2022-23 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

Ridge placed third with a throw of 60.00m/196'10"!

That blows by Ridges previous best throw of 177'9" as a freshman this past season.

That would be the 3rd best throw in Shocker history although I don't know if a mark from a USATF meet qualifies for the record book. That throw would have easily won the AAC Championship this spring as it was 12'8" beyong the 184'2" throw from his teammate Matt Everett who won the event. It would have qualifed him 7th in the NCAA West Preliminaries and would have placed him in a 5th place tie at the NCAA National Championship meet.

This a terrific throw for the sophomore to be.

BTW, Ridge is another small-town Kansas product out of the metropolis of Buckin, Kansas (Pop. 727).

[shoxlax]

Ridge placed third with a throw of 60.00m/196'10"!

That blows by Ridges previous best throw of 177'9" as a freshman this past season.

That would be the 3rd best throw in Shocker history although I don't know if a mark from a USATF meet qualifies for the record book. That throw would have easily won the AAC Championship this spring as it was 12'8" beyong the 184'2" throw from his teammate Matt Everett who won the event. It would have qualifed him 7th in the NCAA West Preliminaries and would have placed him in a 5th place tie at the NCAA National Championship meet.

This a terrific throw for the sophomore to be.

BTW, Ridge is another small-town Kansas product out of the metropolis of Buckin, Kansas (Pop. 727).

Eddie Sutton would be proud….

[pogo]

Eddie Sutton would be proud….

Well played

[1972Shocker]

Coach Hetzendorf has been on the prowl to fill the pipeline with with All-American and Shocker record holder Taran Taylor moving on. As far as I know Davis Dubbert will be back next year for his final year. Perhaps not quite at Taran's level but should be top3 in the AAC if he stays healthy. Davis is also a very good high jumper. Not a combination you see a lot at this level. If Davis, whose PR is 218-6 can find another 7 feet he will finish his career in the top 10 of both the high jump and the javelin. I think he has a legit shot at that.

In any case:

[1972Shocker]

McCormick built similarly to Taran. He has a long way to go to reach Taran's school record but would love to see him do that. Will not be easy.

Taran's personal best in high school was 186-4. McCormick's is 189-9 on his final throw in the 5A State Championship to win. Kind of similar to Taran's finish this year. Taran did get off to a strong start but elbow surgery and covid set him back, But he came back strong to finish off his career. Let's hope Blake doesn't have to deal with anything like that.

I thought he threw that one a little high but what do I know. I do know that Coach Dorf will immerse him in the mechanics and physics of the javelin to maximize his performance.

[1972Shocker]

Time was 51.13. Yuben ran a 52.07 in the AAC Outdoors this past spring for a 5th place finish. 51.13 would have been good for 2nd.

[goshox74]

They throw a smaller/lighter Discus in the USA Juniors, so it's not realy comparable to his college best. Still a great throw and just missed making it to the World Junior Championships.

Ridge placed third with a throw of 60.00m/196'10"!

That blows by Ridges previous best throw of 177'9" as a freshman this past season.

That would be the 3rd best throw in Shocker history although I don't know if a mark from a USATF meet qualifies for the record book. That throw would have easily won the AAC Championship this spring as it was 12'8" beyong the 184'2" throw from his teammate Matt Everett who won the event. It would have qualifed him 7th in the NCAA West Preliminaries and would have placed him in a 5th place tie at the NCAA National Championship meet.

This a terrific throw for the sophomore to be.

BTW, Ridge is another small-town Kansas product out of the metropolis of Buckin, Kansas (Pop. 727).

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Shocker Newcomers Hit the Ground Running

WICHITA – The Wichita State track and field team's 15 new male and 19 new female athletes logged their first practice at Cessna Stadium on Monday afternoon.

"These recruiting classes come together over time, and you don't realize until you sit in front of them in a newcomers meeting that, 'son of a gun, this is a heck of a group,' and it really is," director of track and field/cross country Steve Rainbolt said.

Of the 33 newcomers, 24 are freshmen and nine are transfers, with the majority of new athletes joining the distance and sprints/hurdles groups.

"Coach Hunter really brought in a terrific group of distance runners," Rainbolt said. "I'm super excited about that bunch."

[1972Shocker]

Go Shockers - Shocker Newcomers Hit the Ground Running

I wondered when the T&F newcomer announcement was coming. The Shocker men should be pretty good again this year although All-Americans Michael Bryan and Taran Taylor have moved on. No doubt Houston will be out for revenge, especially this being their final year in the AAC.

A Spaniard via Cowley County appears to be the top get for the men. Adrian Diaz-Lopez, a two-time NJCAA national indoor champion in the 3,000 meters and the 2021 NJCAA Division II Cross Country champion, will be a huge addition to the distance squad.

This class appears to have a quite bit more geographic diversity than a lot of Coach Rainbolt's recruiting classes. The Shockers welcome athletes from six different countries and 10 states, including 12 Kansans. In addition to the 12 Kansas kids the class includes 4 from Missouri, 3 from Colorado, 3 from Nebraska, and 1 each from Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, New York, Iowa and Texas plus one each from Spain (via Cowley County), the United Kingdom, France (via New Mexico CC), Germany and South Africa.

Coach Rainbolt noted that it was extremely valuable to be able to bring recruits to campus again after COVID-19 restricted recruiting the prior year. I also wonder if the new Student Athlete Center that now houses the track and field teams wasn't a benefit as well. And, of course, for that to be a benefit it helps to be able to get the athletes on campus.

[1972Shocker]

Nice human interest story on Ben Flower, Shocker senior distance runner:

RH: Shocker Senior Appreciates Two-Year Journey for Charting His Future

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/9/2/the-roundhouse-rh-shocker-senior-endured-two-years-of-rehab.aspx

[1972Shocker]

The Shocker men with a pretty solid performance at the JK Gold (Rustbuster) Classic.

Pretty much a Ford vs Ferrari LeMans finish as Bryce Merriman in 18:05.1, Clayton Duchatschek in 18:06.4 and Ben Flowers 18:06.5 crossed the finish line 1-2-3 almost simultaneously.

Clayton had the Shockers best time in this race last year at 18:26.7 with the top 5 Shocker finishes combining for a total time of 1:33.11. The top 5 Shockers this year had a cumulative time of 1:31.30.

"I'm just really excited about the way these guys are starting out the year," Coach Kirk Hunter said. "I was very impressed with them coming in here and doing what they did because I know the course and I know the times, and they ran fast on a muggy day on a tough course."

[SubGod22]

Just saw a tweet that shows the men's XC team is up to #4 in the regional rankings.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Men Beat Midwest Region Foes

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/9/23/cross-country-shocker-men-beat-midwest-region-foes-women-finish-17th.aspx

The Wichita State men's cross country team beat six regionally-ranked teams to finish seventh out of 17 Friday morning at the Roy Griak Invitational 8K in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The men finished ahead of all five Midwest region teams, including Minnesota (Midwest No. 9) and South Dakota State (Midwest No. 10).

Clayton Duchatschek led the way for the men with a 27^th-place finish (24:53.6) followed by Ben Flowers, who passed 27 people in the final 3,000 meters to place 33^rd (24:58.1).

Sophomore transfer from Cowley CC, Adrian Diaz-Lopez, made his Shocker debut, recording the third-best finish. He finished less than a second behind Flowers to place 34^th (24:58.8) after being the top Shocker through about 6,000 meters. Coach Hunter said he is probably at 80% fitness at this point.

Jackson Caldwell and Bryce Merriman rounded out the scoring for the Shockers, placing 69^th (25:29.3) and 76^th (25:35.5), respectively.

"We've got to close the gaps in the middle there," Hunter said. "It was such a large race that they lost contact and didn't see each other, and it just turned into one of those things where we got separated, but I was really pleased with seventh place today. It was a strong performance up here in Minnesota."

---

The Shocks combined top five times were 2:05:55.2 in their initial 8K race of the season. In last year's AAC Championship the Shocks ran 2:03.50 to finish 2nd behind perennial Champion Tulsa by 3:34. The Shocks edge Cincinnati by 49 seconds total in last year's AAC Championship. Of course times are a little hard to compare since they are greatly impacted by the course terrain and condition, weather conditions and to some degree the size of the field competing. But overall I think the team has to feel pretty good about this performance at this point in the season.

The Shockers have two weekends off before they run their final regular-season race on Friday, Oct. 14 at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois.

[1972Shocker]

In their final race before the AAC XC Championships in Tulsa on October 28th the Shocker men put in strong performance at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria. In the Men's 8-K race the Shocks finished 2 behind with 84 points just 2 points behind winner Loyola in the 35-team field.

Clayton Duchatschek ran a 44-second personal best to shatter the 8,000-meter program record as he clocked in at 23:34.8 to finish 4th individually breaking the previous Shocker 8K record of 23:54.16 by Brady Johnson in 2015. In addition, Ben Flowers also bettered the previous 8K record with his time of 23:51.4 as he came in at 15th.

Bryce Merriman at 24:01.0, Adrian Diaz-Lopez at 24:03.9 and Trey Rios at 24:05.3 finished 23rd, 28th and 30th to round out the top 5 scoring positions for the Shocks. In addition, freshman Jacoby Meyers was not too far behind finishing at 24:22.8.

The Shockers beat every team ranked ahead of them in the regional rankings, including Midwest No. 4 Illinois, Midwest No. 5 Drake and Great Lakes No. 6 Miami (Ohio).

Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Steve Rainbolt on today's performance:

"The Shocker men! Their race today was probably the best regular-season meet that we have ever had in my 23 years at Wichita State. I cannot say enough about how proud I am and happy for this men's team. These guys have had very high goals all summer and fall – heck, ever since last cross country season – and they are putting it all together at the right time. Coach Hunter, as always, is doing a masterful job of bringing (this team) to championship form. This is very exciting as we get ready for the AAC Championship."

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/10/14/cross-country-duchatschek-downs-school-record-leads-shockers-to-second-place-finish.aspx

The total time for the Shockers' top 5 was 1:59.36 which is a time that puts them in the hunt for an AAC Championship although the Tulsa men have never been beaten in an AAC XC Championship race. Who knows maybe the Shocks can pull off the upset this year.

[1972Shocker]

I was hoping the Shockers might be able to challenge Tulsa but that didn't happen as Tulsa finished at 1-2-3-8-15 = 29 points with the Shocks a distant second finishing 5-9-12-14-25 = 69 as Tulsa continues its domination of AAC XC.

I believe the top 15 runners earn All-Conference honors so congratulations to Clayton, Adrian, Ben and Trey.