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

[1972Shocker]

My bad. Wrong thread. Moved to WBB Non-Conference Game Thread

[ShockTalk]

KANSAS (4-4) vs. WICHITA STATE (4-5)
Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023 | 1 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Steve Strain

SCOUTING KANSAS
> Led by 9th-year head coach Brandon Schneider (26^th year overall), Kansas (4-4) is coming off a 79-57 win over Houston Christian.
> The Jayhawks' only four losses have come against teams which are currently ranked in the top 25 or are receiving votes (No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 17 UConn, No. 25 Penn State and RV Texas A&M). 2 of those were road games and 2 were in the Cayman Islands.
> Four Jayhawks are averaging double-digit scoring with Taiyanna Jackson leading the team with 13.7 points per game and S'Mya Nichols averaging 13.5, Holly Kersgieter averaging 12 and Zakiyah Franklin averaging 10.5.
> Jackson is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 9.6 rebounds per game.
> The Jayhawks were picked third of 14 teams in the Big 12 preseason poll after winning the WNIT last season.

---

This one has the potential, perhaps even the probability of getting pretty ugly for the Shocks.

KU's leading scoring and rebounder is 6-6 Super-Senior Taiyanna Jackson and she is backup up by a 6-4 Junior. The Jayhawks start 3 Super-Seniors, a 4th year senior and a freshman. Their top reserves is also a Super-Senior.

Hopefully, Brandon Schneider will try not to lay it on his form assistant too thick if KU gets a big lead.

Dude!! I didn't know they held cross country and track meets inside Koch Arena. Oh wait!

[1972Shocker]

Dude!! I didn't know they held cross country and track meets inside Koch Arena. Oh wait!

My bad, moved it. However, in women's track and field news, John Wise in his podcast above did indicate the Destiny Masters will have 2 more cracks at getting her pentathlon scores up in an attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Destiny Masters currently sits at #1 in the nation at 4,173. He actual school record score was 4,151 but has been converted to 4,173 due to track size which I assume comes in to play on the 800m run. That said many, probably most, of the top pentathletes have yet to complete a pentathlon.

As of now Destiny is planning on competing in a Pentathlon/Heptathlon meet at K-State on February 1st. We should know a lot more about her chances a making the the NCAA Championships after this meet. And, of course, she will compete in the pentathlon at the AAC Indoor Championships on Feb 23rd and 24th in Birmingham.

In the meantime she will try to get and stay as healthy as she can, refine her strong events and work on improving in her weaker events.

[1972Shocker]

They all sound tough to me:

[1972Shocker]

Didn't Welter vault for former Shocker Brooke Demo at one of the Kentucky schools?

That alone means she's been coached well and probably has a good mentor. It might also help explain landing Rexford.

I'm not sure how much improvement vaulters generally make from HS to college, but you would think getting to 12-6 and beyond should be attainable for both of these athletes before their time here is done.

Yes, Coach Welter vaulted under Brooke (Demo) Rasnick for 4 years at Louisville.

How much improvement one can expect from HS to college is hard to predict as I am sure it varies from athlete to athlete. However, the Shockers last 13' women's pole vaulter was Alesa Frey out of Broofkield, Missouri. Alesa's collegiate bests were 13-3.75 outdoors in 2017 and 13-1.75 indoors in 2019.

Alesa's high school best was 11-9. That equals the high school best for Shellamae Farmer, the girl from Hoisington, and is exceeded by the 12-0 high school best for Abby Rexford, the girl from Wilmore, Kentucky.

I don't think the Shockers have ever had two 13' vaulters on the team in the same time although Brook Demo (2005-2009) and Cassie Craig (2008-2013) were on the roster at the same time in the 2008-09 season. However, Cassie wasn't yet a 13' vaulter. Her freshman season bests were 11-11.25 indoors and 11-9.75 outdoors. Brooke set her PB outdoors in the spring of 2008 at 13-9.25 and set her indoor best of 13-3.25 in 2009. Cassie's collegiate bests were a 13-2.25 indoors in 2010 and a 13-4.5 outdoors in 2012.

Not sure how many athletes improved from high school to college as much as Brooke Demo did. She only competed in the pole vault for 2 years at El Dorado High winning the 4A state championship with a jump of 11-0. By the end ofher freshman season at WSU she had cleared 12-5.75.

Cassie's high school best vault was 11-6. Her best vaults as a freshman at WSU were 11-11.25 indoors and 11-9.75 outdoors.

So it would appear that if Shellamae and Abby are motivated and diligent workers that the Shockers just might have a good shot at having a couple of 13' foot vaulters in a couple of years. The Shocks have only had 6 women break the 13' mark in school history.

BTW, Coach Welter's college bests were 14-3.25 indoors and 14-3.5 outdoors. Coach Welter was a level 10 gymnast out of high school. Coach Welter's high school bests were 12-6 indoors and 13-1 outdoors.

[1972Shocker]

Speaking of high school to college improvement I thought I would look at how much Destiny Masters has improved since high school in a few of her events. GoShockers.com lists her high schools bests in 3 events as follows:

High Jump: 5-2 (Her collegiate best is 6-0)
Long Jump: 17-4.75 (Her collegiate best is 19-11)
100m Hurdles: 16.01 (Her collegiate best is 13.83 - I believe the hurdle height for high school girls is the same as for the collegiate women)

[1972Shocker]

Coach Welter adds another vaulter to her Shocker women's squad.

https://twitter.com/GoShockersTFXC/s...65766061764736

Isabella Evans was the 2022 Kansas 6A Champion and was at Arizona last year (where she redshirted) and presumably this year's fall semester (although she may have sat out the semester at home). Her high school best was 11-6.25. Not quite there with Class of 2024 signees, Abby Rexford and Shellamae Farmer, but not bad. On par with Cassie Craig's high school best. I'm thinking isabella will be on the roster this spring semester, but don't know that for sure yet.

YouTube Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxAG...lH_4bz&index=1

[1972Shocker]

KU-KSU-WSU Triangular - Notable Shocker Performances

The Triangular marks the only meet of the season that is scored as combined co-ed teams with a mixed 4x400-meter relay to finish it out.

The meet will be scored using the 7-5-4-3-2-1 system with only two athletes per team able to score in each event.

Women's Long Jump: Destiny Masters finished 2nd in the long jump with a leap of 18-9.75. Not her best but a good solid jump.

Women's High Jump: Destiny picked up 2nd place points in this event as well with a new personal best clearance of 6-0.75.

Women's 60m Hurdles: Destiny finished 3rd with a time of 8.63 seconds which is about 0.25 seconds off her best time. True freshman Kate Campos, out of PIus X HS in Lincoln, Nebraska, was 4th with a very solid 8.64 mark in her collegiate debut. That's only 0.03 seconds off of a WSU Top 10 mark. Definitely a young lady to keep your eye on.

Women's 600y Run: Sr. Farrah Miller finished 2nd in the 600 yard run with a new personal best and WSU school record time of 1:23.55.

Women's 800m Run: So. Lea Jerkovic wins the 800m run with a time of 2:21.18 and Fr. Finja Lammeyer, out of Hamburg, Germany, finished 4th in 2:24.83 in her Shocker debut.

Women's 200m Run: Jr. Sydney (Johnson) Brown finishes 2nd in a solid time of 24.96 but I think Sydney has more in her.

[1972Shocker]

Here is Destiny's new personal best high jump of 6-0.75 that she cleared at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular. Cleared it with room to spare.

[WstateU]

[SubGod22]

Just a few other things of note from the past few days.

[1972Shocker]

Lea Jerkovic, out of Bremen, Germany, does not have the typical body type for a distance runner. Her time of 2:57.29 to win the 1000m run today at the Prairie Wolf Invitational in Lincoln moves the sophomore into 8th place all-time at Wichita State at this distance just 0.01 second behind Maria Romero. So body type or not she is making it work.

[1972Shocker]

Destiny Masters set a new PR in the shot put at 40-11. A distance like that would serve Destiny very well in the pentathlon and heptathlon.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks are competing today in the Mark Colligan Memorial hosted by Nebraska.

Freshman Kate Campos, who is from Lincon, finished 2nd in the 60m hurdles with a new PB of 8.45 seconds which is tied for 4th best All-Time at Wichita State.

Junior Sydney (Johnson) Brown finished 3rd in the 400 with a PB of 56.47 which is 6th best in the AAC so far this season.

Senior Farrah Miller was 2nd in the 800 with a time of 2:11.78. That is 3rd best in the AAC so far this season but I think Farrah has a bit more in her

Farrah Miller, Sydney Brown, Elontae Hackney-Cooper, and Sadie Millard clocked in at 3:47.66 in the 4x400 which is 4th best in the AAC so far this season.

[1972Shocker]

Wilson Invitational to Honor Longtime Coaches Herm and Pat

Wichita State track and field is set to host the biggest meet the Heskett Center has ever seen with 29 teams and 891 athletes competing over the course of three days. That said this is pretty much a Juco, NAIA and D-II meet. Looks like Wichita State may be the only D-1 program with athletes competing. So perhaps mostly a recruiting event as far as Wichita State is concerned.

This is not exactly what I would describe as a fan friendly meet. For example in the 60m dash there are 12 heats for the women and 21 heats for the men. In the 200 there are 16 heats for the women and 19 heats for the mean.

With its current indoor facilities Wichita State is unlikely to draw much interest from other D-1 programs.

Wichita State will not compete its full team as a handful of athletes will use this week as a rest week before competing at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Feb. 2-3.

The meet, previously named the Herm Wilson Invitational, will be called the Wilson Invitational starting this year, to honor Wichita State's longtime pole vault coach Pat Wilson, who passed away this past August, as well as longtime head cross country and track and field coach Herm Wilson.

The biggest name competing for the Shocks is Destiny Masters. She is scheduled to compete in in the Pentathlon. i thought she was planning on competing in a multi-event meet at K-State on February 1st. Apparently, those plans have changed. Can't see Destiny competing in 2 pentathons 1 week apart.

Destiny's 4,173 point school record she put up at the Heskett Center at the Shocker Multi-Event Meet on November 30th continues to lead the nation, which is a bit surprising to me, although many multi-event athletes will wait until their conference championships before they do a full pentathlon. I am not sure if Destiny will be going all out to try to improve on her current mark or dialing it back just to get some work in on all events.