2023-2024 Men's XC and T&F

[1972Shocker]

[shoxlax]

I guess Bolt gets a big payday come 1 June

[WuDrWu]

Steve’s done a fantastic job adapting over the years. I’ve always enjoyed my interactions with Bolt.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Men Qualify Five to NCAA West Preliminaries

Wichita State men's track and field will send five student-athletes to the First Round of the NCAA Championships May 22-25 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Ranking in the top 48 of declared athletes in the NCAA West Region earns athletes an entry to the NCAA West Preliminaries where they will compete to place in the top 12 to advance to the NCAA Championships (June 5-8).

Brady Palen will compete in the high jump for the second-straight year after he advanced from the prelims to the NCAA Championship in 2023.

Jason Parrish and Bryan Haney will both race in the 400-meter hurdles, Haney's second-straight NCAA West Prelims appearance. The duo will race in the first round on Wednesday, May 22, and the top 24 from the first round will move on to Friday's quarterfinals.

Josh Parrish and Joseph Holthusen qualified in the 110-meter hurdles, Holthusen's first time back at the regional meet since 2019. Josh Parrish will also compete in the long jump.

As of now this is where the Shockers sit on the performance charts in the West Region (note there may be a few athletes ahead of them that have not declared in that event. So there actual rank in the declared filed could by a little higher):

Sr. Brady Palen - High Jump: 3-Way Tie for 7th (7-2.5)
Fr. Jason Parrish - 400m Hurdles: 28th (51.21)
So. Bryan Haney - 400m Hurdles 37th (51.50)
Sr. Joseph Holthusen - 110m Hurdles: 49th (13.91)
Fr. Josh Parrish - 110m Hurdles: 35th (13.82)
Fr. Josh Parrish - Long Jump: 9th (26-0.75)

Looks Brady and Josh have the best chance to advance to Eugene. However, Josh's qualifying jump was a bit of an outlier for him but it does show that he has it in him. Whether he can catch lighting in a bottle again remains to be seen. In any case, this will be great experience for the 2 freshman and the 1 sophomore.


ROAD TO EUGENE

The NCAA Division I Championships will take place June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore. at Hayward Field. This year for the west region, the road to Eugene goes through Fayetteville, Ark., where the top 48 individual athletes and the top 24 relays in the region will compete at the NCAA West Preliminaries (NCAA First Round) May 22-25 for a spot at the NCAA Championships. The top 12 in each event advance to the championship. Combined event athletes (heptathlon and decathlon) do not attend the First Rounds, but instead, the top 24 athletes overall advance directly to the NCAA Championship in Eugene.

[1972Shocker]

Neither Josh Parrish nor Joseph Holthusen were able to qualify for the second round in the 110m hurdles. The top 24 in today's round of 48 move on to the West region finals on Friday where the top 12 finishers will move on to Eugene. It took a 13.77 to qualify for Friday's finals. Joseph clocked in at 13.94 to finish in 31st as the lightly recruited young man from Bishop Carroll finished off his stellar Shocker career. Josh finished 39th in 14.22 as he was a little off his game today, but I have a feeling the freshman will be back for a few more shots at getting to the NCAA Championships.

Josh has moved over to the Long Jump pits to see what he can do there. There are 4 flights and Josh is jumping in the 4th flight. The first 2 flights have finished (3 attempts each). It will take a really good effort to finish in the top 12 and move on to Eugene.

Update: Josh did not have his best stuff today as he finished in 37th with a jump of 23-10.75. He will be back.

Jason Parrish and Bryan Haney will be running in the prelims of the 400m hurdles schedule for 8:20 pm this evening.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

The last of the Shocker men to compete in the West Region meet is Brady Palen in the High Jump. The high jump is scheduled to start at 12:25 pm today. The 48 competitors will be split into 2 flights with Brady jumping 14th in Flight 1. I think that Arkansas has to high jump pits so the 2 flights can be held simultaneously. Top 12 advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Brady has a shot but will have to be on his game.

Here is a link to the live stats: https://flashresults.ncaa.com/Outdoo...t/013-1-01.htm

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Brady cleared 7-1.25 before missing at 7-2.5 on all 3 attempts. There are 6 guys who have cleared 7-2.5 and are still jumping. There were 6 other guys in addition to Brady who cleared 7-1.25. So, based on number of misses one of those 7 guys will not qualify to move on to Eugene.

After factoring in misses Brady will finish in 10th place and he will be heading on to Eugene. Arkansas' Kevin O'Reilly ended up as the odd man out among the 7 guys who cleared 7-1.25 placing 13th after misses where factored in.

So Brady qualifies, pretty much by the skin of his teeth, but all that really counts is he made it and will start with a clean slate on Eugene.

Nice way for Brady to cap off his Shocker career. Let's hope he can top that in his finale at Eugene.

[1972Shocker]

Brady Palen Set for NCAA Championships

Brady Palen will compete in his second-straight NCAA Outdoor Championship high jump competition after earning honorable mention All-American recognition with an 18^th-place performance in 2023. He enters the competition tied for the No. 9 seed with his season-best clearance of 2.20m/7'2.5". The senior from Beloit, Kan. is already an indoor First Team All-American in the event, placing seventh in 2023 and seeks a high finish in his senior outdoor season. Palen is the second male Shocker to earn back-to-back trips to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the high jump. Palen jumps on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. PT).

Friday
Brady Palen – High Jump – 7:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. PT).

The meet will be streamed on ESPN2 on Thursday and Friday and ESPN on Saturday. Live results will be available on Flash Results.

[1972Shocker]

Brady finished in a 4-way tie for 7th place at 7-1.5. With misses factored in he ended up 8th to earn 1st Team All-American honors to go along with his 2023 indoor high jump 1st Team All-American honors.

The pride of Beloit, Kansas indeed.

[Kung Wu]

Brady finished in a 4-way tie for 7th place at 7-1.5. With misses factored in he ended up 8th to earn 1st Team All-American honors to go along with his 2023 indoor high jump 1st Team All-American honors.

The pride of Beloit, Kansas indeed.

Outstanding!

[Kung Wu]

They need to have a video of Quincy Ballard standing their like Jake White and then have Palen come sprinting from off screen and jump over him.

[SubGod22]

Mentioned by Shoxlax in another thread

Looks like a thick dude

[1972Shocker]

Huelskamp, a senior transfer from Abilene Christian, does fill a need even if for only 1 year. His personal bests would have placed him 4th in the AAC in the shot put and weight throw indoors and 7th in the shot put and 4th in the discus outdoors.

Hopefully, Ridge Estes will be back in action for the Shocks next year as well.

[shoxlax]

We just signed the Missouri State HJ champ-7’1” last month. Elite is an understatement.

24’4” long jumper as well.

[1972Shocker]

We just signed the Missouri State HJ champ-7’1” last month. Elite is an understatement.

24’4” long jumper as well.

That is a terrific signing.

Brady Palen's personal best in high school was 6-10.5 in the high jump for comparison. Brady is jumping this evening at 7:00pm CDT at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Josh Parrish's personal best in high school in the long jump was 24-1 and in the triple jump it was 47-11 In addition, to his 24-4 long jump noted by shoxlax Darius has a best of 46-7 in the triple jump.

Probably need to be 50+ in the TJ to be in scoring contention in the AAC and 53+ to be in contention for the top spot. But Darius is already at a level that he can compete at the top of the AAC in the high jump and his 24-4 would probably score points in the long jump. It will be interesting to see how they use his as a Shocker but I suspect we will see him jumping both vertical and horizontal.