2017-18 Shocker Men XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State is hosting the Shocker Prelude on Thursday, January11th at the Heskett Center. As its name implies this is an event that serves as an introduction to something more important. Teams participating consist of D-II prorgams (Emporia State, Fort Hays State and Oklahoma Baptist), NAIA programs (Friends and Ottawa) and Butler Couinty CC.

Not that there are not some quality athletes in these other programs but this meet is clearly not a major meet but one where younger athletes can compete and gain expreience in a meet setting at the beginning of the season. Hunter Veith will not be competing in this meet.

On Saturday the Shockers head to Manhattan for a traingular meet witth host K-State and Kansas which will provide a high level of competition. I assume Hunter will be in an event or two this weekend but start lists aren't available at this point.

While the Lady Shocks are in a rebuilding year I believe Coach Rainbolt thinks the Shocker men's team can be very competitive in the AAC this year.

[1972Shocker]

This weekend s the 4th annual KSU - KU - WSU Triangular Indoor Meet. This is kind of a neat meet. Only the top two finishers from each school score using a 6-5-4-3-2-1 format. So team depth isn't quite as important. If your team takes the top 5 spots in the event they still only score 11 points and if you have the two worst performers in an event you still score 3 points. The men's and women's scores are combined into a single overall score. Last year this meet was held in the Hesket Center with the KU winning with 241 points, KSU 2nd with 231 points and WSU 3rd with 217 points. This meet stems from a KSU - KU - Mizzou Triangular that was held from 1989 through 2006 when it was discontinued. The current triangular started up in 2015. Not sure who are what was the catalyst. I hope it continues.

This year they are doing something a little different to finish off the meet. Typically track meets are concluded with the women and then the men running their 4x400 relays. This year in Manhattan the meet will concluded with a mixred 4x400 relay with two men and two women on each team. Kind of neat twist.

I have always noticed that Wichita State carries a large roster of track and field athletes with a relatively large representation of Kansas kids. However, I had never compared that to the rosters of KU and K-State. I did that comparison and found that WSU not only has a larger roster but the number of Kansas kids on the roster is the largest both in absolute numbers and as a % of the overall rosters:

KSU Men: 17 Kansans/39 Total = 43.6%; KU Men: 22/49 = 44.9%; WSU Men: 38/64 = 59.4%

KSU Women: 13 Kansans/40 Total = 32.5%; KU Women: 16/49 = 32.7%; WSU Women 34/64 = 53.1%

Now why WSU carries such large rosters and why they have more native Kansan representation on their rosters is hard to say. They all have the same number of scholarships to divvy up. 12.6 for the men and 18 for the women. Theses scholarship limits include XC and all three schools have both men's and women's XC teams.

Perhaps it is just a difference in recruiting philosophy. Go after higher quality athletes and offer larger scholarships and are go for numbers and spread your scholarships thinner. This is jus a WAG but if that is the case I wonder if moving over to the AAC will cause Coach Rainbolt to change his philosophy any or continue as he has in the past.

[1972Shocker]

You can watch a live stream of the Shocker Prelude at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqgSSjcPLFU

I'm home sick so I can. Not sure who is doing the color commengtary but he is very good.

I think the color commentator is Cooper Hanning who ran indoor hurdles for the Shocks. He is out Wichita Trinity HS and graduated form WSU in 2012.

The lead announcer miight be WIll Kunkle.

Hunter Veith will be participating in the hurdles and the pole vault in Manhattan on Saturday. Hunter said the pole vault was the hardest event to learn but it was also his favorite event.

Will is good, he thought Hunter Veith was a Freshman. Oh brother.

[1972Shocker]

KSU-KU-WSU Triangular Recap

Results

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Jr. Ben Johnson out of Tonganoxie, KS won the indoor heptathlon at the Air Force Acacemy Challenge with a PR of 5;615 breaking his previous best by 168 points. Seems like a very solid score they may put him in contention for a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships. We'll have to see about that.

RFr. Jake Horsch out of Andale also had a good finish coming in 3rd with 5,071 points which I think is his first time to break the 5,000 point mark.

Jr. Kaden Griffin out of Wichita South was 2nd affter 5 events but fell back with a weak pole vault of only 11-1.75 for 457 points and ended up 5th.

Shocker Freshman Grant Downes, Lucas Shafer and Davis Bahner also competed althought Davis did not finish.

Individidual events will be starting at 4:00 pm CT.

http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Air_Force_Academy_Track_and_FieldCross_Country/AIR_FORCE_TEAM_CHALLENGE/index.html

[1972Shocker]

Ben's 5,615 is the 3rd best heptathlon score in the nation at this point behind Shocker teammate Hunter Veith, who is competing in the men's long jump, 60m hurdles and running a leg on the 4x400 relay at this meet, and TJ Lawson out of Kent State.

Nice job Ben.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker men win the Quadrangular Air Force Team Challenge
Wichita State 134
Air Force 122
BYU 112
Colorado State 78

Sophomore Denvoir Griffin was the highlight of the night breaking a 15-year old 60m school record winning the finals with a time of 6.76. Congratulations to Denvoir.

Shocks with some very good work in the horizontal jump pits. Led by All-American Jared Belardo, the Shocker men would take first, second and third in both the long jump and triple jump. Belardo won the long jump with a mark of 7.56m/24-9.75, followed by fellow All-American Veith in second (7.52m/24-8.25) and true freshman Rayvon Allen in third (7.35m/24-1.5). Belardo's success carried over to the triple jump, winning the event with a mark of 15.42m/50-7.25. Allen placed second (15.14m/49-8.25) and Kaden Griffin in third with a personal record 15.13m/49-7.75.

Hunter Veith won the 60m hurdles prelim in what was a personal record 8.07, until he won the finals race in 7.94 which is fourth fastest in Shocker history. Hunter continues to perform at a high level in his senior season as he groom himself for a run at a pentathlon national championship.

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/1/19/track-and-field-men-finish-first-griffin-sets-school-record.aspx

[goshox74]

If you want to get on the Shocker T&F email list for tons of statistical info weekly on the track and field teams send a message to jwise@goshockers.com.

[1972Shocker]

Interesting tidbit on one of Wichita State most under the radar Shocker head coaches:

Tyler Pounds @tyler_pounds 1 hour ago

Before Coach Rainbolt arrived at Wichita State, the Shockers had won three team conference championships (1966, 72, 94). Since his arrival (2000), the Shocks have won 25.

[1972Shocker]

Live Stream of the Herm Wilson Invitational

[1972Shocker]

Highlights from the Herm Wilson Invitational.

Isaiah Evans, out of Mulvane via Cowley County CC, set a big new PR with a 62-11.5 weight throw, his first over 60 feet, and good for 6th all-time at WSU.

All-American Jr. Jared Belardo won the triple jump with a solid 49-9 followed by Hunter Veith at 47-7.5. Considering Hunter doesn't do a lot of triple jumping since it is not an heptathlon or a decathlon event his performance was pretty impressive. Jared and Hunter took a day off from the long jump and left those duties to Fr. Rayvon Allen who won that event with a PR 24-4.25. The coaches then put Rayvon in his first collegiate 200m race and he won that as well with a 22.27. Remember that the Heskett Center has a 200m flat track so the 200m race is about 100m of curve and 100m of straight away. Not ideal for Rayon's long and lean body type. Remember this youmg man's name I think he is going to do some great things as a Shocker.

Jr. Hayden Bugner out of Andale won the pole vault at 16-7.25 and apparently just missed clearing 17-1.

True Fr. Miles Griffith out of St. Paul, Nebraska won the high jump with an impressive leap of 6-8.75.

RSo. Zack Penrod looked pretty solid in winning the 800m race in 1:53.89.

In addition ot the triple jump Hunter Veith participated in the Heptathlon 60m (which he won wiht the only sub-7 second time of 6.93), the Heptathlon shot put (finishing second at 43-1 to teammate Ben Johnson's 43-9.25), the Hepthatlon pole vault (which he won at 16-2.75) and the individual 60m hurdles (which he won with the only sub-8 second time at 7.96) as he continues to his tuning up for the AAC Indoor Championships (Feb. 23-24) and the NCAA Indoor Championships (Mar 9-10),

Coach Rainbolt does not expect that Hunter will compete in another Heptathlon prior to the NCAA Championships which Conner locked up a spot in his first outing of the indoor season. At the AAC Championships Hunter will not compete in the Heptathlon but will compete in a number of individual events in order to maximize his scoring. I think Coach Rainbolt said he would probably compete in the 60m hurdles, long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault. Not sure about the 60m dash. He did not compete in the high jump this weekend because the ankle of his plant foot is bothering him a little. So possible he may skip the high jump at the AAC meet also to make sure he is healthy as possible to make a run at a National Championship in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

I would also like to mention Sr. sprinter Eric Ngaiza. One of the more interesting STUDENT- Athletes on this Shocker team. Eric, a native of Big Bend, Swaziland in Africa, is a walk-on who joined the Wichita State program in 2014-15 after competing one year at the University of Pretoria. I am assuming he was attracted to Wichita State because of its Aerospace Engineering Program. His bio says he is a Physics major. On the lvie stream this weekend they said he was an Aerospace Engineering major. Either way not exactly taking pud courses. He also speaks 7 languarges. This young man is no dummy. When he arrived at Wichita State he was pretty raw and undeveloped and a borderline D-1 track athlete according to Coach Rainbolt. But despite his difficult clasroom responsbiliites he has worked very hard on the track and has iimroved quite a bit. While the Shockers won't depend on Eric for much, if any, scoring in the AAC meet you can tell by the way the Coaches talk about him that he is a highly valued memeber of the WSU track team.

[1972Shocker]

Looking at the AAC Indoor Performance Charts this year the Shocker men should be competitive but I'm not sure they have quite enough to win the AAC Championship. I see them generating about 105 points although I think Coach Rainbolt said he was targeting around 130 points. I would go with Coach Rainbolt. Last year 130 points would have been good enough for 2nd and 105 points would have placed 4th. So that's could be a good target range for the Shocks. Anywhere from 2nd to 4th out of an 8 team field.

Houston will not doubt dominate the sprints. Houston So. Elijah Hall broke his own 200m school record this weekend with a 20.51 clocking which is #2 in the NCAA this year and #3 in the world. Hall also has the #2 time in the NCAA this year in the 60m dash at 6.60.

The Shocker men's best scoring opportunities will be in the decathlon (even with Hunter not competing), the triple jump and the long jump. Zack Penrod also gives them a shot a decent points in the mile run and Hunter Veith can potentially finish high in the 60 hurdles.

In the triple jump Jared Belardo, Rayvon Allen, Kaden Griffin and Hunter Veith could all potentially score (finish in the top 8). In the long jump Jared, Rayvon and Hunter are potential scorers.

Not sure who all will be competing in the Heptathlon for the Shocks. Only that Hunter won't be. That leaves Ben Johnson, Jake Horsch, Kaden Griffin as the most likely score getters for the Shocks. Ben has a legitimate shot at winning the heptathlon with Hunter not competing.

[1972Shocker]

Here is a replay of the Herm Wilson Invitational live stream if anyone is interested in checking out some of the performances:

Jacob Albrecht together with former Shocker track team members Tucker Davis and Scott Ufford did a nice job with their coverage and commentary and former Shocker women's multi-event athlete Jenny Pinkston doing sideline reports. Jenny finished up her career last year.

I thought Jenny's best sideline interview was with Ben Johnson at the 58 minute mark.

[1972Shocker]

Hunter Veith had a very nice long jump of 24-10 at Pitt State. That jump, if made in the heptathlon, would earn 952 points.

Ben Johnson jumped 22-9.25 setting a new PR. That jump, if made in the heptathlon, would earn 799 points.

Jared Belardo scratched. Hopefully, nothing serious.

[1972Shocker]

On Saturday Hunter won the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.97 seconds at Pitt State. That time, in a heptathlon, would earn 989.

Hunter's tune up work is producing some very good results. Hopefully, he will stay healthy and peak at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 9th and 10rh.