2023-24 Shocker Women's XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

The pentathlon is being held today.

Destiny clocks in at 8.55 in the 60m hurdles. A good time that produces 1,006 points but about 40 points shy of the 8.37 she ran at the end of November.

Up next is the high jump. Since the 60m hurdles and the high jump are Destiny's 2 best events I could see her seeing where she is at after these 2 events and if she doesn't think she has a good shot at improving on her best score she might shut it down and then give it another go next week at K-State.

Destiny clears 5-10.75 good for 978 points. A half-inch and 13 points of her November mark in the high jump.

Destiny puts the shot 36-1.5 which scored 596 points. Well short of the 40-4 inches and 680 points she put up in November.

Not sure I see any reason for her to continue unless she is not going full out and using this more for training purposes.

It looks like Destiny did indeed decide to pull out and not participate in the long jump and the 800.

[1972Shocker]

Chidera Okoro swept the horizontal jumps with season bests of 12.08m/39'7.5" in the triple jump and 5.88m/19'3.5" in the long jump. The TJ mark is 6th best in the AAC so far this season and the LJ is 9th best.

Kenisa Meyer continues her breakout season in the 60-meter hurdles running another personal best of 8.69 to pick up her first career win in the event. That slots in at #9 on the AAC performance charts.

[1972Shocker]

Austra Skujyte Women's Heptathlon - Hosted By K-State (Feb 1st)

The Shockers are led by Destiny Masters, who broke the Wichita State pentathlon record in December with 4,151 points at the Shocker Multi. She currently ranks fifth in the nation with that mark. Tess Roman and Sadie Millard also set personal bests in the season opener with 3,495 points and 3,442 points respectively. Kenisa Meyer's 3,284 points at the Shocker Multi rounds out the Shockers' top four in the event. Abby Klipstein will also compete at the K-State Multis, her second pentathlon of the season.

The pentathlon begins Thursday at 12:20 p.m.

---

Despite currently sitting 5th nationally, I think Destiny needs would like to boost her score by 50 points are so to feel good about her chances of making the NCAA Championship Finals which includes the top 16 scores at the end of the conference championships. Destiny's current score may or may not hold up through the end of the regular season.

Results:

60m Hurdles: Destiny off to a good start tying her PB with a mark of 8.37 good for 1,046 points. She was tied at the time with Lauren Taubert, a former K-State athlete who finished her collegiate career in 2021, who is competing unattached. Taubert's pentathlon PB was 4,352 which 200 points above Destiny's WSU school record. I think it is good to have such an elite athlete in the field to push and motivate Destiny. Shocker junior Kenisa Meyer finished 3rd in 8.59 (997 points) and improving on her previous best time of 8.69.

High Jump: Destiny cleared 5-10.75 on her third attempt, but was unable to clear at 6 foot. Still that good for 978 points and was 4.5" better then the runner-up in this event. After 2 events Destiny sits in 1st at with 2,024 points followed by Taubert at 1,876 points.

The 60 hurdles and HJ are probably Destiny's 2 strongest events so she may need PB performances in a couple to those which are the SP, LJ and 800.

Shot Put: Decent put by Destiny at 39-1.25 for 656 points but well short of her PB of 40-11. K-State's Urte Backlanskaite had a big put at 50-8.25 which is a huge put (891 points) in a multi event.

Long Jump: Destiny with a very good long jump of 19-7.5 which I believe is a new PB for her nets her 843 points.

800m Run: Destiny's least favorite event. Her teammate Tess Roman is a pretty good 800m runner. Maybe Tess can lead Destiny to a new PB in this event which she probably needs if she is going to improve on her season best pentathlon score. Destiny's PR is 2:32.37. That time would set a new school record for the pentathlon but only moves her SB and PB pentathlon scores up very slightly.

Destiny get it done running a PB time of 2:30.42 which give her a total score of 4,211 points which is a new WSU record in the pentathlon. That gives Destiny the win in this pentathlon over K-State's Backlanskaite by 117 points

That is a 38 point improvement over her prior score in the national rankings but she is still in 5th place. However, that score should put her into a much more comfortable place in terms of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Last year this score would have qualified her 8th. Her prior score would have qualified her but by only a very slim margin. Not a slam dunk but Destiny definitely helped herself.

Shocker junior Kenisa Meyer finished 5th with 3,675, a new PB for her, and sophomore Tess Roman finished 6th at 3,582, also a new PB.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Wrap Up Husker Invitational

In her second 800-meter race of the season, Farrah Miller clocked the second-fastest time in school history with a personal best of 2:07.61 to place fourth and move up to No. 2 in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

After breaking her own school record in the pentathlon two days prior, Destiny Masters entered the Husker Invitational high jump competition and placed third with a clearance of 1.79m/5'10.5".

In the women's 3,000 meters Lucy Ndungu ran a personal-best 9:46.05 to place fourth. Miranda Dick and Sarah Bertry also ran sub-10 minutes for the first time, finishing seventh (9:54.80) and ninth (9:57.67), respectively. Those times are 9th, 14th and 22nd in the AAC so far this year.

[1972Shocker]

It looks like new pole vault coach, Aleyah Welter has signed another promising pole vaulter for the Lady Shocks. We certainly need them as we are far from strong in that event this year. The same applies on the men's side but so far I haven't seen much success in recruiting vaulters for the guys.

Kylie appears to have a personal best of 12-4.75 heading into her senior year which is very good. The other two vaulters Coach Welter has coming in out of high school next year, Abby Rexford and Ella Mae Farmer, have personal bests of 12-0 and 11-9 respectively, heading into their senior seasons. Those are also very good high school marks.

The best mark put up by a Lady Shocker this year is 11-5.75 by freshman Isa Evans but she has only been over 11' that one time in 5 meets. In 2 meets she cleared 10-10 and 10-11.75 and in the other two meets she no-heighted.

But it appears the pole vault if looking up of the Lady Shockers. Not so much for the guys at this point though.

Here are a couple of posts describing he earlier signings:

https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita-state-athletics/wichita-state-women-s-sports/1406104-2023-24-shocker-women-s-xc-and-track-field?p=1413974#post1413974

https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita-state-athletics/wichita-state-women-s-sports/1406104-2023-24-shocker-women-s-xc-and-track-field?p=1417081#post1417081

[1972Shocker]

Destiny Masters (with a mark of 4,211 points) has dropped from 5th to 7th in the pentathlon national rankings. Allie Jones of Texas posted a mark of 4,312 and Eliza Kraule of Rice posted at 4,276 mark the day after Destiny finished off her school record at K-State.

It looks like Kraule and Masters are heading for a heated competition at the AAC Championships in Birmingham on February 23rd.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Highlights from the Ichabod Invitational (February 9-10)

This meet was populated mostly by D-II, NAIA, Juco programs. About the only other D-1 program I noticed was Western Illinois.

Destiny Masters ran four personal bests, each one moving her up the Shocker all-time lists, starting with her first 60-meter race in over a year where she ran 7.59 in Friday's qualifying round. She went on to win Saturday's prelim in 7.57 before clocking 7.56 to take second in the final, coming in at No. 6 in Shocker history. Faith Turner also made the 60-meter final and finished third with a season-best time of 7.60. Those times are only 15th and 18th best in the AAC this year. Destiny will most likely not participate in this event at the AAC Championships. Faith will probably be in this event at the AAC Championships but is unlikely to score any team points unless she can drop another tenth of a second are so.

Masters went on to win the 60-meter hurdles final with another personal best of 8.34, the third-fastest time in Wichita State history, tying for second in the American Athletic Conference and setting a new meet record. Kate Campos ran 8.58 to finish second. Destiny will most likely run this event twice in the AAC Championships. Once as part of the pentathlon where this would score big points and then again in the open 60m hurdles where she has a good chance to add team point. Kate, whos best time this season is 8:45 has a chance to edge into the top 0 scoring positions at the AAC Championships. Kate has the top time of any freshman in the AAC this year.

Masters won the high jump sweep clearing 1.79m/5'10.5" to tie the Ichabod Invitational meet record. A very good mark but Destiny has cleared 6-0.75 this year and hopefully she has that in her in a couple weeks as she will compete in the high jump as part of the pentathlon and also in the open high jump.

In the long jump, Chidera Okoro joined the six-meter club, jumping 6.00m/19'8.25" to win the event. That mark moved Chidera into #6 on the AAC season charts just ahead of Destiny. Again Destiny will compete in the long jump both as part of the pentathlon and in the open long jump.

Wichita State women's distance medley relay team of Lea Jerkovic, Tyler Lindsey, Farrah Miller and Lucy Ndungu ran a winning time of 11:52.52, the seventh-fastest time in WSU history. That is the best time in the AAC so far this year but only 5 teams have posted marks for this event..

In the 4x400-meter relay, the Shocker women (Sydney Brown, Elontae Hackney-Cooper, Sadie Millard and Farrah Miller) ran 3:45.53, the ninth-fastest time in Wichita State history and a new meet record. That is the 4th best time in the AAC this year.

Hackney-Cooper also ran a big personal best in the open 400 meters, running 56.50 to finish second. However, that time is only 19th best in the AAC this season.

Lucy Ndungu led the distance women to a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the 3,000 meters, winning the race in 9:52.81. Jenna Muma finished second with a personal-best time of 9:55.65, Sarah Bertry finished third in 9:57.60 and Miranda Dick ran 10:01.12 to place fourth. However, none of those times are likely to score in the AAC Championships.

Wichita State will send a partial squad to the Arkansas Qualifier on Friday, Feb. 16 before heading to Birmingham, Ala. for the AAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 23-24.

[1972Shocker]

About the only thing notable for the Lady Shockers at the Arkansas Qualifier today was Chidero set a new personal best in the triple jump at 40-0.75 which puts her at 7th on the AAC Performance Charts.

Other than Chidero the Shocks sent about 9 sprinters/hurdlers to the meet but nothing special to report.

Next up for the Shocks are the AAC Indoor Championships next Friday and Saturday at the CrossPlex in Birmingham.

[1972Shocker]

2024 AAC INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

I expect Coach Rainbolt will be out with his overview of the AAC Track and Field Championships which starts on Friday. The 3 teams that are leaving, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston finished 1-2-3 in last year's 11 team Championship. All 6 AAC newbies do have Women's Track and Field teams so the meet will expand to 14 teams this year.

Based on the performance charts It looks 2 of the newbies, Charlotte and Rice will duke it out for the championship. Points will be a bit more spread out this year with the net addition of 3 teams.

On paper here is what it looks like for the women:
1. Charlotte - 102
2. Rice - 101
3. South Florida - 73
4. East Carolina - 59
4. SMU - 59
6. Wichita State - 58
7. Tulane - 46
8. UTSA - 35
8. Tulsa - 35
10. Temple - 30
11. North Texas - 27
12. Memphis - 26
13. FAU - 8
14. UAB - 4

Only 5 of the 14 teams have recorded times in the Distance Medley Relay so that event is a bit of a wild card and one the could impact the teams that are tightly bunched in the scoring.. The other wild card, as always is which athletes are healthy and which are banged up or not available due to injury.

I have Destiny Masters contributing 28 points from the pentathlon, 60m hurdles, high jump and long jump. So the Shocks could drop quite a ways if Destiny pulls up lame or otherwise underperforms.

Last year the Shockers only managed 26 points to finish 10th.

It is Ironic, that UAB does not have men's track and field and UAB may very well finish at the bottom on the women's side while the event is being held in one of the best indoor track and filed venues in the country, The CrossPlex, located in Brimginham.

[1972Shocker]

Among the Lady Shock I think my favorite "Of Course" was the very first athlete which I think is Chidera Okoro:

I'm a jumper, so of course we find sand in places where and shouldn't be in.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Seek High Team Finishes at AAC Indoor Championships

Based on the Championship Start Lists and the TFRSS Performance Charts the Shocks the Shocker Women are predicted to finish 5th in the 14 team field.

SHOCKER PODIUM WATCH

SHOCKER PODIUM WATCH

• Destiny Masters leads the conference in the high jump with a season- and personal-best clearance of 1.85m/6'0.75", which she recorded during the K-State Multis pentathlon.
• Masters is the lone Shocker woman to lead the AAC in an event going into the championship meet.
• Masters enters the championships meet ranked second in the 60-meter hurdles, second in the pentathlon and fifth in the long jump but will be competing in the individual events after completing a full pentathlon. The hurdles prelim and long jump will take place on the same day as the pentathlon and high jump will be on day two.
• Farrah Miller ranks third in the conference in the 800 meters after finishing third at last year's AAC Indoor Championships with a personal-best time of 2:07.61 from the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. The top three times in the conference are within one second of each other with Rice's Taigen Hunter-Galvan at 2:07.11 and Tulane's Janae Dean at 2:07.34. Miller could claim the Shockers' first-ever AAC 800-meter title and first conference title in the event since Danielle Walker in 2012.
• Chidera Okoro looks to score points for the first time in her career and will aim for the podium in the long jump as one of four AAC athletes who have broken the 6-meter barrier this season. She is seeded fourth with Masters right behind her in fifth. The pair is slated to score nine points in the event, and Okoro is also ranked seeded seventh in the triple jump.
• The Wichita State 4x400-meter relay seeks to match or surpass its best AAC Indoor Championship finish in the event, ranking fourth entering the race. The Shockers best finish in this conference came in 2018 when they placed fourth.

[1972Shocker]

AAC Indoor Pentathlon

Eliza Kraule, a Rice junior. has the best pentathlon score coming into the AAC Championships at 4,276 points. The Shockers' Destiny Masters is close behind with a score of 4,211 points. These ladies are about 500 points ahead of the field coming into the Championships although there are at least several strong competitors who did not complete a pentathlon during the indoor season. Big field with 22 athletes starting.

Event 1 - 60m Hurdles: A good start for both Eliza and Destiny. Destiny clocked in at 8.40 seconds good for 1,039 points followed closely by Eliza at 8.47 seconds good for 1,024 points. Both times broke the previous meet record. Shocker Kenisa Meyer finished 5th with a time of 8.80 seconds good for 952 points.

Event 2 - High Jump: Destiny wins the high jump with a meet record 5-11.5 good for 1,003 points but Eliza again is close behind clearing 5-10.5 for 966 points. Destiny leads with by 52 points after 2 events. Keep in mind that the 60 hurdles and the high jump are Destiny's 2 strongest events.

This is setting up to be quite a battle between Destiny and Eliza. Base on the performance charts the remaining 3 events appear to favor Eliza. Can Destiny find that little bit extra she probably needs to prevail.

Event 3 - Shot Put: Destiny with at put of 39-8 finished just ahead of Eliza who had a mark of 38-1.5. Destiny now leads Eliza by 83 points with two events to go. SMU's Olivia Dobson moved into 3rd place with a strong shot put mark of 46-2.5 and trails Destiny by 161 points and might be in shouting distance.

Event 4 - Long Jump: Eliza set a new meet record with a new PB of 20-6 while Destiny recorded a jump of 19-3.5 which moves Eliza into the lead with Destiny trailing by 34 points. Not looking good for Destiny with Eliza the stronger 800m runner.

While waiting for the pentathlon 800m run Destiny has competed in the open 60m hurdles prelims and the open long jump. So that will make it even more difficult to overcome Eliza's lead.

Event 5 - 800m Run: Rice's Eliza Kruale ran a 2:23.35 good for 779 points as she pulled away from the Shocks' Destiny Masters who ran a 2:36.10 for 618 points. Kruale set an new personal best of 4,335 points in winning the pentathlon with Destiny 195 points back at 4,140 points. Kruale moves up to 2nd nationally while Destiny is sitting at #8. Kruale looks like a lock for the NCAA Championships. Will have to wait and see how Destiny's mark of 4,211 holds up.

Good effort by Destiny especially considering she had the 2 open events on top of the heptathlon events.

[1972Shocker]

AAC Indoor - Other Events - Friday

Mile Run - Prelim: Shockers not expected to be a factor and they weren't. Jr. Jenna Muma was seeded 15th in the 26 runner field and finished 15th. A little bit of positive news is that Fr. Isabella Hartnett, who was seeded 21st, finished 14th with a personal best of 5:03.52. Perhaps a little hope for the future there. Neither qualified for the 12-runner final.

60m Hurdle Prelim: While she is waiting around for the 800m run to close out the pentathlon Destiny ran an 8.53 second 60m hurdle to qualify for Saturday's 8-runner final out of a field of 30 runners along with Shocker freshman who ran an 8.59 to also qualify for the final 8.

800m Run Prelim: Shocker senior, Farrah Miller, qualifies for the 8-runner 800m finals with a time of 2:10.76 which was the 2nd fastest qualifying time.

Long Jump: Destiny also competing in the long jump before (and it looks like after) running the 800m to close out the pentathlon. That's tough duty. Chidera Okoro finishes 5th with a leap of 19-7.5 and Destiny finishes 7th with a jump of 19-1.5 to bank 6 points for the Shocks.

Pole Vault: The Shockers were not expected to be a factor in this event and they weren't. However, Isa Evans did manage to set a new PR at 12-0.75 which was tied for 13th place. 12-6.75 or better was need to score this year so maybe will get there. Sounds like reinforcements are on the way. Charlotte's Riley Felts won with a vault of 14-8 which is #4 the nation this year.

DMR: The Shocks finished 5th with Leah Jerkovic (1200) to Sydney Brown (400) to Audrey Parson (800) to Jenna Muma (1600)

[1972Shocker]

AAC Indoor - Other Events - Saturday

60m Hurdles: Kate Campos (8.51) and Destiny Masters (8.57) finished 7th and 8th which is below expectations, at least for Destiny. But Destiny had a long tough day yesterday and could be a little spent. Perhaps hit a hurdle. Destiny is nornally around 8.35 to 8.45. Kate's result is not bad for a freshman. The Shocks pickup 3 points.
.
800m Run: Senior Farrah Miller finishes second with a new Shocker school record of 2:04.68 which also broke the previous meet record. Miller broke the previous Shocker record of 2:06.77 set by Linda Feldberga in 2006. Congratulations Farrah.

High Jump: A very busy Destiny Master set a new personal best, new meet record and tying the best All-Time mark with a jump of 6-1.25 to win the open high jump. Sophomore Mattelyn Swartz cleared 5-4.5 with 4 other jumper but based on fewest misses tied for 8th to earn a half point. Marissa Jensen, the Shockers 2nd best high jumper redshirted this season although I am not sure what was behind that decision.

Shot Put: Kylie Zimmer finishes 5th with a put of 47-.0.75 for 4 points.

3000m Run: Shocker junior Lucy Ndungu who came in to the races as the 13th seed ran a new PB of 9:36.08 to finish 5th and pick up an unexpected 4 points for the Shocks.

4x400m Relay: The Shocks eek out an 8th place finish to pick up 1 more point in the days final event.