2021-22 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

Palen Named AAC Field Athlete of the Week

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/4/12/track-and-field-palen-named-aac-field-athlete-of-the-week.aspx

The American Athletic Conference named Wichita State's Brady Palen the outdoor field athlete of the week following his high jump win Saturday at the KT Woodman Classic.

Palen cleared a personal-best height of 2.18m/7-1.75 to enter the NCAA rankings at No. 8, the second-highest bar in the AAC, just one centimeter behind indoor conference champion Romaine Beckford of South Florida.

[1972Shocker]

RH: Podcast with Michael Bryan of Track and Field

https://wichitastate.tv/podcast/roun...ack-and-field/

Bryan, his coaches say, is in a "committed, full-time relationship" with the hammer throw.

Hammer thrower Michael Bryan, a two-time NCAA All-American, joins the podcast to talk about his path from lightly recruited high school football player to Wichita State record-holder. He discusses how his love for the hammer grew into a research project and why a school-closing snow storm won’t keep him from throwing outdoors in January. He breaks down the “jar of pennies” philosophy that guides his school and training and the music of Sam Cooke helps him during practices.

Post Listen Comment: What an interesting story this young man has. Largely self made seems like. Coming out of high school he had one offer to play football at an NAIA school and no offers for track & field. Wasn't really all that outstanding at Hutch CC. Improved quite a bit during a redshirt year at WSU and then has blossomed into and All-American over the past two years. He is not trying to peak for the AAC Championships. He think he can win that without being at his peak (although Memphis has a good hammer thrower). His plan is to peak for the NCAA Championship and he thinks he has a chance to win it. His best throw this year is 70.33m/230.9. He hopes to hit 73 to 74 meters at the NCAA Tournament. That is 240+ feet. Right now the best throw in the nation is 235-5.

Lack of focus will apparently not be an issue.

[1972Shocker]

Adam Moore ran a new personal best in the 1500m run at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa. CA pm Friday clocking in with a time of 3:42.92 which edges him ahead of Zack Penrod into 3rd place all-time in the Shocker record book.

Adam's mark is 0.21 seconds behind 2nd place Girtz Azis and 1.92 seconds behind Shocker record holder Einars Tupuritis in the Shocker record book.

His time is 0.27 seconds behind Cincinnati's Tyler Wirth on this season AAC performance chart and roughly 5 seconds ahead of the 3rd best mark in the AAC this season at this point.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers At John Jacobs Invitational in Norman, Oklahoma - April 22nd and 23rd

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/4/2...in-norman.aspx

I assume the weather conditions in the OKC area were similar to what we have had in Wichita the last couple of days which, due to the high winds, were not good. How much those conditions may have helped or hindered specific events is hard to tell. Hopefully, by the time the AAC Championships get to Wichita in 3 weeks things will have settle down a bit.

The highlights for the Shocker men included Michael Bryan's fourth win of the outdoor season with a throw of 68.53m/224-20 in the hammer winning over throwers from OU and K-State.

In the javelin throw, Taran Taylor and Davis Dubbert threw season bests to take first (69.41m/227-8) and third (61.75m/202-7), respectively. Taylor remains atop the American Athletic Conference performance charts and Dubbert is 3rd. Taylor currently ranks 25^th in the nation in the event. Good to see Taran continuing his comeback from elbow surgery.

Freshman Ridge Estes recorded a personal-best throw of 15.86m/52-0.5 in the shot put to take seventh in the event. That mark would be borderline for scoring in the AAC Championship. But does show that Ridge is progressing.

Two Shocker discus throwers also climbed the all-time list with freshman Matt Everett claiming the seventh spot all-time at WSU with a second-place throw of 55.23m/181-2 and Estes placing third with a toss of 54.17m/177-8 to move up a spot to ninth all-time at WSU. Everett and Estes now rank second and third, respectively, in the AAC.

Michael Bryan's performance was routine for him. Good to see two of the freshman performing so well early in their careers.

[1972Shocker]

At the Drake Relays Distance Carnival tonight Clayton Duchatschek set a new PB in the 3000m steeplechase running the race in 8:56.89. That moves him up one spot to #8 all-time at WSU. He has the 3rd best time in the AAC this year at this point and is only 0.1 seconds behind the #2 AAC time.

In the 5k, Ben Flowers, who had not finished a race since he ran a 10k in Eugene 4 weeks ago ran a big PR of 14:17.94 beating is previous best time in last year's AAC Championship by 8 seconds. That moves him into the Shocker All-Time Top 10 at #6. Trey Rios was close behind at 14:19.26 also setting a new personal best set in last year's AAC Championship by 8 seconds. Trey slots in right behind Ben at #7 on the All-Time list. Those two marks are 4th and 5th best in the AAC this year.

[The Mad Hatter]

It is the top of the 2nd inning and the Shockers have already hit 7 homeruns in the game, including 2 by Addie in her 2 at bats.

[SubGod22]

Holy Barnard

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State is hosting the Shocker Open on Friday. This is the final action for the Shockers before next weeks AAC Outdoor Championship at Cessan Stadium next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Looking at the start list I am not exactly sure why they call this an Open. Other than Wichita State and State Fair CC (Sedalia, MO) there are only a few athletes from Oklahoma State and SE Missouri State and may 20 the athletes form post-collegiate track clubs and a few unaffiliated individuals. So I think, for the Shockers anyway, this is just a fine tuning for the AAC Championships next week and is close to just being an intra-squad meet. Job #1 will be to not get anyone hurt.

It does make for some oddities in the schedule. For example, in the men's 800 there are 8 runners on the start list. 6 from State Fair CC and 2 unaffiliated runners. The men's 5k has only 2 runners entered. The men's 110 hurdles has only 3 entrants, all Shockers and the men's 400 hurdles has only 1 entrant, also a Shocker.

There are a couple of events that would be fun to watch for the men.

Brady Palen and Davis Dubbert are currently #2 and #4 on the AAC Performance chart. Both have cleared the 7 foot mark in the past. Scheduled for 3:30 pm.

Outside the stadium the discuss, the hammer throw and the javelin have some guys to watch.

In the discus former Shocker Cory Martens and current Shockers Matt Everett and Ridge Estes have all thrown around 180 feet. But the guy to watch will be Kord Ferguson, I might be the only person on this board who remembers this guy. Kord came to Wichita State out of Ottawa, Kansas. I remember being very excited about this big, strong guy coming to Wichita State. He won the discus at the 2014 USATF Junior Championships. For some reason, he redshirted at WSU in 2015 although he had the 3rd best discus throw and the 6th best shot put in Shocker history while competing unattached that year. Unfortunately, he transferred to (was poached by?) Alabama after the 2015 season. He finished at Alabama and was a 2-time All-American in the discus and a 3-time All-American in the shot put. Kord has thrown the discus around 217 feet this year.

In the hammer, Shocker All-America Michael Bryan will be competing. Michael's best throw this season is around 231 feet.

In the javelin, Taran Taylor and Davis Dubbert are #1 and #3 on the AAC performance charts with best marks of 228 feet and 224 feet, respectively.

The field events start at 1:30 with the Hammer Throw, Discus and Javelin Outside the stadium on the south side of Koch Arena. The Women go first in each event followed by the Men.

If you have Friday afternoon free and want to catch some pretty good throwers grab a lawn chair and head over to 21st and Hillside tomorrow.

I wonder what the over/under is on how deep the hammer will embed into the rain-soaked ground on impact.

[shoxlax]

I won the Senior Division of the Hammer Throw when I hit my finger aiming for a nail.

[1972Shocker]

I won the Senior Division of the Hammer Throw when I hit my finger aiming for a nail.

Impressive. I usually get disqualified for inappropriate language when I do that.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers will be honoring this year's seniors at the Shocker Open tomorrow.

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/5/5...cker-open.aspx

The Shocker men are graduating some pretty good athletes in Michael Bryan (weight throw/hammer throw), Davis Dubbert (high jump and javelin), Adam Moore (middle distance races) and Taran Taylor (javelin) among others. The 8 senior men have received a combined 39 AD Honor Roll awards and 20 Academic All-Conference awards with 1 more semester to go.

The Shocker women are losing Amanda Kakoulias (shot put) and Paula Garcia (sprints) among others. The 8 senior women have received a combined 49 AD Honor Roll awards and 30 Academic All-Conference awards with 1 more semester to go.

As with the Shocker softball team true STUDENT-Athletes.

Congratulations to all and thank you for your hard work and dedication in representing Shocker Nation on the field and in the classroom with skill and class..

Well done.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Open Results

Not unexpectedly Michael Bryan wins the hammer throw with a toss of 222-2. Not his best but a good solid throw.. I suspect, with the AAC Championship coming up next week that he was working more on timing and technique today as opposed to really cutting it loose.

David Dubbert won the men's high jump with a season best 6-11 placing him #3 on the AAC performance chart. Brady Balen entered the competition at 6-7 and missed all 3 attempts at that height. Hopefully, that doesn't portend an injury for a guy who as cleared 7-1.75 this season.

Kord Ferguson did win the discuss with a throw of 193-2, well below his best. Shocker teammates Matt Everett (179-0) and Ridge Estes (177-3) finished 2nd and 3rd with marks that were just slightly below their season best throws.

[1972Shocker]

2022 AAC Outdoor Championship - Friday (05/13) through Sunday (05/15) at Cessna Stadium

Hopefully the weather is as nice next weekend as it is this weekend. Live stream and replays will be available on ESPN+.

Very low expectations for the Shocker women next week. I don't think the Shocker men can win the chamipionship but I think they have a shot at 2nd or 3rd assuming they are healthy and sound (seems to allways be an iffy presumption in track and field).

I think the Shocks can score around 150 points. Here are the scores from last year's AAC Outdoor Championship:

Men’s Teams Scores
1. Houston – 221.50
2. Wichita State – 198
3. Cincinnati – 137.50
4. Tulsa – 84
5. Memphis – 73.50
6. USF – 58.50
7. East Carolina – 41

The key events to watch for the Shocks are:

Friday:
12:00 pm - Decathlon: 100m, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump, 400m (Adria Navajon, Tanner Brown)
2:30 pm - Hammer (Michael Bryan)
6:30 pm - Javelin (Taran Taylor, Davis Dubbert, Cauy Lindsey)
6:45 pm - 1500m Prelims (Adam Moore, Bryce Merriman)

Saturday:.
10;30 am - Decathlon: 110 Hurdles, Discus, Pole Vault, Javelin, 1500m (Adria Navajon, Tanner Brown)
6:15 pm - 800m Prelims (Adam Moore, Bryce Merriman)
7:45 pm - 3000m Steeplechase (Clayton Duchatschek)

Sunday:
2:30 pm - High Jump (Brady Palen, David Dubbert)
4:30 pm - Triple Jump (Dowdy Elazarig)
4:30 pm - Discus (Matt Everett, Rigde Estes)
5:00 pm - 1500m Finals (Adam Moore, Bryce Merriman)
6:05 pm - 800m Finals (Adam Moore, Bryce Merriman)

They don't make that 1500m/800m double easy.

[1972Shocker]

AAC Track & Field Championship Fan Guide

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/5/10/track-and-field-aac-track-field-championship-fan-guide.aspx

[shoxlax]

$14.00 for a three day pass is almost free.