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Shocker Women, Koskei Look to Defend Conference Crowns in Memphis
The Basics
The Shocker women come in as the event's defending champions and Winny Koskei was the individual champion a year ago. Both Koskei and the Shocker women have targets on their backs, but are prepared to fend off challengers.
Wichita State's women's team has another All-American in Rebekah Topham to complement Koskei at the top. Abeba Sullivan and Yazmine Wright have proven to be solid runners in the third and fourth spots. The fifth and final scoring slot has been a revolving door for the Shockers. Halle Johnson has been fifth for the Shockers twice this season, but Rita Schnacker has shown the prowess to score as well.
Return of the Champs
The defending champions of women's AAC cross country are back and ready to defend their crown.
The Shockers bring back five of their top six from last year's conference-winning squad. Winny Koskei, Rebekah Topham, Yazmine Wright, Rita Schnacker and Halle Johnson all come back to help defend the conference title the Shockers won in 2018.
Koskei and Topham have proven to be one of the country's best one-two punches. Topham is fresh off an All-American finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June.
The Shockers also added a JUCO transfer in Abeba Sullivan. Sullivan has scored in both meets she has run with Wichita State.
It is going to be a tough task to take away the conference crown form Wichita State.
Meet Schedule
The men's 8K race kicks off the day at 10 a.m. with the women's race following it at 10:50 a.m. There will also be an awards ceremony at about 11:40 a.m.
The championships can be viewed live on Facebook via the American Digital Network.
The weather in Memphis for Friday will be cool (probably between 40-45 during race time) but sunny with winds at only 3 mph and relatively low humidity for Memphis. Sounds like pretty good conditions for a cross country race. It is supposed to rain beginning around 4:00 this afternnon and continue through 6:00 am Thursday. Might get a few hours of sun late Thursday. Hopefully, the course will dry out a bit by race time although IIRC correctly the course was drenched during last year's AAC Championship so maybe the Shocks are good mudders.
Last edited by 1972Shocker; October 30, 2019, 03:10 PM.Comment
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RH: Wichita State Women Among Favorites
Looks like Tulsa will be the favorite in both the men's and women's races in Memphis tomorrow. The Tulsa women rank fourth in the Midwest Region, two spots above the Shockers. Houston is fifth in the South Central and Temple ninth in the Mid-Atlantic. The Shocker's women won last year by razor thin margins. They won't by sneaking up on anyone this year. Not sure how healthy Rebekah Topham is this year.
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The women off and running in Memphis. The course is muddy and soft in spots.
Five and a half minutes in. No real separation yet. Winny is running near the front but drafting behind a couple of Tulsa runners.
Winny starts taking charge about 10 minutes in and is pulling away a little bit.
Winny has pulled away and is running by herself well ahead of the field. Winny has about a 10 second lead over a Tulsa runner and Rebekah is running 3rd another second or 2 back.
The key for the Shocks will be how well the Shocks 4th and 5th runners finish.
Winny defends her title. Rebekkah closes with everything she had to finish 2nd and collapses into Winny's arms.
Not sure the Shocks are going to repeat their team championship. Tulsa looking pretty good.
I think Winny's time was right around 20:16. Her PR in a 6k XC race is 20:14.5. XC times from race to race and course to course are very tough to compare. But I think in today's conditions this was a very good time. Certainly good enough to win easily.
Looks like the Shocks will finish 2nd this year with a total of 63 points. I am assuming Tulsa was the winner but haven't seen their score.Last edited by 1972Shocker; November 1, 2019, 12:33 PM.Comment
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Here is how the Shockers finished individually:
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Tulsa did, in fact, win the team title in similar fashion as the Tulsa men won by grouping their top 5 runners close together with their top 5 all finishing in the Top 10.
Final scores for the Top 5 teams were;
1. Tulsa - 37
2. Wichita State - 63
3. Temple - 83
4. UConn - 100
5. Cincinnati - 106
The top 15 individual finishers earn All-Conference honors. Congrats to Winny, Rebekah and Yazmine on earning All-Conference honors.
Tulsa top 5 runners finished 3-7-8-9-10 = 37 points. They also had another runner finish 12th who was the top freshmen in the field. So Tulsa had 6 of the 15 All-Conference performers. Tulsa had dominating team performances in both the men and the women's races.
Winny's winning time was announced as 20:14.Last edited by 1972Shocker; November 1, 2019, 12:59 PM.Comment
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Winny Koskei Earns All- Midwest Region Honors - Qualifies for Nationals
The Wichita State women's cross country teams competed at the Midwest Regional on Friday, and Winny Koskei clinched a trip to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Koskei finished the race in third place, completing the 6K race in a time of 20:34.8. She was only beaten by the top two runners from the Big 12 (Cailie Logue of Iowa State and Taylor Somers of Oklahoma State).
A third-place finish as an individual means Koskei is one of the top four individuals not on a qualifying team, which is what it takes to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Koskei made it to Nationals last year as well where she finished as an All-American.
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Winny Koskei Heads Back to NCAA Cross Country Championships
Winny Koskei travels to Terre Haute, Indiana, for a chance to become a two-time cross country All-American. The women's 6K championship race takes place at 10:15 a.m. CT on Saturday.
Coach Hunter on the Meet
On his thoughts going into the weekend
"Well, I really hope that she can earn All-American status again. She's had a great year. She's been running really well and competing really well. I'm not sure how she'll bounce back from the meet last week, and not just for her, I wonder how everyone will bounce back. Winny's a tough girl, and my expectation would be that she's going to compete."
On how weather might affect the race
"I think she thrives in good weather days. The weather wasn't great at Nationals last year, but she handled it well. Last year, it was a scary race because she didn't get off to a good start. She had to catch up and continually pick people off all the way until the finish line. My hope is she gets a better start this year. Hopefully if the conditions are better, she'll have a better start and then just go in there and race like she always does."
As of now the weather is not looking to great for Saturday morning in Terre Haute. Forecast at race time is currently 36 degrees (wind chill of 31) with light rain. At least the wind is forecasted at only 6 mph out of the north. XC is not for wimps.
Good luck Winny.
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Winny finished 47th. Not what she was shooting for. She wanted a Top 40 finish to become a 2-time XC All-American. Talked with Coach John Wise briefly prior to the Shocker-ORU game and he said Winny was affected by a "crash" at the beginning of the race and the weather was cold and rainy, not Winny's favorite conditions. All-in-all though she had a really good season and hopefully this will motivate her to do great things this winter and next spring on the track.Comment
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Putting this out there for anyone who might be interested because there are some WSU Baseball and Basketball items. The Track team is holding a silent auction Friday evening during their banquet and you can bid on items even if you're not able to attend. Lots of good stuff including an Eric Wedge signed baseball, Gregg Marshall and team signed basketball, and a variety of different things. Here is the list with how to help the track team raise money ... http://www.shockertrackclub.com/wsu-...on-december-6/
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"You Just Want to Slap The #### Outta Some People"Comment
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Looks like a good get for the Shockers. Faith appears to be a sprinter and a horizontal jumper (long jump and triple jump). Looking forward to following her development at WSU.Originally posted by WstateU View Post
Welcome to Shocker Nation Faith.
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