reasonable basis although tomorrow I may not be able to record the 60m Hurdles and the Pole Vault until about 3:00 pm.

Event	Hunter	Hunter	Tim D	Tim D
60m Dash	6.90s	918	6.84s	940	Actual Result
Long Jump	7.54m	945	7.74m	995	Actual Result
Shot Put	13.39m	691	13.59	703	Actual Result
High Jump	2.08m	878	2.17m	963	Actual Result
Day 1 Totals		3,432		3,601	Hunter -169
60m Hurdles	7.99s	984	8.23s	925	Actual Result
Pole Vault	4.76m	837	5.16m	960	Actual Result
1,000m Run	2:43.33	837	2:56.23	702	Actual Result
Day 2 Totals		2,658		2,587	Hunter +71
Overall Totals		6,090		6,188	Hunter -98

[1972Shocker]

Note there are a couple of other competitors in this competition that very well could win this including Tyler Adams of Sam Houston State and Karl Saluri of Georgia. Not that Hunter, Tim, Tyler and Sam are all seniors. So this is a phyically mature expereinced group of guys.

[1972Shocker]

Hunter warming up for the 60m dash: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/971844471355789313

Hunter finishes 4th in the 60m dash. Tim Duckworth was 1st. However, Duckworh was just a little of his PR with a 6.84 while Hunter matched his PR with a 6.90 clocking.

Good start for both guys.

Long Jump next. A very key event as both Hunter and Tim are very strong long jumpers and very equally matched ability-wise. Just need to make sure you get off clean and don't foul.

[1972Shocker]

Tim Duckworth won the long jump with a very solid jump of 7.74m (25-4.75). Hunter finished 2nd in this event but was well off his PR with a jump of 7.54m (24-9).

Not the result Hunter was looking for as Duckworth picks up 60 points on Hunter in this event. That my be hard to overcome but still 5 events left.

Duckworth and Hunter are 1 and 2 overall after two events.

[1972Shocker]

Hunter had a toss of 13.39m (43-11.25) in the shot put which was a little off his PR and was 5th best in the field. However, Tim Duckworht cut loose with a new PR of 13.59m (44-7) and in an event that you might expect Hunter to gain a little ground Duckworth actaully gained 12 points on Hunter.

Duckworth still leading with Hunter still in 2nd trailing him by 84 points. Gabe Moore of Arkansas is only 5 points behind Hunter in 3rd.

So far things seem to be going in Tim Duckworth's favor with the one of Duckworth's best events, the high jump, coming up to finish off day 1.

At this point though Hunter is looking at a real uphill battle.

[1972Shocker]

So far both Hunter and Tim D have cleared 6-8.75 in the high jump. That is Hunter's best jump of this indoor season although he his best was last year at 6-10.25 while Duckworh has gone as high as 7-1. Both are damn fine jumps for multi-event guys.

Duckworh over at 6-9.75. Tyler Adams of Sam Houtson State, Trent Nytes fo Wisincon and Hunter are over at 6-9.75.

Duckworh, Adams and Nytes have now both cleared 6-11. Hunter will need a new PR to stay with them.

Looks like Hunter is done at 6-9.75. Nothing wrong with the effort.

Duckworth and Adams have both cleared 7-1.5. Duckworth tops at there.

Tyler Adams of Sam Houston State coming on with a 7-2.5 effort to win the high jump.