2021-22 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

Coming in I had projected that the Shocker men might put up a team score of around 150. With 89 points in the bag I thing that projection still looks pretty good. If things really go well for the Shocker on Sunday they might approach 160.

I think Houstion will come in at around 195 points.

So the Shocks will be fighting for the runnerup finish. I think they will be able to do that. I see Cincy coming in at about 125 points.

[shoxlax]

Watched a bit of it today in person. Easily worth 7 bucks if you have time tomorrow. When I was there, I was distracted somewhat designing a new stadium in my head.

[1972Shocker]

According to this RH article by Paul Suellentrop the Shockers freshman AAC Decathlon Champion competed with a heel injury that hurt him, especially in his stronger jumping events making his win even more impressive than it already was.

RH: Shocker Freshman Wins Second Conference Title

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/5/1...nce-title.aspx

I think injuries are just part of the grind of track and field, especially for the multi-events. However, the Shockers seems to deal with them perhaps more than most although that is just a gut feel.

I am hoping Ryan Horn, the new head S&C Coach, can help with injury preventions and recovery. He talked a lot about that in his podcast with Suellentrop.

If Adria can stay healthy he possibly could challenge Hunter Veith as the best multi-event athlete in Shocker history.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks open up Sunday's action with pretty much what they were planning on and hoping for in the high jump. USF's Romaine Beckford, the #1 seed, won the event clearing 7-1.75 without a miss. Shocker freshman Brady Palen finish 2nd clearing 7-0.05 without a miss. Shocker junior Davis Dubbert was third. He cleaed 6-8.25 and 6-10.25 on his final of 3 attempts at each height. Chandler Stiawalt tied for 6th clearing 6-6.25 and Adria Navajon picked up the 8th place point clearing 6-4.25 denying Cincy that point. The Cincy jumper also cleared 6-4.25 but Adria had fewer misses to earn the 8th place point. So that is a total of 17.5 points for the Shocks from the high jump.

Davis Dubbert earns All-Conference honors in the javelin and in the high jump. Not a real common combination.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks have no one participating in the men's pole vault. However, things may still have gone their way. Houston had the top 2 seeds in the pole vault both with seed marks of 18-2.5. Both did not enter the competition until the bar was set at 17-1.75. One of there 2 guys cleared that on his 2nd attempt. However, the one of their guys missed all three attempts and will end up no heighting and not scoring. Houston was probably counting on 18 points in this event. Best they can do now is 10 points. Houston's Christyan Sampy, the defending pole vault champ, is unable to clear the next height and finishes 3rd giving Houston 6 points which is probably 12 points below expectations. I think the wind may have gotten to these guys.

[1972Shocker]

The running event finals have started with the 4x100 relay and Houston will start racking up the points. Coming in they had 14 points.

The Cougars win the 4x100 as expected so you can tack on 10 points for that win.

[shoxlax]

Any wind at all may affect these other schools.

[1972Shocker]

Adam Moore finishes 3rd and Bryce Merriman 7th in the 1500m to score 8 points. Houston, who had the 5th seeded runner in the race failed to score.

[1972Shocker]

The discus is a big event for the Shocks. Matt Everett and Ridge Estes need to score good points for the Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

Houston goes 1-2-3 in the 110m hurdles for 24 points. Shocker freshman Adria Navajon finishes up his very busy weekend with a 5th place finish for a nice 4 points. Very impressive meet for the Shocker freshman while dealing with a bruised heel. Adria took a pretty good tumble just after crossing the finish line so pretty sure he gave it all he had.

In he 400m dash Houston finishes 3,4 and 7 for 13 points. The Shocks JD Prinsloo finishes 6th for 3 points.

[1972Shocker]

The discus is a big event for the Shocks. Matt Everett and Ridge Estes need to score good points for the Shocks.

Sophomore Matt Everett and freshman Ridge Estes come through with a 1-2 finish for the Shocks in the dicuss. Also, senior Michael Bryan surprisingly finished 7th and senior Dae-Trell Gordon finished 8th as the Shocks collect 21 points. Michael exceeded his season best mark by about 16 feet.

BTW, great interview by the two young guys, Matt and Ridge.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers secret weapon, Yuben Goncalves (pronounced with a soft c) improved on his unexpected 4th place finish in the long jump with a 2nd place finish in the triple jump missing out on an AAC Championship by 1 inch. Dowdy Elazarig finished 6th as the Shocks added 11 points in this event. The Shockers are up to 157.5 points.

That finishes up the field events which are the strengths for the Shocks.

After the 100m dash Houston is up to 107 points edging past Cincinnati with 105 points into 2nd place.

[1972Shocker]

The 800m run is a chance for the Shocks to may a big splash in. The Shocks and Houston both have 3 runners each in the 8-man final. All the seed times are very close. So could be a wide range of results.

Houston looked like they were heading for a big result but Shocker Adam Moore who found himself boxed in closed strong to finish 2nd. Houston 1, 4 and 6 for 18 points. The Shockers finished 2nd, 5th and 8th for 13 points.

The Shocks are up to 170.5 points, nicely above my expectations of 150 to 160 points. There are still a few points out there to be had.

[shoxlax]

72, what did you project as a total for us?

[WuDrWu]

Lead is about 45 and will be down to around 20 after the 400 hurdles.