2018-19 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Prepare for Conference Championships - Thursday, October 25th in New Orleans

Representing the men's team include Dray Carson, Clayton Duchastchek, Ben Flowers, Josh Klein, Ethan Kossover, Cory Landon, Alex Moen, Pedro Montoya and Zack Penrod, Sean Curran enters as the alternate.

Men's Preview

The Field

The men's race will feature 10 teams and seven all-conference runners from 2017, including individual champion Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane. Rotich has competed in two regular season races, including a first place finish at the Texas A&M Invitational. As a junior Rotich was named the 2017 USTFCCCA South Central Region Athlete of the Year.

Tulsa, four-time defending American Conference champs, enter the race No. 3 in the Midwest region, the highest regional ranking in The American. The Golden Hurricane graduated three all-conference runners but return 2017 American Freshman of the Year and all-conference runner Scott Beattie. Peter Lynch has paced Tulsa in two of the regular season races, including a team victory at the Missouri Southern Stampede.

UConn, Memphis and Temple each enter the competition with rankings in their respective regions. Temple is currently No. 7 in the Mid-Atlantic, UConn No. 11 in Northeast and Memphis at No. 15 in the South.

The Shockers

Wichita State has two top-5 finishes, including a second place finish at the J.K. Gold Classic and a fifth place showing at the 30th Annual Chile Pepper Invitational. Wichita State is led by captain Zack Penrod and sophomore transfer Clayton Duchatschek. Penrod led the team with a second place finish in the season opener and a top-20 showing at the 30th Annual Chile Peper Invitational, Duchatschek led the Shockers at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals with a 124th place finish.

The Shockers remained idle at No. 14 in the Midwest region for five weeks, but in the most recent polls the Shocks have dropped out of the top-15.

Three of the Shockers top-5 finishers from the 2017 championships return for the 2018 race. Penrod placed 26th, Dray Carson finished 27th and then freshman Ben Flowers placed 36th. The men placed fifth in their inaugural season with The American.

The Shockers will probably do well to match their 5th place finish of last year. The Shocker men will have to rely on trying to put toghether 5 very solid performances as they do not appear to have top runners that can carry them.

The big issue tomorrow in New Orleans may be the weather. There is a 65%-70% chance of rain beginning at midnight and running through 6:00 am tomorrow morning and then that increases to a 75% - 100% chance of Thunderstorms beginning at 7:00 am tomorrow and running to around 3:00 pm. Obviously, if there is lightning around they won't be running as scheduled. In any case, it sounds like a soft, perhaps muddy course will be in play with very high humidity.

While WSU Coach Kirk Hunter described the course as mostly flat, the potential of rain could make it more difficult.

[1972Shocker]

Watching the live stream of the men's race. The Shockers have a good 5-man pack unfortnately it is quite a bit back. Tough running with the muddy conditions.

A bunch of muddy backsides for sure.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita St T&F/XC @GoShockersTFXC

Shocker men place 4th in the American Conference Cross Country Championships. More details to come!

I think that was a good result for the guys improving on their 5th place finish last year.

[1972Shocker]

Team Scores:

1 Tulsa 00:27:40.61 32
2 Temple 00:27:58.96 51
3 Connecticut 00:28:29.81 91
4 Wichita State 00:28:43.82 109
Cincinnati 00:28:56.35 138
6 Tulane 00:29:11.28 160
7 Memphis 00:29:21.92 178
8 ECU 00:29:53.70 209
9 Houston 00:29:53.63 220
10 USF 00:31:37.22 310

17 Jr. Zack Penrod 00:28:29.41
18 So. Clayton Duchatschek 00:28:31.19
21 So. Ben Flowers 00:28:43.08
22 So. Ethan Kossover 00:28:47.71
31 Sr. Pedro Montoya 00:29:07.74

http://theamerican.org/documents/201...ts.pdf?id=1941

[1972Shocker]

GoShockers.com Report on AAC XC Championship

The men's team finished fourth overall with 109 points. The Shockers top four were separated by 18 seconds and all four placed in the top-25. Captain Zack Penrod led the men finishing 17th with a time of 28:29.41, followed by Clayton Duchatschek in 18th (28:31.19), Ben Flowers 21st (28:43.08), Ethan Kossover 22nd (28:47.71) and Pedro Montoya rounded out scoring for the Shockers in 33rd place (29:07.74).

"We had an 18 second gap between our top four guys, if we get the five together within 20 seconds they are going to do even more damage in the regional championships," said Hunter "I'm proud of those guys and I thought they did a tremendous job. I know how competitive they are, they want more and they are probably disappointed but I'm not disappointed in them one bit."

Both the men and women battled through wet, muddy and humid conditions.

"Ethan Kossover lit it up today. By far he had his best race ever at Wichita State and to run that kind of race in these conditions, Ethan saved our men's team and he really did a great job for us."

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Host Multi to Start 2019 Indoor Season

The Shocks open the 2019 Indoor season with the annual Shocker Multi at the Heskett Center on Friday, November 30th, and Saturday, December 1st.

This is almost an intrasquad meet in that WSU is the only D-1 school participating. Two D-II schools, Fort Hays State and Maryville University, will send some athletes to compete as will NAIA Friends.

Wichita State's Ben Johnson enters the competition with the No. 1 seed, the redshirt senior earned all-conference honors finishing second at the 2018 American Athletic Conference Championships with 5,527 points. Johnson completed three heptathlons in 2018, finishing second at each meet. He currently has the fifth best heptathlon score (5,615) in Shocker history.

Other Shocker competitors in the heptathlon include, Grant Downes, Chandler Stiawalt, Lucas Shaffer, Davis Dubbert and Tristen Dagenais. Stiawalt, Dubbert and Dagenais each redshirted the 2018 season and will compete in a Shocker uniform for the first time.

Not competing for the Shocks is R-So. Jake Horsch who finished last year strong finishing 3rd in the AAC Championships in the decathlon with 7,080 points. Jake's PR in the indoor heptathlon is 5,161. Also sitting this one out is Shocker Sr. Kaden Griffin. Kaden has a PR of 5,059 in the heptathlon.

Admission to the event is free.

[1972Shocker]

Not much positive to report from the Shocker Multi for the men. The event was won by Mathew Pieper of Fort Hays State with 4,890 points. Wichita State sophomore Grant Downs was 2nd with 4,802 points which was a personal best this year. To score in the AAC Championships you probably need to be around 5,100 points. Grant is young and it is early in the season. Maybe he can get their but I am thinking he is a year away from that. Where speed is the key factor, the 60, the long jump the 60 hurdles grant is pretty solid. Where technique, strengh or endurance are key factors, the shot put, high jump, pole vault and 1,000, Grant has a lot of work to do.

Shocker senior Ben Johnson who, if healthy, should definitely be a factor at the top of the AAC charts had a a very solid day 1 with PR's in the 60 and the shot put and with solid performances in the long jump and high jump. He had a comfortable lead and looked like he was heading towards a personal best in the heptathlon probably in the 5,700's. Unfortunately, an undisclosed injury shut him down on Day 2. In addition, Sophomore Jake Horsch and Senior Kaden Griffin did not compete in this event. Those 3 are the Shockers best heptathletes and all would have a chance to score in the AAC Championships. Not sure if Jake and Kaden are also nursing injuries or illness.

You follow Track and Field for any time at all and you realize keeping healthy seems to be half the battle especially in the grueling multi-events.

Hopefully, none of these 3 guys are dealing with anything too serious or something nagging that will just not go away. If healthy, I think these guys could combine for 15+ points in the heptathlon at the AAC Championships. The good thing is that is early and we almost 3 months before the AAC Indoor Championships roll around on Febuary 22nd and 23rd.

https://goshockers.com/documents/2018/12/1//Men_s_Results.pdf

[1972Shocker]

Sounds like Ben Johnson withdrew due to a strained hamstring. Hopefully, nothing too serious but hamstrings can be a nagging type of injury. May not see Ben again until the Air Force Invitational on January 24th.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers open up the indoor season with a trip to Ames, Iowa for the Hawkeye Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/1/10/track-and-field-shockers-ready-to-compete-in-hawkeye-invitational.aspx

Coach Rainbolt said it's a meet that he has been wanting to go to for a couple of years. They have this fabulous track and field facility from the World Championships, they bought a World Championships track and set it up in their building that was a heck of a project. It is going to be really great to be on such a high profile track and field facility.

Not sure how big of a contingent will be competing for the Shocks. Sounds like Sr. Kaden Griffin will forego the multi-events this year in favor of individual events.

Pre-Iowas Quotables

[1972Shocker]

Looking over the heat sheets ( https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/1857/events ) looks like the Shocks are all in for the meet for both the men and women.

For example, the Shocker men are fielding six 4x400 teams and the Shocker women are fielding five 4x400 teams. Most of Shocker multi-event athletes are working on some of their events.

I guess the highlights for the Shockers should be the long jump with Sr. Jared Belardo and So Raybon Allen competing. Jared and Rayvon will be skipping the triple jump this meet.

For the Shocker women Jr. Rebkkah Topham and So. Winny Koskei are among the top seeds in the mile run.

A ton of new faces for the Lady Shocks after the big redshirt year last year.

Coach Rainbolt clearly wanting to get an early read on where his teams are at plus it's great opportunity for Shocker athletes to compete on a very top-nothch indoor facility.

[1972Shocker]

Hawkeye Invitational Performances of Note:

Seniors Isaiah Evans too 2nd the the weight throw with a toss of 18.81m/61-10.5 which is about a foot short of his PR. Senor Cory Martens, a grad transfer from D-II Chadron State, finished 3rd with a heave of 18.74m/61-6 which is about a half foot shy of his PR at Chadron State but is the 8th best throw in Shocker history. Good start to the season -- both these throws probably score in the AAC Indoor, perhaps top 5 throws.

Redshirt Junior Mason Buckmaster hit a new PR in the high jump at 6-8.75. That might score a point or two in the AAC Championship.

Shocker Jr. Zack Penrod set a new PR of 2:25.08 in the 1,000m run finishing 2nd, This is the 3rd fastest time in Shocker history. This distance is not run in the AAC Championships. Good start to the season for Zack.

Soph Rayvon Allen wins the long jump at 24-9.25, Senior Jared Belardo was close behind in 2nd place at 24-3.5 am Senior Kaden Griffin placed 5th at 23-9.5. New indoor PR's for Rayvon and Kaden. Good solid start to the season.

Senior Nathan Wickoren sets a new PR in the mile at 4:09.41 which probably scores a few points in the AAC Championships.

Senior Hayden Bugner placed 2nd in the pole vault at 16-4.75. A solid jump that may or may not score in the AAC Championships. But Hayden has more left in his tank.

Junior Denvoir Griffin ran a solid 6.84 in the 60m dash which is a good run. Devoir holds the school reccord for the Indoor 60 at 6.76. Unfortunately, that probably doesn't score in the AAC with the cadre of speed demons Houston and Memphis bring to the party.

Freshman Joseph Holthusen out of Bishop Carroll made his Shocker debut with a 8.32 in the 60 hurdles. Perhaps Top 15 in the AAC last year. Not bad for teh youngster.

[1972Shocker]

5th Annual KU/KSU/WSU Indoor Track & Field Triangular -- Friday, January 18th at Lawrrence

HEAD COACH STEVE RAINBOLT ON....

...KSU-KU-WSU Triangular:
"KU, K-State and Wichita State are the three NCAA Division I schools in the state of Kansas, this is our fifth year doing this meet. I am so appreciative and pleased that us three coaches were able to get together about six years ago and put this together. I think it's appropriate to have a triangular between the three Division I schools in Kansas and I think it's been a wonderful meet. I love the rotation, it started at K-State five years ago, went to KU and we hosted it two years ago. I love team scored events, I'm a team track and field guy and from my perspective, this is terrific team track and field."

One of the more fun meets on the Shocker indoor schedule. Each school is allowed to enter 26 men and 26 women.

KU and KSU have each won 2 of the 1st four triangulars. Shockers looking for their 1st win. Should be back in Wichita next year.

[1972Shocker]

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/1/1...the-track.aspx

Wichita State freshman Sidney Sapp is from Oklahoma, which is why she hesitated when asked about the rivalries present in the KU/KSU/WSU Triangular.

"It's a rivalry?" she asked track and field coach Steve Rainbolt.

"We'll talk about it," Rainbolt said with a smile.

Friday's meet at Anschutz Pavilion in Lawrence is a highlight of the indoor track and field season for Wichita State. It combines good competition in a team-scored meet with a bonus of in-state conflict. Watch ESPN will broadcast the meet, which begins at 3 p.m. The meet ends with a co-ed 1,600-meter relay.

Rainbolt considers the meet an important building block for the indoor season. He points WSU toward team championships and this meet gives the Shockers their first experience of the winter in that setting. On Feb. 22, the Shockers compete in the American Athletic Conference Championships, where it is expected that everyone focuses on the team scores, sprinters are expected to cheer for pole vaulters and exhausting yourself by competing in multiple events is part of the routine.

The Shockers men are expected to compete well in the jumps with returners such as Rayvon Allen, Jared Belardo, 2018 AAC indoor long jump champion, and Kaden Griffin among the top performers.

All 3 are participating in the long jump schedule for 4:15 and the triple jump scheduled for 6:45.

Assuming they score the meet the same as last year the scoring is 7-5-4-3-2-1 with only the top 2 marks from each tea,me being counted.

:poster_shocks:

[1972Shocker]

Sunflower Triangular Results

Shocker Cory Martens, a grad transfer from D-II Chadron State, set a big new PR of 64-10 in the weight throw to win that event. Fellow Sr Isaiah Evans pulled 56-9.25 for 4th place. After 1 event WSU 10 - KSU 7 - KU 5

Shocker R-Jr Zack Penrod finished 3rd in the mile at 4:16.75 only 0.18 out of 1st place in a very close race among the top 3 finishers. As with the women a relatively slow pace. Fr. Jed Helker finished 5th. KU gets 12 points, the Shockers 6 and KSU 4. After 2 events it is KU 17 - WSU 16 - KSU 11

So Rayvon Allen (24-0.25), Sr Kaden Grifin (23-11) and Sr. Jared Belardo (23-8) finished 2-3-4 in the long jump. Only Rayvon and Kaden will be scored. KSU and the Shock each score 9 points and KU gets 4. After 3 events it is WSU 25 - KU 21 - KSU 20

Shocker Fr. Joe Holthusen out of Bishop Carroll rocks a new PR of 8.08 to win the 60 hurdles. Sr. Ben Johnson (8.17), Sr. Louis Rivers (8.30) and Jr Colin Reichenbeger (8.38) finished 2 - 3 - 5. Johnson is the Shockers top heptathlete/decathlete. Only Holthusen and Johnson will be scored. Shocks pick up 12 points, KU 7 and KSU 3. After 4 events it is WSU 37 - KU 28 - KSU 23

As with the Shocker women the 400m run is not a strong event for the Shocker men. Sr. Kaden Griffin finsihed 4th in 49.35 which is a new indoor PR for Kaden. KSU and KU pick up 9 points each and the Shocks score 4 in this event. After 5 events it is WSU 41 - KU 37 - KSU 32

In the 600y run So Adam Gauzy (1:14.80) and Fr Jason Landon (1:15.90) finish 3rd and 5th to score 6 points. KU picks up 12 points and KSU 4. After 6 events I have it at KU 49 - WSU 47 - KSU 36

Jr Denvoir Griffin finishes 2nd in the 60m dash at 6.89. Shocks pick up 6 points. KSU gets 11 and KU gest 5 points. After 7 events that makes it KU 54 - WSU 53 - KSU 47

R-Jr Zack Penrod (1:56.64), Fr Jed Helker (1:57.82) and Sr. Connor Stine (1:58.08) finished 2-3-4 in the 800m run with only Zack and Zed scoring but the Shocks pick up 9 points, KU 8 pints and KSU 5 points. After 8 event it is KU 62 - WSU 62 - KSU 52

R-Jr Reno Law ran a 2:32.13 to finish 2nd in the 1000m run but R-So Cory Landon (2:34.87) was last in a relatively close race. KSU gets 10 pints and KU and the Shocks each pick up 6 points. After 9 events it is KU 68 - WSU 68 - KSU 62

So-so high jump results for the Shockers. Mason Buckmaster (6-6.75) and Cole Konrade (6-2.75) finish 4th and 5th for 5 points. KSU picks up 11 points and KU 6 points. After 10 events it is KU 74 - WSU 73 - KSU 73

Poor pole vault resutls as well for the Shockers as R-Fr Bryce Bearden (15-1) and Sr. Ben Johnson (14-7.25) finished 4th and 5th for 5 points. However, the real killer for the Shocks was Sr Hayden Bugner, by far the Shockers best vaulter, no-heighted. Hayden is good enough to win this event. K-State gets 11 and KU gets 6. After 11 events it is KSU 84 - KU 80- WSU 78

Shocker Super-Soph Rayvon Allen (primarily a long jumber and triple jumper) runs a PR of 22.13 to win the 200m dash to win that event. R-Jr Richard Sandefur ran a 22.62 to finish 5th. Shocks pick up 10 points while KU and KSU pick up 6 each. After 12 events it is KSU 90 - WSU 88 - KU 86

Grad transfer Cory Matrens (53-3.25) finishes 3rd in the shot put but R-So Jeff Ast (47-2.5) can only finishe 6th. Shocks pick up only 5 points to 10 for KSU and 7 for KU. After 13 events it is KSU 100 - KU 93 - WSU 93

So Ben Flowers (8:33.01) and Sr Nathan Wickoren (8:35.62) finish 3-4 in the 3,000m run good for 7 points. Kansas finishes 1-2 for 12 points and KSU only scores 3. After 14 events it is KU 105 - KSU 103 - WSU 100

Sr Jared Belardo (49-8.25) finished 2nd in the triple jump and Sr. Kaden Griffin (47-8) finished 4th for a total of 8 points. Rayvon Allen fouled than had a poor jump for him of 43-7.25 on his 2nd attempt before passing on his final 4 attempts indicating he may have an injury. Hopefully, nothing serious. KSU also scored 8 points and KU scored 6 points. After 15 events I have it at KU 111 - KSU 111 - WSU 108

The only other event was a mixed 4x400 race alternating male and female legs. The finish was KU - KSU - WSU but the scores are not reflected in the reported team totals.

So it was a very tight competition on the men's side. If Hayden Bugner and not no-heighted in the pole vault and had just an average jump for him and if Rayvon Allen had been able to compete in the triple jump the Shocks probably win the men's side.

On the women's side the scores were KU 117 - KSU 104 - WSU 103.

The combined scores tallied KU 228 - KSU 215 - WSU 211

GoShockers.com Recap

[1972Shocker]

Sophomore Rayvon Allen and Freshman Joseph Holthusen, out of Bishop Carroll, had strong performances at the Air Force Invitational this weekend.

Rayvon won the 200m with a time of 21.59, the sixth fastest in Shocker history. Rayvon also won the long jump on Friday.

Joseph (No. 8 | 60m Hurdles, 8.04) finished 3rd in the 60m hurdles at 8.04 which puts him at #8 in the Shocker record book.

Senior Ben Jacobson looked like he was well on his way to winning the heptathlon but he did not start in the final event, the 1,000m run. Not sure what the reason for that was. Ben was nursing a strained hamstring in early December. Hopefully, Ben can get healthy by February 22nd for the AAC Indoor Championships.

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/1/26/track-and-field-shocker-women-win-air-force-invite-men-place-third.aspx

[1972Shocker]

The Shocker distance runners where at Pitt State today.

The men's mile featured eight Shockers, five of which set personal bests. Zack Penrod ran 4:04.80 to win the race, while Nathan Wickorenrecorded the seventh fastest mile in Shocker history. Wickoren finished the race in 4:06.39, a personal best as well.

Other milers setting personal best include, Cory Landon (4:17.84), Connor Stine (4:20.17), Bryce Merriman (4:20.92) and Jack Lowry (4:26.69).

Ben Flowers recorded a top-10 finish, placing seventh in the 5000m with a personal best time of 14:49.53.

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/1/26/track-and-field-distance-team-runs-away-with-11-personal-bests.aspx

[1972Shocker]

In the final warm-up before the AAC Championships (March 8 - March 9) the Shockers sent partial contingent of athleties to the Arkansas Qualifiers hosted by the University of Arkansas.

Freshman Joseph Holthusen out of Bishop Carrol continues his strong initial season at the collegiate level finishing 6th in the 60 hurdles in a time of 8:18. Joseph's best time this year of 8:04 would give him a chance to score in the AAC Championships.

Sr. Hayden Bugner, after no-heighting at the KU-KSU-WSU triangular got back into action with a jump of 16-4.75. I think Hayden has a little more in him but a jump in that neighborhood should score in the AAC Championships.

Seniors Corey Martens and Isaiah Evans warmed up with solid throws in the weight throw finishing 2nd and 3rd. Not their best efforts of the season but currently Corey sits #1 and Isaiah #3 on this year's AAC performance list. I'm sure Coach Rainbolt is counting on strong performances from these guys in he AAC Championship.

Now the Shocks have about a week to fine tune and get as healthy as possible heading into the AAC Championships.

I'm sure Coach 'Bolt will probably have an outlook the the Shocker chances in the AC Championships sometime between now and then.