2018-19 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

RH: Podcast Previewing AAC Indoor Track with John Wise

Assistant Director of Track and Field John Wise previews the 2018-19 AAC Indoor Track & Filed Championships at the outstanding Crossplex facility (where the NCAA Indoors are held) in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wise on the men's form chart:

"Houston is truly remarkable right now. They're a team that's battling for a national title right now. They've got this great, great group of sprinters. On paper, they'll be a heavy favorite. After that, if you look at it, us and UConn are very similar. They're very well-balanced, maybe a little bit towards the distance areas. They've got athletes everywhere. We're pretty much even, on paper."

Link to the 40 minute podcast: https://wichitastate.tv/podcast/roun...ith-john-wise/

I thought it was a very informative podcast. Worth the listen when you have some time.

[WstateU]

The question about the score board in Cessna Stadium was asked in another thread and this answers it... I can't recall what thread or who asked it?

"Wise on preparations for the American Athletic Conference outdoor meet at Cessna Stadium in May: "We have a new track, we have new surface. New javelin runway. New throwing areas. We're putting in a new scoreboard. It's going to be a video-board in there, like you would see at the baseball game or inside Koch Arena. That will enhance the viewing of the meet with results and with video and replays.""

Oops, looks like you already covered it in the "Wichita State Poised For Massive Growth" tread. Thanks!

[1972Shocker]

BTW, the AAC Indoor Championships are this Friday and Satruday.

Here is a link to the AAC Championship Sites:

http://theamerican.org/news/2019/2/19/indoor-track-field-american-athletic-conference-2019-indoor-track-and-field-championships-begin-friday.aspx

http://theamerican.org/sports/2018/12/19/2019ITFChampCentral.aspx?id=359&

Looks like video will be available on the American Digital Network.

[1972Shocker]

I would say the City of Birmingham hit a home run when they built the Crossplex facility.

http://www.birminghamcrossplex.com/

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x88891dda38a809db%3A0x92577ebc5f92da90!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.bscsports.net%2Ffacilities%2FCrossPlex%2FCrossPlex!5sbirmingham%20crossplex%20-%20Google%20Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPA55018hONeKb4Koe8jRaQjphzWARuT5PF8h8x&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGgID4j8vgAhVGDq0KHf3VDI8QoiowDXoECAYQBg

[ShockTalk]

Quite the layout!

[1972Shocker]

GoShockers.com Meet Notes and Links for this weekends AAC Indoor Championship

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/2/21/track-and-field-shockers-travel-to-alabama-for-aac-championships.aspx

The Shockers enter 32 men and 32 women in the two-day competition at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Action begins Friday, Feb. 22 at 9:00 a.m., with the women's pentathlon, followed by the start of the men's heptathlon at 11:00 a.m.

Live results will be streamed through xpresstiming.com and posted on the official @GoShockersTFXC twitter page. A live video stream will be produced by The American and streamed on Facebook Live.

THE SHOCKERS

Wichita State returns six all-conference members from the 2018 season including, Zack Penrod (mile), Jared Belardo (long jump), Nathan Wickoren(DMR), Ben Johnson (heptathlon), Rayvon Allen (long jump) and Hayden Bugner (pole vault). The top 3 finishers in each event earn All-Conference Honors.

Belardo and Penrod each won American Indoor titles in 2018. Penrod ended a three-year Tulsa mile title run after winning the race with a time of 4:11.90. Belardo won the long jump with a mark of 7.70m/25-3.25, the only athlete in the competition to record a jump over 25-feet.

According to the USTFCCCA conference rankings, the Shocker men are predicted to finish third. Last year the Shocker men's team placed third with 103 points.

The Shocker men enter the competition with 24 marks on the top-10 of The American performance lists. Cory Martens is the lone Shocker man with a top ranking in the conference Martens is No. 1 in the weight throw (19.76m/64-10).

THE MEN'S FIELD

No. 4 Houston is the heavy favorite heading into the competition, the Cougars are looking to win their fifth consecutive American indoor title. Houston has a core of four All-Americans and 28 returners that currently have 36 marks on the top-10 American Athletic Conference performance list. The Cougars are heavy in the sprints and have won the 60m dash in each of the conference's championships. Two-time 60m hurdle champion Amere Lattin returns for a senior season and enters the event with a conference leading time of 7.73.

UConn is picked to finish second. The Huskies enter a well-rounded team that currently has eight marks ranking in the top-3 on the conference performance list. Michael McGonnigle has recorded the conference's fastest 3000m (8:09.53), followed by teammate Patrick Begley with the third fastest (8:13.12). The Huskies have also recorded the fastest DMR time of 9:54.42. Malik Snead is one of two triple jumpers in the conference to record a mark over 51-feet, Snead recorded a season best mark of 15.78m/51-9.25 on Feb. 1.

I have been pretty impressed with the way the Shockers have competed in the AAC so far. The AAC would appear to have much more breadth and quality depth than the Shockers faced in the MVC. Houston in particular is loaded as they are in the hunt for a team national championship this year.

[1972Shocker]

As usual the AAC Indoor meet will open with the multi-events. On the men's side there are 9 heptathlon entrants listed on the heat sheets. Of those 5 are Shockers, 2 are Cincy Bearcats, 1 is a Houston Cougar and 1 is UConn Husky. Of further interest among these 9 entrants is that only 6 of them have recorded a heptathlon score this season. Among the 3 who have not yet completed a heptathlon are the Shockers' 2 best multi-event athletes. Sr. Ben Johnson and R-So. Jake Horsch. I don't know if that is by design or if it is due to some injury or health issues. It is a little unusual.

Ben has the 5th best heptathlon score in Shocker history at 5,615 points and he is capable of qualifying for the NCAA National Championships with a big score. The top score recorded by an AAC athlete this season so far is 4,952 points, however, last year's AAC heptathlon champion Nathaniel Mechler of Houston has a top score of 4,786 points this year but he won the AAC heptathlon last year with a score of 5,703 points so I suspect he is slow playing things as well and he is probably the favorite. Not sure the AAC peformance charts mean much in this event.

Ben was 2nd last year with 5,527 points Jake was 4th with 5,161. Hopefully, both guys are ready to go physically and mentally. If all the Shocker entered are healthy the Shocks should be able to score as much as 20 points in this event although perhaps that is a bit optimistic.

[1972Shocker]

On Tap for the Men Today - Day 1 of the AAC Championships:

Heptathlon: 1st 4 events staring with the 60m dash (11:00 am), followed by the long jump (11:45 am), shot put (1:00 pm) and high jump (3:20 pm). This is an important event. Shocks need to do do well in this event. Need to get off to a good start.

Pole Vault (12:00 pm): Sr. Hayden Bugner season best of 16-6.75), Fr. Slayde Little (16-0.75) and Fr. Bryce Bearden (15-11.25) have the potential to score for the Shocks. This event will take quite awhile to complete.

Weight Throw (2:15 pm): A lot of good throwers in the AAC. Sr. Corey Martens (64-10) is the top seed and fellow Sr. Isaiah, the big Asian, Evans (63-11.5). We need both these guys to live up to there seeds but it won't be easy.

5,000m Run (3:55 pm): Shocks unlikely to score in this event.

Long Jump (4:00 pm); Sr. Jared Belardo (24-3.5) and Super Soph Rayvon Allen (24-11) both have good chances to sore if healthy in what looks to be a very competitive field. Sr. Ksden Griffin (24-1) might be able to sneak into the top 8 for a point or 2.

Distance Medley (5:20 pm): I believe the legs are 1200m - 400m - 800m - 1600m. The Shocks have the 2nd fastest time this season behind UConn. But a lot of things can go wrong in a relay race. Not sure who will be running for the Shocks.

With the exception of the heptathlon, which carries over to Saturday, for the final 3 events, these are the events that will produce scores on Day 1.

Most of the other events today are running prelims to determine who will be in the finals of those vents on Saturday:

Mile Run Prelims (12:40 pm); An important race for the Shockers. 2 heats. Top 3 finishers in each heat plus next 6 fastest times advance to the finals. Shocker seniors Zack Penrod and Nathan Wickoren are the top 2 seeds and we need them to advance. Jr. Reno Law and Fr. Jed Helker will join Wickoren in heat 1 and they have chance to advance. Hopefully, that will prove to be the faster of the two heats. Zack is in heat 2.

400m Dash Prelims (1:10 pm): 4 heats. 8 fastest times advance to the finals. Houston has the top 4 times in the AAC this year. Shocker Jr. Austin Corley might be able to sneak into 8th palce for a point but it will take a great race from him. Austin's best event is the 400m hurdles.

60m Hurdles Prelims (1:45 pm); The 3 heat winners plus 5 next fastest times advance to the finals. Houston and Cincy appear to be the top guns in this event. Shocker Fr. Joseph Holthusen out of Bishop Carroll has had a really good 1 st year and is the 6th seed. Shocker Sr. Ben Johnson will interrupt his heptathlon competition to compete in this event as well. A really good race from Ben he might sneek into the finals.

60m Dash Prelims (2:05 pm): The 3 heat winners plus 5 next fastest times advance to the finals. Houston and Memphis will dominate. I don't expect a Shocker to make the finals.

800m Run Prelims (2:45 pm); The 2 heat winners plus the 4 next fastest times advance to the finals. Unlikely that the Shocks will advance anyone in this race. Zack Penrod is the only Shocker entered and he is running in the mile 2 hours before this race.

200m Dash Pelims (3:15 pm); 5 heats. 8 fastest times advance to the finals. Against Houston and Memphis will dominate. I don't expect a Shocker to make the finals although it will be interesting to see what So. Rayvon Allen does when pushed by this level of competition. Main thing is we don't want Rayvon to pull a muscle as the long jump and triple jump are his specialties.

For those of you new to collegiate track and field. The top 8 finishers in each event score points on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale. With the exception of the mile any athletes who advance to the finals form the prelims listed above is guaranteed to score even if they have to walk the race in the finals which I have seen before.

Here is the link to the AAC Indoor Performance List if your interested: https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/2389.html

[1972Shocker]

Heptathlon - Day 1 Results:

60m Dash - Houston's Nathaniel Mechler off to a good start winning in 7.07 for 858 points. Shockers Ben Johnson (7.13 = 837), Jake Horsch (7.21 = 809) and Grant Downes (7.29 = 782) followed in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Ben equaled his PR in this event.

Long Jump - Ben matches his PR for he 2nd straight event finishing 2nd in the long jump at 22-9.25 good for 799 points. Jake finishes 4th jumping 22-025, which is a new indoor best for him, good for 746 points.

After 2 events Ben is still 2nd with 1,636 points which is 17 points behind the leader Mechler of Houston. Jake is in 4th place with 1,555 points.

Shot Put: Ben wins the event with a new PR of 47-1 good for 750 points and Jake is 3rd also with a PR of 41-10.75 good for 644 points.

After 3 events Ben moves into 1st place overall with 2,386 points followed by Mechler at 2,332 points and Jake holds on to 4th place with 2,234 points

High Jump: Shocker Freshman Davis Dubbert finishes 2nd in the high jump at 6-5.5. Ben matched that mark good for 785 points. Jake could only clear 6-0 for 653 points.

After 4 events and at the end of day 1 Ben leads the way with 3,171 over Houston's Mechler at 3,011. Jake falls to 5th at 2,861 points. Davis, Lucas Shaffer and Grant Downs are in 7th, 8th and 9th and don't appear to be factors except that they will pick of 3 points for 7th and 8th place if they can finish the 3 events tomorrow.

Tomorrow the guys finish up with the 60 hurdles, the pole vault and the 1,000m run. Ben is generally good in the 60 hurdles and so-so in the pole vault and the 1,000m run. Jake is pretty good in the 60 hurles, below average in the pole vault and an absolute stud in the 1,000m run. If Jake can just stay within shouting distance going into the 1,000m run he can make a late move.

[1972Shocker]

Results of Prelims:

1 Mile Run: All 4 Shockers entered in the mile run have qualifed for the 12-man finals on Saturday. Zack Penrod, Hathan Wickoren, Reno Law and Jed Helker all through to the final.

60m Hurdles: Shocker Fr. Joseph Holthusen (I don;t know if he goes by Joe or not) did qualify for the 8-man finals running an 8:16 which was the 5th fastest time. Sr. Ben Johnson interrupted his heptathlon competition and ran a solid 8.26 which, unfortunately was 0.02 seconds out of the final qualifying spot. Wehn you see Joseph line up with these other athletes you scratch your head and say what is that short, unathletic looking white kid doing there. Then the the gun goes off and you say 'Oh, I see'.

800m Run: Shocker Zack Penrod who had the 16th fastest time coming into to the meet must have sandbagged the field as he qualifies for the finals with a new PR and the fastest qualifying time of 1:50.50. Hope he has enough in his tank for tomorrow's mile/800m double.

200m Dash: As I mentioned above I did'nt think Rayvon Allen had much of chance to score in this event and I just didn't want him to get hurt. Not sure at all but I did not like the way he pulled up at the end of his race. Not sure if he tweaked a hamstring or not. Hope not.

[WuDrWu]

'72.is that 3 or 4 Shockers in the finals of the 1 mile run?

[1972Shocker]

Yah, that is 4. I wasn't planning on advanced math being involved.

[1972Shocker]

Event Finals Results - Friday:

Pole Vault: Sr. Hayden Bugner earns All-Conference with a 16-6 pole vault good for 2nd place and 8 points. There was a 6-way tie for the 7th best height including the 2 Shocker freshman Slayde Little and Bryce Beardan but when ordered by fewest misses Slayde and Bryce finished tied for 10th just outside the scoring.

35lb Weight Throw: Shocker senior Casey Martens finished 2nd with a PR of 65-6.25 to earn AAC All-Conference honors for the grad transfer from D-II Chadron State. Fellow Sr. Isaiah Evans finished 6th with a throw of 61-11.25. 11 points is perhaps a bit below expectations but this was a pretty tightly packed field coming in so I think the Shocks will gladly take the 11 points.

Long Jump: Whew! My fears of Rayvon tweaking his hamstring were thankfully unfounded. Rayton finishes 2nd at 24-10 and Jared Belardo finishes 3rd at 24-6.5 as they both earn AAC All-Conference honors. Senior Kayden Griffin contributed 6th place points with a jump of 23-7.75 as the Shocks accumulate a very solid 17 points in this event.

Distance Medley Relay: Looked to me like the Shocker runner on the 400m 2nd leg and to slow down but he was able to finish but the Shocks who were 1st after a strong 1,200 by Fr. Jed Helker were well back after the 400m 2nd leg. Did not make up any ground on the 800m 3rd leg and I think were in 7th. Ben Flowers made a valiant effort on the final 1600m leg and actually took the lead late but ran out of gas on the final lap and finished 5th in a very competitive race.

[1972Shocker]

With 5 event scored on Friday the Shocker men finish day one with 40 points to hold the lead with 12 events to score on Saturday including all the sprints where Houston will dominate and rack up big points.

At the end of Day 1 the scores are:

Wichita State 40
Tulsa 34
Cincinatti 32.5
Memphis 27.5
USF 18.5
Houston 17
UConn 16
ECU 10

SMU, UCF, Temple and Tulane do not field Men's Track & Field teams. No doubt a victim of Title IX.

[1972Shocker]

Heptathlon - Day 2 Results

60m Hurdles - Shocker Sr. Ben Johnson picks up the win with a very solid 8.23 time for 925 points. Houston's Nathaniel Mechler is 2nd in 8.40 for 884 points. Shocker So. Jake Horsch ran a 4.60 for 836 points.

Pole Vault - Ben picks up another win with a vault of 15-5 for 819 points. Mechler is 2nd at 15-1 for 790 points. Jack vaulted 14-5.25 for 731 points.

After 6 events and with 1 event to go, the 1,000m run, Ben is in first with 4,915 points and leads by 230 points over Mechler at 4,685. Jake is 4th with 4,428 points and is 142 points behind Cincy's Damien Berthenet who is at 4,570 points.

Mechler looks to be about 10 seconds faster in the 1,000 than Ben is but he would have to beat Ben by about 25 seconds to overtake him in the overall standings. I have not idea what Berthenet is capable of in this race but Jake was very good at this distance as a freshman. Jake would have to beat Bethenet by about 13 seconds to move past him in the overall standings. The would be big because it would be worth 2 points vs Cincy.

1,000m Run: Running to form Jake Horsch picks up an easy win with a time of 2:36.74 good for a whopping form and more than enough to overcome Cincy's Berthenet who ran 2:57.11 for 693 points as Jake moves into 3rd place. More importantly Ben Johnson's 2:47.7 good for 790 points was more than good enough to maintian his hold on 1st and he is the 2019 AAC Heptathlon Champion.

Final Totals: Ben totaled 5,705 points which is a new AAC Indoor Championship record (eclipsing the record set by Nathaniel Mechler last year by a slim 2 points) and, hopefully, a good enough to qualify Ben for the NCAA National Championships. So. Jake Horsch, perhaps the Shockers next great multi-event athlete, finished a strong 3rd with a new PR of 5,338 points. Ben's score move him into 2nd place on the all-time Shocker list behind his former teammate Hunter Veith. Jake's score is just outside the Shocker top 10 list. Freshman Davis Dubbert with 4,525 points and So. Lucas Shaffer with 4,350 points picked up 7th and 8th place points.

Most importantly the Shockers pick up a very important 19 points for the Shocker team total.

[1972Shocker]

Event Finals Results - Saturday

Mile Run: Shocker Zack Penrod pulls out an win with a somewhat slow time of 4:16.58. You only have to be faster than the other 11 guys and you pick up 10 points. No extra points for running faster. Nathan Wickoren finished 5th in 18:18 for 4 points and Fr. Jed Helker finished 7th at 4:19.53 for 2 points as the Shockers collect 16 points in this event.

60 Hurdles: Shocker true freshman Joseph Holthusen finished 6th with a very good time of 8.12 to pick up a big 3 points matching the 2 UConn runners in the race who finished 7th and 8th. Winning any points in the sprint races in the AAC is an accomplishment. Looking forward to see how far Joe can go in his career.

High Jump: R-Jr. via Buttler CC Mason Buckmaster finished 7th with a jump of 6-9.5 to add 2 points to the Shocker effort.

Shot Put: D-II grad transfer Corey Martens set a new PR with a put of 53-7.75 which he needed to sneak into the scoring column in 8th place but every point counts and this is one that was pretty iffy coming in as Corey was seeded 10th.

800m Run: Zack pretty much ran the same time as he did in qualifying 1st but that was only good enough for 3rd place in the finals. But that is still good for 6 points and additional All-Conference honors for Zack.

Triple Jump: Sr. Jared Belardo picks up All-Conference honors with a TJ of 51-1.5 good for 2nd place. Sr. Kaden Griffin dented the scoreboard with a 49-0.25 for 5th place and So. Rayvon Allen finished 7th with a jump of 48-3.25. Rayvon apparently had an injury as this jump was his 1st. He passed on his 2nd and 3rd jumps, fouled on his 4th jump and passed again on his 5th and 6th jumps. That no doubt cost the Shockers a few points. Still the Shockers pick up 14 points in this event.

4x400 Relay: Houston just does edge Memphis for 1st. And the Shocks take 3rd so Memphis picks up 2 points on the Shocks. I think they needed to overtake the Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

Team Scores: As expected Houston is pulling away and they currently sit at 149.5 points. The Shocks are 2nd at 101, Memphis is at 91 and Cincy at 86. I think the only things remaining are the 3k and the 4x400. 2nd place may come down to the the 4x400.

Memphis cuts the Shocker lead to 101-98 with the 4x400 remaining. Cincy is at 94.

And the Final Scores are:

Houston - 159.5
Wichita State - 107
Memphis - 106
Cincinnati - 95
Tulsa - 77
UConn - 76
USF - 25.5
ECU - 17

Terrific showing by the Shocker men. No one was going to challenge Houston this year. BTW, both the winners and the runners-up get a trophy so the Shocker men bring home their first AAC trophy.

[1972Shocker]

Ben Johnson's 5,705 point heptathlon total puts him at #8 nationally and does, in fact, qualify him for the NCAA Indoor Championship back at the Birmingham Crossplex on March 8-9.

[1972Shocker]

AAC Men's Indoor Highlights for Day 2 including Shockers Ben Johnson & Jake Horsch in the hepthatlon, Zack Penrod in the mile and 800, and true freshman Joseph Holthusen in the 60 hurdles. Be sure to check out the final highlight of the 4x400. If Memphis had been able to overcome Houston for the win the Tigers would have edged the Shockers 108-107 for second place overall. But with Houston holding on to win that final event the Shockers edged out the Tigers 107-106.