2018-19 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

Wichita St T&F/XC @GoShockersTFXC Head Coach @coachbolt thoughts on the men's team finishing second and Rebekah Topham earning the Women's Most Valuable Indoor Performance award. #watchus https://bit.ly/2Nx1pwB



11:41 AM - 24 Feb 2019

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State senior Ben Johnson will be the Shockers lone representative at this weekends NCAA D-1 Indoor Track & Field Championships. Ben's heptathlon score of 5,705 at the recent AAC Championships set a new AAC meet records and a new PR for Ben moving him into 2nd all-time at Wichita State behind Hunter Veith's 6,090 point set last year.

Making the NCAA Indoor Championships is no easy feat requiring a Top 16 mark to qualify. Qualifying does secure All-America honors as the top 8 finishers earn 1st team AA honors and those that finish 9th to 16th earn 2nd team AA honors. The only other Shocker athlete close to qualify was freshman Sidney Sapp who ranked 20th in the women's high jump.

Ben's score is 9th best in the nation this year. Here are the 2019 heptathlon qualifiers;

1 Johannes Erm SO Georgia 5996
2 Harrison Williams SR Stanford 5961
3 Gary Haasbroek FR UTSA 5949
4 Gabe Moore SR Arkansas 5908
5 Aaron Booth JR KS State 5819
6 Nick Guerrant JR Mich State 5783
7 Jared Seay SR Nebraska 5757
8 Axel Hubert FR TX Tech 5746
9 Ben Johnson SR Wichita State 5705
10 Nathan Hite SR Texas A&M 5680
11 Trent Nytes SR Wisconsin 5660
12 Kristo Simulask FR Oklahoma 5660
13 Derek Jacobus SR Arkansas 5656
14 Ayden Owens FR USC 5642
15 Tyler Brendel JR California 5553
16 Zachary Lorbeck JR Wisconsin 5530

Looks like Ben may well need a new PR for a shot at 1st team All-American honors. Not sure how much more he has in his tank.

In any case, congratulations Ben and best of luck this Friday (March 8) and Saturday (March 9).

Johnson Set for National Stage

[1972Shocker]

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/3/7...n-serious.aspx

Ben Johnson made a red rectangular charcoal grill for a manufacturing methods class and that group project helped launch Johnson's transformation from a walk-on into an NCAA heptathlon qualifier.

"I'm pretty sure every single dinner my second year of college I ate a frozen pizza," he said.

Johnson improved his speed and technique over the years. He also improved his eating and sleeping habits.

His diet is helped by weekly trips to Sam's Club to buy chicken and Sunday nights grilling for himself and roommate Lucas Shaffer. Johnson, a senior from Tonganoxie, swears he eats the same salad every week day for the past two-and-a-half years – spinach, grilled chicken, sometimes blueberries.

"I haven't gotten tired of it," he said.

Johnson competes in the NCAA Indoor Championships heptathlon on Friday and Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. It is his first NCAA national competition. He ranks ninth with a score of 5,705 points, winning the American Athletic Conference title in late February, which ranks No. 2 on Wichita State's career list.

Johnson considered himself a football and basketball athlete most of his life. He started track and field as a junior in high school to help his conditioning for football and basketball. He said Wichita State recruited him because a former girlfriend recommended him to coach Steve Rainbolt. During his recruiting visit, he said he looked up the decathlon events on Google.

Rainbolt knew Johnson didn't run particularly fast in high school. He saw a multi-sport high school athlete who could improve, much like past Shocker NCAA All-Americans such as Chris Dickman and Austin Bahner.

Johnson struggled with the pole vault during the indoor season and Rainbolt called his performance in that event in the conference meet a key moment. Getting faster, however, played a significant role in elevating his scores to the NCAA level. Johnson's best in the 60-meter dash is 7.13 seconds.

"He's gotten legitimately fast," Rainbolt said. "Leg-speed development can happen."

Johnson ranked No. 33 in the decathlon last season with 7,272 points. The top 24 qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In the heptathlon, he ranked No. 19 with 5,615, three spots out of the indoor meet. He believes he pushed too hard during the outdoor season and wore down. This season, he learned patience.

"Last year, I almost did too much," he said. "If I didn't think the lifting was heavy enough, I would do more. This year, I told myself I was going to trust the preparation and if I had a day that was light, I would take a light day."

[1972Shocker]

After Day 1 Ben sits in 10th place among the 16 national qualifiers. You can't say he isn't giving it his all. He set PR's in the 60m dash, the long jump and the shot put while jumping just a couple inches short of his PR in the high jump. The result is that he finished the day with a Day 1 PR total of 3,180 points. The guys will finish up tomorrow with the 60m hurdles, the pole vault and Ben's least favorite event, the 1,000m run.

Ben is slightly ahead of his 3,171 points he had after Day 1 of the AAC Championship. But this is a whole different level of athlete he is competing against.

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/3/8...pionships.aspx

[goshox74]

Something else to watch on Saturday is the Houston men. They had a very good prelim day and are in contention to win the national title with 5 or so other teams. Things will need to go their way in the finals but it's not out of reach. As a Shocker fan I am rooting for both Ben and Houston to have big days.

[1972Shocker]

Four 4 man heats in the Heptathlon 60m hurdles. Ben running in the 4th heat coming up. Ben runs an 8.17 (just off his PR of 8.10) and good for 5th best in this event and 939 points.

After 5 events Ben is still in 10th place with 4,119 points but he is only 8 points out of 9th and 22 points out of 8th.
.
The final two events are the pole vault and the 1,000m run which, historically, have not been Ben's strongest events.

Ben did set new PR of 15-5 in the pole vault and 2:47.70 in the 1,000m run. These marks are better than Wisconsin's Zach Lorbeck who is currently in 8th place with 4,141 points but a little short of the best marks of K-State's Aaron Booth who is currently in 9th place at 4,127 points.

If all three guys hit their PR's in the final two events they would end of as follows: Booth - 5,781; Johnson - 5,728; Lorbeck - 5,597.

So far Ben to get that coveted 8th place and 1st Team All-America honors he probably needs to set new PR's in these events or come close to those marks and hope that Aaron Booth comes in below his best marks.

The pole vault will probably be the key event as it can have the most variability in performances from meet tot meet. Ben almost has to vault better than Lorbeck and Booth to have a chance to overtake them.

[goshox74]

Ben strained a muscle either in the hurdles or warming up for the pole vault so his quest for top-8 is probably over. He made a couple bars but is just trying to tough it out.

[1972Shocker]

Ben strained a muscle either in the hurdles or warming up for the pole vault so his quest for top-8 is probably over. He made a couple bars but is just trying to tough it out.

That is really unfortunate. Seems like staying injury free is half the battle in the multi-events. Feel bad that had to happen to Ben. Seems like a great young man. Hopefully, he will get another shot in the decathlon in the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

[1972Shocker]

Ben was able to finish and he ran a 2:50.15 in the 1k run. Only a couple of seconds of his PR. But the damage had been done in the pole vault and Ben finishes 12th with 5,545 points.

I'm sure Ben was hoping for more but certainly nothing to hang his head about. 2nd Team All=America honors is a great achievement and the young man from Tonganoxie should be very proud.

Good job Ben. :good:

[1972Shocker]

Johnson Earns Second Team All-American Honors

The redshirt senior battled through an injury to finish 16th in the pole vault (4.16m/13-7.75) and 13th in the 1000m with a time of 2:50.15. Johnson scored a total of 5,545 points and placed 12th overall to earn second team All-American honors, the first of his career.

"I am really proud of Ben," said head track and field director Steve Rainbolt. "This is a terrific honor for him to come home with second team All-American honors and I couldn't be more proud of his efforts to battle through an injury and I thought he handled that well with a great attitude."

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Host Invitational to Open Outdoor Season

The Shockers host the first of its four outdoor meets at Cessna Stadium. The Herm Wilson Invitational presented by Beynon Sports Surfaces will be live streamed starting Friday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m., and Saturday, March 23 beginning at 12:00 p.m. Admission to the event is free.

Often this early season events hosted by the Shockers attract mostly Non-D-1 and Juco competition. However, this meet is almost a quadrangular between the Shocks, Nebraska, Missouri and UMKC. There are some D-II athletes in the decathlon and the heptathlon but otherwise it is mostly athletes from the 4 D-1 schools mentioned. Not sure any of the teams will be going all out but the Shockers will have a pretty good representation of some of their best athletes.

A few worthy of mentioning include Zack Penrod in the 800m run. Looks like MIzzou is bringing a strong 800m contingent. Freshman Joe Holthusen makes his debut in the 110m hurdles. Austin Corley gets his first shot of the year at his best event, the 400m hurdles. The men's high jump will be mostly Shockers lead by Mason Buckmaster. Hayden Bugner will hopefully challenge in the pole vault. Jared Belardo and Rayvon Allen are usually battling for a win in the long jump and Jared is also in the triple jump. Corey Martens will participate in the shot put, the discus and the hammer throw. Isaiah Evans will be joint Corey in the discus and hammer throw. The Shocks #1 javelin thrower Aaron True who has thrown 15 meters farther than anyone else in the field will be in action.

The Shocks 2 best decathletes, Ben Johnson and Jake Horsch will be sitting this one out.

Biggest negative is that they may be dodging rain drops on Saturday.

[1972Shocker]

Corey Martens, the grad transfer from D-II Chadron State (Nebraska) continues to impress in his one year as a Shocker. Corey recorded the 5th best hammer throw in Shocker history today with a toss of 201-6 becoming only the 5th Shocker to throw over 200 feet in this event.
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https://goshockers.com/news/2019/3/22/track-and-field-koskei-breaks-31-year-old-3000m-school-record.aspx

[1972Shocker]

Shocker javelin throwers are starting their competition. Shocker All-American Aaron True with his right thigh/hip heavily wrapped through 70.3 meters (230-7.75) on his 1st attempt.

The guys are actually throwing inside Cessna stadium.

Live Stream available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWKeO79H1I

Ben Johnson not competing in this meet is doing the color commentary and is very good.

Aaron True's throws are just majestic.

Aaron wins the event easily with a throw of 70.56m/231-6. Aaron had 3 throws over 70 meters.

[1972Shocker]

Aaron True Named AAC Field Athlete of the Week

2018 All-American True opened the 2019 outdoor season on March 23, winning the Herm Wilson Invitational javelin with a throw of 70.56m/231-6. His mark is No. 1 in the American Athletic Conference and No. 9 in the nation.

True recorded the best preliminary throw on his first attempt with a mark of 70.30m/230-8, his second attempt landed at 70.29m/230-7. On his first attempt in the finals, he let it fly to a competition best 70.56m/231-6.

I imagine just about all of the 500 (give or take) folks in Leroy, Kansas are quite proud of Aaron.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State distance runner Zack Penrod travel to the west coast Friday, March 29 to compete in the Stanford Invitational (along with Rebekah Topham and Winny Koskei from the women's team..

Zack Penrod will run the 1500m and will face some of the top distance runners in the country.

Zack is making his 2019 debut in this event.

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/3/28/track-and-field-distance-trio-travels-west-to-compete-at-stanford.aspx