Shocker Indoor Track & Field - 2014-15

[1972Shocker]

http://johnwisewsu.blogspot.com/

Shocker Indoor Track & Field Preview

As the weather begins to cool off and the indoor season grows closer, we’ve continue to grind away at track practice. This is always a difficult time of the training year for the sprinters and hurdlers because 1) the newness of the fall has worn off and 2) it still seems like a long time until we get our season started.

Two months from today we officially open our season (Jan 9 at Kansas) so we do have a long time until we start but we are only 4 weeks away from our annual Intersquad Meet on Dec 5 at the Heskett Center. Our Intersquad Meet serves as something to shoot for at the end of the fall and while it isn’t just around the corner it does feel like we’re almost there. We’ll have our Intersquad Multi in about two weeks so for those athletes it’s almost go time.

This week at practice we talked about how important it is to be ready to go at the beginning of the season. Research has shown the NCAA champions (and conference champions) run very fast in the first meets of the year. If that’s true then we must get ready to go in the coming weeks so that when we start our season in two months our performances will be where we need them.

Let’s take a look at our indoor schedule:
Dec 5 @Wichita St – This is our annual Intersquad Meet where we divide into three teams (Gold, White, Black) and well as having a bunch of alumni (Gray) come back. I have to imagine it’s the most fun and intense Intersquad Meet in the country. Someone try to prove me wrong!
Jan 9 @Kansas – Low key season opener, most athletes will run one event (if any) to shake the rust off from the winter break.
Jan 16 @Wichita St – This meet will be for the athletes who don’t travel to K-St the next day. Only 26 athletes make the K-St meet so this will be an opportunity for a lot of Shockers to showcase their talents at home. Our opponents will be Emporia St, Friends University and Butler County.
Jan 17 @Kansas St – This is the first ever Wichita St-Kansas St-Kansas Triangular. Next year will be at KU with 2017 at WSU. We are very excited for this meet and picking the top 26 athletes to compete will be very tough with our deep and talented team. Fans of T&F in Kansas should put this meet on their calendar every year!
Jan 23-24 @Nebraska – The first night at Nebraska is more of a small college meet where we have a lot of our younger athletes compete with the following day being a scored quad meet against Nebraska and two other D1 teams on UNL’s banked 200m track.
Jan 30-31 @Northern Iowa – Another great scored meet against UNI, Indiana St and Kent St. This is will be very significant because 1) we are competing on the facility that the MVC Indoor Champs are hosted, 2) we are competing against our main MVC rival Indiana St and 3) we are competing against my alma mater Kent St!
Feb 7 @Notre Dame – Most of my group will be off this weekend but the distance crew will travel to South Bend to run some fast time trial races on ND’s oversized track.
Feb 14 @Wichita St – The annual Herm Wilson Invitational will include UT-Arlington, Oral Roberts and Emporia St in a scored meet. This is what we consider our final “team meet” in preparation for the MVC Indoor.
Feb 20-21 @Nebraska and Kansas St – These are just tune-up meets, with most of the athletes either running one race to get ready for MVC or one final attempt to make the MVC team.
Feb 28/Mar 1 @Northern Iowa – MVC Indoor Championships – This is what our team will be focused on getting ready for the whole indoor season. 32 men and 32 women make this squad and it is two days of intense competition for the MVC title!
Mar 13-14 @Arkansas – NCAA Indoor Championships – Only 16 athletes per event make it to this meet. It’s the elite of the elite of NCAA track and if you make it you are a major stud!

So as you can see we have a very exciting indoor schedule this year with lots of scored meets and great competition! I can’t wait for it to begin!

[goshox74]

The Shockers will open up their indoor track season Friday with their annual Intersquad Meet at the Heskett Center. Field events begin at 10:30am and the running events begin at 1:00pm. It's always a fun way to get a sneak peak at all the newcomers as well as see how the veterans look.

Here is a link to the schedule: http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticl...CLID=205318453

The Livestream will be here: https://new.livestream.com/wsuathletics

Admission is free!

[1972Shocker]

What do you know. Track & Field coverage in the Eagle. Somewhat of a rarity. KSU-KU-WSU Triangular taking place today in Manhattan. Will move to KU next year then to Wichita the following year. Kudos to Coach Bolt and his compatriots at KSU and KU for putting this together. Good competition and a good measuring stick for the Shocks plus good preparation for the Valley Championship down the line.

From the K-State web site about this meet:

http://www.kstatesports.com/blog/2015/01/unique-meet-provides-exciting-atmosphere.html

http://www.kstatesports.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/090114aae.html

Live Results

:poster_shocks:

[1972Shocker]

Calling for @goshox74. I need your expert guidance. I noticed that Shocker Freshman Kord Ferguson has won the shot put in both indoor meets he has competed in but that he was competing unattached. Also he is not part of the 26-man team competing at K-State this weekend.

Why would the Shockers have Kord competing unattached? Does competing unattached preserve a redshirt option or something or does it just allow you to enter more competitors in an event? Or perhaps their are other considerations at play. I need some edumacatin here.

Also do you know if Ashley Peterson is injured?

Of course, anyone else who can splain this is welcome to do so.

TIA.

[1972Shocker]

Not sure what the score is at the KSU-KU-WSU Triangular but it is an interesting format. That keeps things interesting and emphasizes how you put your lineup of athletes together.

Update: Final Unofficial Scores (by my count):

Total Scores (Men + Women):
KSU - 263 (153 in Running Events + 110 in Field Events)
WSU - 215 (130 in Running Events + 85 in Field Events)
KU - 202 (137 in Running Events + 65 in Field Events)

Men's Scores:
KSU - 119 (67 in Running Event + 52 in Field Events)
WSU - 114 (68 in Running Events + 46 in Field Events)
KU - 105 (72 in Running Events + 33 in Field Events)

Women's Scores:
KSU - 144 (86 in Running Event + 58 in Field Events)
WSU - 101 (62 in Running Events + 39 in Field Events)
KU - 97 (65 in Running Events + 32 in Field Events)

[goshox74]

1972Shocker,

A couple responses to your previous posts:
It was a really fun meet yesterday in Manhattan, the WSU men came a single point (117-116) from taking down both Big 12 schools (KU finished with 105) while K-St's women did win with the scores listed above. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great track and field rivalry for many years to come! Next year the meet will be in Lawrence and in 2017 it will be at the Heskett Center on WSU's campus. It's a fan friendly event (only lasts 3-4 hours) and the athletes were battling hard. Side note - the Shockers agreed to compete with the Big 12 events (that include the 600 yards and 1000 meters) that they usually don't run at their meets and the MVC Championships. The Shockers held their own very nicely and almost took down the #12 ranked Wildcats. If any of you remember, KU's women won the NCAA Outdoor title only two years ago and WSU has beaten them twice since then (last year outdoor also). Good start to the season for WSU!

As for your Kord Ferguson question, here is how I think it looks. Indoor it looks like he will redshirt (you can compete unattached and still use the redshirt) unless he starts throwing a lot further in the Shot Put. The MVC is one of the best, if not the best, conference in the nation in the throwing events so as a freshmen he wouldn't score many Shot Put points and he is just learning the Weight Throw. You can also redshirt indoor and outdoor separately so he could still throw outdoor. Since Discus is his best event it's quite possible for him to compete for WSU outdoor but who knows. There was an article in Track & Field news last month about him probably redshirting to continue development with the bigger implements but his 55-8 performance at WSU Friday shows he is definitely headed in the right direction!

[WuDrWu]

That's just great stuff. Thanks @goshox74:!

[1972Shocker]

Missed the final scores by a little bit for the Shocker Men:

Officially it was KSU 117 - WSU 116 - KU 105. I had KSU at 119 and the Shocks at 114 so I made a mistake on a couple of points somewhere along the line.

Same order of finish but even closer than I had it.

The scores I posted for the women were accurate.

[1972Shocker]

1972Shocker,

A couple responses to your previous posts:
It was a really fun meet yesterday in Manhattan, the WSU men came a single point (117-116) from taking down both Big 12 schools (KU finished with 105) while K-St's women did win with the scores listed above. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great track and field rivalry for many years to come! Next year the meet will be in Lawrence and in 2017 it will be at the Heskett Center on WSU's campus. It's a fan friendly event (only lasts 3-4 hours) and the athletes were battling hard. Side note - the Shockers agreed to compete with the Big 12 events (that include the 600 yards and 1000 meters) that they usually don't run at their meets and the MVC Championships. The Shockers held their own very nicely and almost took down the #12 ranked Wildcats. If any of you remember, KU's women won the NCAA Outdoor title only two years ago and WSU has beaten them twice since then (last year outdoor also). Good start to the season for WSU!

As for your Kord Ferguson question, here is how I think it looks. Indoor it looks like he will redshirt (you can compete unattached and still use the redshirt) unless he starts throwing a lot further in the Shot Put. The MVC is one of the best, if not the best, conference in the nation in the throwing events so as a freshmen he wouldn't score many Shot Put points and he is just learning the Weight Throw. You can also redshirt indoor and outdoor separately so he could still throw outdoor. Since Discus is his best event it's quite possible for him to compete for WSU outdoor but who knows. There was an article in Track & Field news last month about him probably redshirting to continue development with the bigger implements but his 55-8 performance at WSU Friday shows he is definitely headed in the right direction!

Thanks so much for the great info. This really does sound like a neat format and one that probably would be worth a road trip to Manhattan and Lawrence (especially since I have a daughter living in Baldwin City) in the future as well as attending the meet at WSU which I assume will be in the Heskett Center. I would love to see this become an annual tradition and one we Shocker fans need to get behind and support. What kind of attendance was there in Manhattan for yesterday's event?

Thanks for the report on Kord. Very much looking forward to seeing what he can do as Shocker.

Do you have any info on Ashley Peterson that you can share?

[goshox74]

Attendance at the meet was just average but it's hard to tell in Ahearn Field House because from the seating around the top you can't see many of the events so people go down to ground level to see things. Not a great place to watch a meet. I think the Heskett Center will be the best place for the meet for the fans with KU being 2nd. WSU probably also has the fastest track.

As for Petersen, she has a knee injury. Don't know much more than that or how long she'll be down.

[goshox74]

The Shocker men are ranked #13 in the first edition of Track & Field News' National Dual Meet Rankings. This weekend they will travel to and compete against #5 Nebraska. Indiana State is #19.

I find it interesting that the track team and basketball team have the same ranking. Not too shabby for Coach Rainbolt's squad.

Link to rankings --- http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.p...le?arId=107965

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers are competing in the Mark Colligan Memorial, a scored triangular, with host Nebraska and Oral Roberts. Looks like the same scoring format used at KSU last week.

The Nebraska men's team is ranked No 6 in the USTFCA Top 25 poll. They finished in a tie for 17th at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships.

Caught my eye: Nebraska as 9 athletes (out of 13) entered in the triple-jump. Only the top 2 finishers from each school are scored. Also both the Shocks and Cornhuskers have four 4x400 relays teams entered. Almost seems more like a dual meet between Nebraska and WSU although how ORU finishes here and there could definitely impact the outcome.

Live Stats

[1972Shocker]

Nebraska, not too surprisingly, pulling away after 8 events:

Nebraska 87
Wichita State 54
Oral Roberts 25

[1972Shocker]

Final Score:

Nebraska - 159
Wichita State - 102
Oral Roberst - 44

Ethan Pearson wins the pole vault with the a clearance of 17-0.75 giving him the top vault in the Valley this year.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers competing at UNI this weekend including the 1st heptathlon competition of the year for the Shocks.

This pre-meet report on GoShockers.com includes a link to a video report by HCSR which I would recommend for those interested in the Shocker track and filed teams.

Good luck, Shocks. Travel safe and stay healthy.