Hunter Veith - Can He Make It 3

[1972Shocker]

Here is the schedule for Hutner Veith (Decathlon) and Aaron True and Damien Odle (Javelin) at the NCAA National Championship. Times shown are CDT.

Wednesday, June 6
2:30 p.m. - Decathlon 100m
3:10 p.m. - Decathlon Long Jump
4:25 p.m. - Decathlon Shot Put
5:40 p.m. - Decathlon High Jump
7:45 p.m. - Men's Javelin
8:56 p.m. - Decathlon 400m

Thursday, June 7
12 p.m. - Decathlon 110m Hurdles
12:50. p.m. - Decathlon Discus
2 p.m. - Decathlon Pole Vault
4:30 p.m. - Decathlon Javelin
8:26 p.m. - Decathlon 1500m

Coming into the season I thought Hunter Veith had the best shot at becoming only the 3rd NCAA Track & Field Champion in Shocker history. He came close in the Indoor Heptathlon. However, due to his late season injury issues, it just doesn't seem very likely to me that Hunter will be at the top of his game this week (if he can even finish) but we will see.

Perhaps the Shocks best chance is Aaron True in the javelin but he will probably have to cut loose with a career throw to win. Damien has been fighting a groin injury lately and was a bit of a surpirse to even make the finals.

Best of luck to all 3 guys.

Links to Live Streams and Live Results on are the article linked below.

[1972Shocker]

RH: Veith Counts on Experience in Decathlon

Wichita State's Hunter Veith competes in the decathlon this week. His training routine, forced upon him by a sore back, prepares him for a different event.

"I'm in perfect shape for a triathlon," he said.

Veith enters Wednesday's decathlon at the NCAA Championships with the nation's No. 2 score, 8,046 points at the Texas Relays in late March. He finished second in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor in early March with 6,090 points.

He starts with the 100 meters on Wednesday afternoon at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., optimistic, yet unsure, as to how his body will hold up as he tries to compete with a stress reaction in his lower back. The event continues on Thursday with the final five events.

The article also talks a bit about Aaron True and Damien Odle in the javelin where Aaron is the 5th seed and Damien is the 13th seed. Damien is also rehabbing an injury. He strained his groin during his third throw at the Texas Relays.

[1972Shocker]

Hunter ran a 10.96 100m dash which was 14th out of the 24 competitors. His PR in the 100 is 10.66 which would have put him in the top 5. His time results in 68 points less than his PR would have scored him. Actually, that seems like a pretty good effort by Hunter considering his situation. The big question is how long can he go.

The long jump is next and may tell us a let about where Hunter is since that usually is one of his strongest events.

Hunter could only manage 23-3.5 in the long jump which was 16th in the competition. 2.25' short of his PR and 3' short of Tim Duckworth's best jump.

Clearly Hunter is not physically ready or able to compete at his normal level. I will actually be a little surprised if he doesn't withdraw at some point. Feel bad for him.

Hunter makes two attempts in the shot put and passes on his 3rd attempt finishing 21st with a throw well below his personal best.

Hunter is apparently not going to attempt the high jump and it appears he has withdrawn from the competition and his Wichita State career is over. But what a great career it was. I'm sure Hunter is extremely disappointed that his career ended in this fashion but kudos to him for giving it the ol' college try.

Truly one of the All-Time Shocker greats who had some bad luck wiht injuries during his career.

Not sure what Hunter will do after college but whatever it is I wish him the very best.

I guess this makes it official:

Wichita St T&F/XC @GoShockersTFXC

Due to injury, Hunter Veith is withdrawing from the rest of the decathlon. The Cheney, Kan., native ends his Shocker career as a four-time All-American and five-time conference champion. He holds school records in the heptathlon (6,090) and decathlon (8,046). #watchus


3:55 PM - 6 Jun 2018

[1972Shocker]

Damien Odle could only manage a throw of 208-3 in Flight 1 which at this point is only 19th best of the 24 competitors.

Aaron True now throwing in Flight 2.

Aaron's best throw of his 3 attempts of 230-6 is good fro 7th and moves him into the finals where I presume the 9 finalists will bet another 3 attempts each.

Anderson Peters of Mississippi State has broken the meet records with a throw of 271-9. The scary thing is this guy is a freshman.

Aaron did not improve on his distance in the finals and finishes 8th. He might be just a little disappointed but 5 of the athletes who finished ahead of him had personal bests. I believe that finish will earn Aaron All-American honors and he will be back next year. Congrats to Aaron on a terrific season.

And with that another year of Shocker sports comes to a close. Onward and upward next year.

[1972Shocker]

Taylor Eldridge reports on the Shockers results in Eugene.

I'm still a bit brokenhearted that Hunter Veith was not able to compete at the end of his Senior year. Hell of a career though.

He owns five all-time top-5 marks in WSU history:
#1 Indoor Heptathlon - 6,090 (2017) - Taylor's article has a typo on that.
#1 Outdoor Decathlon - 8,046 (2018)
#2 Indoor Long Jump - 25-6.25/7.78m (2017)
#5 Outdoor Long Jump - 25-6.25/7.78m (2018)
#4 Indoor 60m Hurdles - 7.94 (2018)

Entering his junior season on the Wichita State track and field team, Aaron True had two goals: break the school record and be a first team All-American. Check. Now for an encore next year.

Kudos also to Damien Odle for battling through a season ending injury last year and a nagging groin injury this season as well. Damien ends up #3 with a throw of 240-8 in 2016 which was then the school record. His teammates Aaron True and Taran Taylor passed him up this year in the Shocker record book.

Hopefully, Aaron and Taran will push each other to new frontiers next year.

So who will be the Shockers next outstanding multi-event guy. Senior-to-be Ben Johnson is pretty good. 7th all-time at WSU in the decathlon and 5th alltime in the heptathlon. I doubt he can be as good as Hunter Veith but that's the gold standard at this point. Hopefully, Ben will move up a few spots in the Shocker record book next year. The guy who is kind of intriguing to me is Jake Horsch out of Andale. Jake will be a reshirt sophomore next year. He can really run especially in the 1000m and 1500m to finish off the heptathlons and decathlons. He should get stronger just through natural maturation and hopefully he will continue to improve in the technical events and the jumping events.

Jake is already faster than Hunter 400, 1000 and 1500. He is about 0.5 seconds slower in the 60 and 100 hurdles. He is about maybe 0.15 seconds slower in the 60 and 100 sprints.

He has about a full foot to go to match Hunter's ability in the high jump, a little over 3 feet in the pole vault, about 3.5 feet in the long jump, 7 feet in the shot put and 15 feet in the javelin. If Jake make Hunter Veith-type progress in these events look out.

From what I understand the Shockers will be hosting next year's AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship.