Cessna Stadium

[SubGod22]

Ah good point, it might be too early to get a sense of the seating.

I have a dear friend who has two kids competing today. But I don't think their events are until something like 1030 and 12. I could be wrong. Though knowing my friend she's there supporting every single kid from the school that made it and will spend every waking moment at the track.

I wish there was a live stream of the events. I'd love to be there to support her two kids. 5A pole vault for each of them.

[SubGod22]

Hopefully if they fill up they will let people sit on the grassy hills? That'd be kinda fun.

I believe that's the future plan for those areas so I don't see why they wouldn't.

After State, they are planning to move onto the next stage which I believe is demolishing the west side and rebuilding the stands with new and improved locker rooms and concourse. Or am I jumping ahead?

[Kung Wu]

I'm curious to see seating in a few more hours when more events have started and are ongoing.

Whoa starting to fill up now.

[ShockBand]

I believe that's the future plan for those areas so I don't see why they wouldn't.

After State, they are planning to move onto the next stage which I believe is demolishing the west side and rebuilding the stands with new and improved locker rooms and concourse. Or am I jumping ahead?

The west side demo and rebuild won't happen until after the 2026 state meet. I think next up is the east side rebuild. I can't remember if the track/soccer field rebuild, which will include the seating around the curves, is part of the east side phase, or maybe after the 2025 meet.

[Kung Wu]

Bonus: The live cam will also tell us if the zombie apocalypse has begun.

[ShockBand]

Bonus: The live cam will also tell us if the zombie apocalypse has begun.

I'm waiting for a pigeon to stick its face in the camera. The west side looks fuller than it really is. If you zoom in you can kind of tell people have empty spots around themselves for the most part. "Loose pack" for lack of a better term. When the whole thing gets redone, the biggest thing when we get to finals on Saturday will be people will be more jammed together than in the past.

[SubGod22]

I did see that a kid from Andover Central set a meet record with a pole vault of 17-3

[1972Shocker]

I did see that a kid from Andover Central set a meet record with a pole vault of 17-3

I am pretty sure you are referring to Bryce Barkdull. He will be joining his brother, Ashton, at KU this fall. I am also pretty sure that the record Ryan broke was set by Ashton last year.

Ryan and Ashton are the sons of Shocker All-Time pole vault record holder (by a lot) Ryan Barkdull who cleared a best of 18-6.5 outdoors in 1996, a full foot higher than the Shocker All-Time #2.

[Shocker82/85]

Bryce broke his own state record by 1”. He tried 17’10” to beat his personal best of 17’9”, but was unsuccessful.

I was out there this morning and everything seemed to be going well. East side set up seems to be working fine.

[Kung Wu]

I am pretty sure you are referring to Bryce Barkdull. He will be joining his brother, Ashton, at KU this fall. I am also pretty sure that the record Ryan broke was set by Ashton last year.

Ryan and Ashton are the sons of Shocker All-Time pole vault record holder (by a lot) Ryan Barkdull who cleared a best of 18-6.5 outdoors in 1996, a full foot higher than the Shocker All-Time #2.

So ... dad is a record holder at WSU and they are going to KU?

Shame and booooo Bryce and Ashton. Guess they want to party instead of become great. * sigh *

[shoxlax]

So ... dad is a record holder at WSU and they are going to KU?

Shame and booooo Bryce and Ashton. Guess they want to party instead of become great. * sigh *

We do have a good men’s vaulter coming in, just not 17’ good. We have several women vaulters coming in who are very strong.

[1972Shocker]

So ... dad is a record holder at WSU and they are going to KU?

Shame and booooo Bryce and Ashton. Guess they want to party instead of become great. * sigh *

I think you are just trying to be Anti-KU funny. But it game off kind of petty especially the shaming of a couple of apparently top-notch high school kids who havr to pretty dedicated workers to acheive what they have so far.

Clearly, Ryan Bardull's sons are very talented pole vaulters and could chose to go anywhere they wanted. There are 10 International Association of Athletics Federations Class 1 certified tracks in the United States. All but 1 are associated with NCAA T&F programs. Guess what, Cessna Stadium is not one of them. But Rock Chalk Park at KU (built in 2014) is one ot them as is John McDonnel field at the University of Arkansas where the Shockers are this week at the NCAA West Region meet and, of course Hayward Field at the University of Oregon where the NCAA Championships are held each year. The other 6 are Indiana, Long Beach State, Auburn, Arizona, Texas A&M and perhaps most surprsingly at UTSA.

BTW Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence was/is a cooperative effort between the City of Lawrence and KU.

NCAA D-1 men's track and field programs are allowed 12.6 scholarships to spread among rosters that commonly include 45+ athletes. WSU has a roster of 47 and KU has roster of 59 on their men's teams this year. So those scholarships don't go very far generally making in-state tuition much more of a for track and field athletes. Of courese, nowadays a big pot of NIL money would also com in quite handy. We pretty much know how Wichita State stacks up there.

Then consider the coaching situation. KU's vault coach, Tom Hays, has about 35 years of coaching experience including a 7-year stint at Wichita State from 1989-96. In 2020-21, Hays guided the Kansas men’s pole vault unit to accomplish something no other school has ever done before, coaching four individuals to over the 18-feet barrier in the pole vault in the same season. Wichita State counters with Aliyah Welter, who is in her first year as a college coach after graduating from Louisville last year.

Let's face it, even if the Barkdull boys had not chosen to attend KU they would not have picked Wichita State as their 2nd choice. Although if Coach Pat Wilson was still around (may he rest in peace) who knows. He and Ryan Barkcull were teammates at Wichita State.

Considering Wichita State's facilities (and also low NIL funding in the current environment) and throwing K-State's program into the mix I think Coach Rainbolt (who is a KU grad by the way) and his staff have done an excellent job.

Obviously, you woulld love to have a couple of studs like the Barkdull brothers join your program. We were lucky enough to have their Dad for 2 years back in 1995-97, BTW, Dad is the ownere of Midwest Turf & Construction and Diamon Archery. So, hopefully, he does provide some financial support to Wichita State. I fear that with NIL at the fore will make getting these kind of athletes even tougher going forward. Coach Rainbolt has done a pretty good job of finding small town Kansas atheltes and developing them into top notch athletes such as Hunter Veith, Destiny Masters, and Brady Palen most rescently. I thought Coach Rainbolt pulled off a bit of a coup pulling Josh and Jason Parrish out of Olathe. Hope we can keep them.

On the positive side is that Track and Field at most places and certainly at Wichita State is not a money maker by any means. It does not appear that Wichita State's program generates much interest from its fan base or student body. What it does do though is provide 6 sports that count towards fulfilling the minimum required for D-1 membership.

[shoxlax]

I think you are just trying to be Anti-KU funny. But it game off kind of petty especially the shaming of a couple of apparently top-notch high school kids who havr to pretty dedicated workers to acheive what they have so far.

Clearly, Ryan Bardull's sons are very talented pole vaulters and could chose to go anywhere they wanted. There are 10 International Association of Athletics Federations Class 1 certified tracks in the United States. All but 1 are associated with NCAA T&F programs. Guess what, Cessna Stadium is not one of them. But Rock Chalk Park at KU (built in 2014) is one ot them as is John McDonnel field at the University of Arkansas where the Shockers are this week at the NCAA West Region meet and, of course Hayward Field at the University of Oregon where the NCAA Championships are held each year. The other 6 are Indiana, Long Beach State, Auburn, Arizona, Texas A&M and perhaps most surprsingly at UTSA.

BTW Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence was/is a cooperative effort between the City of Lawrence and KU.

NCAA D-1 men's track and field programs are allowed 12.6 scholarships to spread among rosters that commonly include 45+ athletes. WSU has a roster of 47 and KU has roster of 59 on their men's teams this year. So those scholarships don't go very far generally making in-state tuition much more of a factor for track and field athletes. Of courese, nowadays a big pot of NIL money would also com in quite handy. We pretty much know how Wichita State stacks up there.

Then consider the coaching situation. KU's vault coach, Tom Hays, has about 35 years of coaching experience including a 7-year stint at Wichita State from 1989-96. In 2020-21, Hays guided the Kansas men’s pole vault unit to accomplish something no other school has ever done before, coaching four individuals to over the 18-feet barrier in the pole vault in the same season. Wichita State counters with Aliyah Welter, who is in her first year as a college coach after graduating from Louisville last year.

Let's face it, even if the Barkdull boys had not chosen to attend KU they would not have picked Wichita State as their 2nd choice.

Considering Wichita State's facilities (and also low NIL funding in the current environment) and throwing K-State's program into the mix I think Coach Rainbolt (who is a KU grad by the way) and his staff have done an excellent job.

Obviously, you woulld love to have a couple of studs like the Barkdull brothers join your program. We were lucky enough to have their Dad for 2 years back in 1995-97, BTW, Dad is the ownere of Midwest Turf & Construction and Diamon Archery. So, hopefully, he does provide some financial support to Wichita State. I fear that with NIL at the fore will make getting these kind of athletes even tougher going forward. Coach Rainbolt has done a pretty good job of finding small town Kansas atheltes and developing them into top notch athletes such as Hunter Veith, Destiny Masters, and Brady Palen most rescently. I thought Coach Rainbolt pulled off a bit of a coup pulling Josh and Jason Parrish out of Olathe. Hope we can keep them.

On the positive side is that Track and Field at most places and certainly at Wichita State is not a money maker by any means. It does not appear that Wichita State's program generates much interest from its fan base or student body. What it does do though is provide 6 sports that count towards fulfilling the minimum required for D-1 membership.

You just wasted part of your life responding to Kung’s satirical banter.

[1972Shocker]

We do have a good men’s vaulter coming in, just not 17’ good. We have several women vaulters coming in who are very strong.

We certainly need help in the vaulting. The last 5 years are so the vaulting unit for the both men and women has been down. A lot of that may be due to the serious battle with cancer that the late Coach Pat Wilson was battling. This year our best vault on the men's team was 15-3 with no one else over 14-7. The Shocker women's best vaulter averaged 11-10.5 this past season.

The recruiting by new PV Coach Aliyah Welter is encouraging at least at the AAC level. At least this year the AAC was not real deep in the pole vault. The AAC men did have one 18' jumper, a USF senior, but no one else cleared 17' and the 8th place finisher only cleared 15-1. The AAC women had one 14' jumper, a Charlotte senior and Shocker sophomore, Arantxa Cortez, finished 8th with at 11-9.

So I am cautiously optimistic that we will see signficant improvement in Shocker pole vauting going forward that will make the Shocks a factor in the pole vault at the AAC level.

[1972Shocker]

You just wasted part of your life responding to Kung’s satirical banter.

Hard to argue with that But tthat pretty much applies to every post I make on Shockernet.