2018-19 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

11 Shocker Men Qualify for NCAA West Regional

11 Shocker men qualified for the first rounds of the NCAA Championships on May 23-25, hosted by Sacramento State University. Athletes were required to record a top-48 regional mark in their respective event to qualify for the NCAA West Regional.

Athletes that place in the top-12 advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, on June 5-8. An equal number of qualifiers will come out of the East regional being held in Jacksonville, Florida.

Senior Aaron True enters with the top javelin mark in the West Regional with a season best throw of 75.33m/247-2. Rayvon Allen is the only other Shocker to enter the meet ranked in the top-12, Allen ranks No. 10 in long jump with a season best leap of 7.75m/25-5.25.

Senior Ben Johnson earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, on June 5-8. The top-24 marks in the decathlon earn automatic bids, Johnson ranks No. 18 in the nation.

Men's Qualifiers
Zack Penrod – 1500m
Joseph Holthusen – 110m Hurdles
Austin Corley – 400m Hurdles
Mason Buckmaster – High Jump
Hayden Bugner – Pole Vault
Rayvon Allen – Long Jump, Triple Jump
Jared Belardo – Triple Jump
Kaden Griffin – Triple Jump
Cory Martens – Shot Put, Hammer Throw, Discus Throw
Aaron True – Javelin
Jeff Ast – Javelin

[ABC]

1972, how does this compare to past NCAA regionals?

[1972Shocker]

1972, how does this compare to past NCAA regionals?

Took a bit of digging but her are the last 5 years. The 25 athletes to the regionals in 2016 was the school record but we did not have any qualifiers for the decathlon or heptathlon. So this year's 24 athletes to the regionals plus Ben Johnson in the decathlon finals arguably ties that record.

2019: 13 men, 11 women to regional + Ben Johnson has qualified for the finals in the decathlon
2018: 10 men, 4 women to regional with Aaron True and Damien Olde advanced to the finals in the men's javelin + Hunter Veith qualified for the finals in the decathlon
2017: 11 men, 14 women to regional but no one advanced to the finals however Hunter Veith had qualified for the finals in the decathlon and Nikki Larch-Miller, Breanne Borman & Gavyn Yetter qualified for the finals in the heptathlon.
2016: 15 men, 10 women to regional with Skylar Arneson advancing to the finals in the men's hammer throw, Damien Oldle advancing in the men's javelin and Ashley Peterson in the women's high jump.
2015: 10 men, 7 women to regional with Weston Cottrell advancing in the men's hammer, Nikki Larch-Miller in the 100 hurldes, Taylor Larch-Miller in the 100m dash and the Shocker women's 4x400 relay team which included Nikki and Taylor plus Shanice Andrews and Deja Young + Nikki Larch-Miller qualified for the finals in the heptathlon.

Obviously getting athletes to the NCAA finals is a much tougher accomplishment with the goal, once they get there to earn All-American honors. 1st AA is awarded for finishing 1st through 8th in an event and 2nd team AA is awarded fro finishing 9th through 16th.

In Coach Rainbolt's previous 18 year's he has had 69 All-Americans (don't have the breakdown between 1st and 2nd team) w,,hich would cover both indoor and outdoor seasons. This year Ben Johnson became his 70th All-American with his 12th place finish in the indoor heptathlon.

I believe the Shockers have had 2 national champions in their history both on the men's side:

Harold Manning was the Shockers 1st All-American andwon the 1930 NCAA 2-mile national championship. In 1936 he made the US Olympic team in the 3,000 meter steeplechase setting the world record in the U.S. Olympic Trials. He finished 5th in the Olympics.

A native of Latvia, Einars Tupuritis was the NCAA 800m champion both indoors and outdoors in 1996,

I thought the Shocks had a great shot at another national championship in last year's decathlon with Hunter Veith but he was derailed by injury.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Men in action today at the NCAA West Region Preliminaries:

Thursday, May 23
2:00 p.m. - Cory Martens - Hammer Throw
5:30 p.m. - Rayvon Allen - Long Jump
6:30 p.m. - Hayden Bugner - Pole Vault
7:00 p.m. - Austin Corley - 400m Hurdles (First Round)
8:00 p.m. - Zack Penrod - 1500m (First Round)

:poster_shocks:

Zack Penrod along with 23 other runners qualifies for the 1500m quarterfinals on Saturday as the field of 48 is cut in half. The top 12 finishers on Saturday together with the top 12 finishers from the East Region preliminaries will advance to Austin for the NCAA Championships.

None of the othert Shocker men placed high enough to advance either to the next round or to Austin.

Rayvon Allen could only manage a long jump of 24-3.75 which is about 14 inches shy of his jump to win the AAC Champhip and finished 16th. He was about 4 inches shy of a top 12 finish needed to advance to Austin.

[1972Shocker]

Friday's Schedule

2:00 p.m. - Aaron True - Javelin
2:00 p.m. - Jeff Ast - Javelin
6:00 p.m. - Cory Martens - Discus
7:00 p.m. - Joseph Holthusen - 110m Hurdles (First Round)

The Shocker to watch today is Aaron True in the javelin.

:poster_shocks:

Aaron True finished 3rd in the javelin with a solid effort of 233-11 and he is heading back to the NCAA Championships ot close out his Shocker Career.

None of the other Shockers advanced.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker men in action on Saturday at the NCAA West Region Preliminaries:

Saturday, May 25

4:45 p.m. - Cory Martens - Shot Put
6:00 p.m. - Mason Buckmaster - High Jump
8:30 p.m. - Rayvon Allen - Triple Jump
8:30 p.m. - Jared Belardo - Triple Jump
8:30 p.m. - Kaden Griffin - Triple Jump
8:45 p.m. - Zack Penrod - 1500m (Quarterfinal)

Doesn't look like any of the Shocker men competing on Saturday will be advancing. Zack Penrod came closest finishing 13th in the 1500m run missing our on a top 12 finish and a trip to Austin by about 0.7 seconds.

Mason Buckmaster was very solid in the high jump clearing 6-11 along with 14 other guys. That was the 2nd best height but 9 guys cleared 7-1.. Mason, based on number of misses, ended up placing 22nd.

[pogo]

I’ll bet the Kansas high school track meet gets pretty well scrutinized by coach Rainbolt and staff.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers will be represented by Ben Johnson in the decathlon and by Aaron True in the javelin at the NCAA National Championships in Austin, Texas.

Aaron will compete in the javelin on Wednesday, June 5th at 6:45 pm CT.

Ben will compete in 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m run on Wednesday, June 5th beginning at 2:30 pm CT. Ben will compete in the 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500m run on Thursday beginning at 1:00 pm CT.

Looks like these events will be streamed on ESPN3. Note that schedule times are subject to possible delays and changes.

Championship Links

Broadcast Info (Times shown on this link are Eastern time).

[1972Shocker]

Quotables: Pre-NCAA: Coach Rainbolt, Ben Johnson, Aaron True and Rebekah Topham

Director of track and field Steve Rainbolt, NCAA Championships qualifiers Ben Johnson, Aaron True and Rebekah Topham, fielded questions Wednesday afternoon, on the upcoming NCAA Championships beginning June 5-8, in Austin, Texas.

Some really good responses by the student athletes I thought.

[1972Shocker]

Aaron True on The Drive on KFH on Thursday, May 30th. Aaron hoping for his Fred Sanford moment in Austin. He's hoping for The Big One.

https://kfh.radio.com/media/audio-ch...rue-connection

[1972Shocker]

Ben Johnson and Aaron True Travel to NCAA Championships

BEN JOHNSON PREVIEW
The 2018 Indoor heptathlon Second Team All-American will be making his first NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance, the Tonganoxie, Kan., native enters the meet ranked No. 17 with a personal best score of 7,413 points. Last time out Johnson won the American Athletic Conference decathlon title with a personal best of 7,413, the fourth best score in Shocker history. Day one of the men's decathlon begins Wednesday, June 5 at 2:30 p.m., while day two follows on Thursday, June 6 at 1:00 p.m. This is the third consecutive season a decathlete has qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Wednesday, June 5
Ben Johnson
2:30 p.m. – 100m (ESPN3)
3:10 p.m. – Long Jump (ESPN3)
4:25 p.m. – Shot Put (ESPN3)
5:40 p.m. – High Jump (ESPN3)
8:56 p.m. – 400m (ESPN3)

Thursday, June 6
Ben Johnson
1:00 p.m. – 110m Hurdles (ESPN3)
1:50 p.m. – Discus (ESPN3)
3:00 p.m. – Pole Vault (ESPN3)
5:30 p.m. – Javelin (ESPN3)
9:26 p.m. – 1500m (ESPN2)

AARON TRUE PREVIEW
Returning to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season, the 2018 All-American will look to better his eighth place finish from last year in Eugene. Based on the NCAA preliminaries, True enters the competition ranked No. 6 where he finished third in the NCAA West Regional with a throw of 71.30m/233-11. His season best mark of 75.33m/247-2 is ranked No. 3 on the 2019 performance list. True defended his American Athletic Conference title on May 10, winning the competition with a mark of 72.93m/239-3. The Leroy, Kan., native will be competing in the second flight Wednesday, June 5 at 6:45 p.m.

Wednesday, June 5
Ben Johnson
2:30 p.m. – 100m (ESPN3)
3:10 p.m. – Long Jump (ESPN3)
4:25 p.m. – Shot Put (ESPN3)
5:40 p.m. – High Jump (ESPN3)
8:56 p.m. – 400m (ESPN3)

Aaron True
6:45 p.m. – Javelin (ESPN3)

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State T&F/XC @GoShockersTFXC 3 hours ago
Schedule change for Wednesday's competition. #BenJohnson will begin the decathlon at 12:00 p.m., while @true_aaron will throw at around 4:45 p.m. #watchus

[1972Shocker]

Tracking Ben Johnson's Decathlon - Day 1:

Ben opens up the competition with a 10.99 in the 100m dash good for 863 points tying him for 7th place. His PR is 10.89. On to the long jump.

Watching Ben in the long jump on ESPN3. What a bunch of good looking athletes. Ben jumps 22-3 in the long jump for 762 points. That is pretty close to his outdoor PR. He has jumped 23-0.5 indoors. His 1,625 points has him in 15th place after 2 events. Up next is the shot put.

The shot put is usually a relatively good event for Ben. But as I noted above there are a bunch of stud athletes in this competition. Ben's PR in the shot put is 46-11.75. Ben starts off the shot put (1st attempt I think) with a big new PR of 48-9.5. That should hold up pretty well I would think. With that in his pocket Ben can go for broke on his last 2 puts and not have to worry about fouling or he could just pass and save the energy. Ben's PR holds up for a close 2nd place finish in the shot put and earns him 782 points. After 3 events Ben moves up to 8th place overall with 2,407 points.

The high jump is up next. Ben's PR in the high jump is 6-4.75. He will probably need to be close to that mark to keep pace. My guess is that mark is probably middle of the pack for the guys in this competition. Ben enters at 6-0 and clears that I think on his 1st attempts. Your score is determined by whatever your highest clearance is. Misses don't really have any impact as they would in a stand-alone high jump competition. Ben's over at 6-1.25. Ben's over at 6-2.25. 3 guys still have not entered. USC freshman Ayden Owens entered at 6-1.25 and no heighted Ben is over at 6-3.5. They are jumping in 2 pits and unfortunately they aren't showing the one Ben is jumping in on the ESPN3 stream. Only 6 of the 24 competitors have been eliminated at this point. Looks like Ben missed all 3 attempts at 6-4.75 and will end up with a mark of 6-3.5 along with 6 other guys good for 731 points. 8 guys remain alive. After 4 events Ben is in 9th place with 3,138 points. He is 1 point out of 8th place and 10 points our of 7th place. A long way to go yet.

Final event of Day 1 is the 400m dash. Ben's PR is 51.02 seconds. Ben set a new PR with a time of 50.48 but that was only 18th best in this elite field. Ben picks up 793 points to give him 3,931 at the end of day one which puts him in 11th place overall. Ben is 55 points out of 8th place, the cutoff for 1st team All-American honors.

[1972Shocker]

The javelin is underway. There are two flights of 12 throwers each presumably divided by seeding. The bottom 12 seeds are in Flight 1 and the to 12 seeds are in flight 2. But when you get to this level the bottom 12 seeds are still pretty good. Flight 1 is in progess. Shocker Aaron True is in Flight 2.

Looks like Flight 1 is done. Sam Hardin of Texas A&M had the best throw in Flight 1 at 232-6 which is a good mark to have on the board.

The Flight 2 group is warming up.

Aaron is currently in 5th place with a throw of 239-9. The guys in front of him include 3 Miss State atheltes with the leader throwing 284-2 to set a new meet record. The guy in 4th place from Utah State set a new school record at 242-6. Not sure how many throws they have left. I think the top 9 guys get 3 more throws.

Aaron had 2 fouls and 4 good attempts all in excess of 70 meters with his best at 73.11 meters/239-10 on his 6th attempt and finishes in 5th place nationally and earns his 2nd 1st team All-America honors. Aaron has been very consistent this year but was unable to hit the big one he was hoping for this year. The 3 Mississippi State throwers were tremendous.

One heckuva a Shocker career for the young man from Leroy, Kansas. Big kudos to Aaron

[1972Shocker]

Great story on Ben Johnson by Paul Suellentrop: RH: Ben Johnson Will Ride Off In His Chevy

[WstateU]

Reminds me of this classic, but a "Chevy Van"... those are/were great Chevy trucks... Go Ben!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFnkCIwGwiA

P.S. The video is missing a "Chevy Van, but that's alright with me." :)