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

[1972Shocker]

RH: Podcast With Destiny Masters, Steve Rainbolt On Shocker Track And Field

Listen to the podcast

NCAA All-American Destiny Masters talks about her success in the pentathlon and high jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this month in Boston. We discuss why she and Rainbolt make a good team, why flexibility is key and how Masters found her love for track and field.

We also talk about why the 800 meters is a tough event and why Masters thrives in the high jump's do-or-die situations.

Masters, a junior from El Dorado, is a three-time NCAA All-American after she added to that list earlier this month in Boston at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She placed 12^th in the high jump with a height of 6 feet, ¾ inches to earn second-team All-American status. In the pentathlon, she placed sixth with 4,338 points to become the first Shocker to earn first-team All-American honors in the pentathlon.

[1972Shocker]

2024 Shocker Spring Invitational - March 29-30

Not a large field in this meet. In addition to the Shockers, K-State and Oklahoma State have sent a decent number of athletes. Not sure if they are their best guys and gals but nice to have some D-1 competition at a home meet. Cowley County CC looks to have a good contingent of athletes whit Colby CC sending a a smaller group. The field is round out by Shocker Track Club athletes and a number of unattached athletes.

Shocker athletes to keep an eye on:

Friday Events - Women:
4:00pm - Hammer: Jr. Samantha Marx
6:30pm - Javelin: Jr. Samantha Marx
8:15pm - 1500m Run: Fr. Finja Lammeyer
8:45pm - 3000m Run: Jr. Lucy Ndungu

Friday Events - Men:
6:30pm - Javelin: So. Blake McCormick
8:15pm - 1500m Run: Jr. Adam Rzentkoski and Jr. Yared Kidane (Unattached)
8:45pm - 3000m Run: Jr. Zander Cobb

Saturday Events - Women:
11:30am - High Jump: Jr. Marissa Jensen and So. Mattelyn Swarts (Destiny Masters sitting this one out)
12:15pm - Long Jump: Jr. Chidera Okoro (Destiny Masters also sitting this one out)
2:30pm - 100m Hurdles: Fr. Kate Campos and Jr. Destiny Masters
2:55pm - 400m Dash: Jr. Farrah Miller and Jr. Sydney Brown
3:35pm - 400m Hurdles- Fr. Kate Campos

Saturday Events - Men:
12:15pm (Est) - Discus: So. Blake McCormick
12:15pm (Est) - High Jump: Jr. Brady Palen
1:15pm (Est) - Long Jump: Harry Barthelemy and Josh Parrish
After LJ - Triple Jump: Sr. Harry Barthelemy (only one other jumper from K-State)
2:45pm - 110m Hurdles: Sr. Joseph Holthusen, Jr. Adria Navajon, Jr. Jaleel Montgomery (Unattached), Fr. Josh Parrish and Fr. Jason Parrish
3:05pm - 400m Dash: Sr. JD Prinsloo
3:15pm - 100m Dash: Jr. Jaleel Montgomery (Unattached) and Sr. Joseph Holthusen
3:45pm - 400m Hurdles: So. Bryan Haney, Fr. Bock Merz and Fr. Jason Parrish
4:05pm - 200m Dash: Jr. Jaleel Montgomery (Unattached), Sr. Jospeh Holthusen, and So. Trace Spires
4:30pm - 800m Run: Jr. Yared Kidane (Unattached)

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Spring Invitational Results

Friday Events - Women:

4:00pm - Hammer: Jr. Samantha Marx -- Samantha fouled on all three of her attempts in the hammer. That was disappointing. Especially throwing on your home ring.

6:30pm - Javelin: Jr. Samantha Marx -- Samantha was about 18 feet shy of her PB so perhaps she is a bit rusty early in the season if not possibly bothered by an injury. However, Destiny Master uncorked a nice PB throw of 136-2. A throw like that should do pretty well in a heptathlon.

8:15pm - 1500m Run: Fr. Finja Lammeyer -- Lea Jerkovic actaully had the Shockers best time at 4:47.93 whil Finja ran a 4:50.58. Neither of those times are especially notewworthy in this event.

8:45pm - 3000m Run: Jr. Lucy Ndungu -- not a distance that is generally run or tracked in outdoor meets. It is more of a indoor distance. The outdoor race at this distance is the 3000m steeplechase. Lucy was only one of two runners to break 10 minutes finishing in 9:53.40. Bug I really don't have anything to benchmakr that against.

Saturday Events - Women:

11:30am - High Jump: Jr. Marissa Jensen and So. Mattelyn Swarts (Destiny Masters sitting this one out) -- Destiny did in fact compete and won the event easily with a jump of 5-9.25 which is nothing special for her. After clearing that height she passed on the next 2 heights to attempt to clear 6-0 but missed all 3 attempts at that height. Marissa and Mattelyn had relatively poor jumps at 5-5.75 and 5-4.5, respectively.

11:30am - Pole Vault: I had not listed this event in my preview because I wasn't expecting much. Arantxa Cortez, a junior transfer from Cowley CC, was the best Shocker student athlete clearing a so-so 11-6. Arantxa did clear 12-1.5 at Cowley. However, Arantxa was not the best Shocker. Apparently, Shoker pole vault coach Aliyah Welter decided she needed to show her vaulters how it is done. She entered the competiiton at 13-3.5 which as cleared by a KSU vaulter for 2nd place. Aliyah went on to clear the next two heights wlinning with a vault of 13-11.25. She had the bar moved up to 14-4 but missed all 3 attempts at that height.

11:30am - Shot Put: Of note was that Destiny Masters competed and set a new PB of 41-8.5. A put like that should do well in a heptathlon competition.

12:15pm - Long Jump: Jr. Chidera Okoro (Destiny Masters also sitting this one out) -- Chidera finished 2nd with a jump of 18-8. Her PB outdoors is 18-11.75 although she has jumped 19-8 indooors.

2:30pm - 100m Hurdles: Fr. Kate Campos and Jr. Destiny Masters -- Desiny ran a 14.07 which was okay but off of her PB of 13.83. Kenisa Meyer ran a PB of 14.23, Kate ran a 14.32 in her first collegiate 100m hurdle race and Courtney Wilborn ran a PG of 14.38.

2:55pm - 400m Dash: Jr. Farrah Miller and Jr. Sydney Brown -- Farrah scratched and Sydney ran a PB of 55.44. Not a time the porbably scores in the open 400 but would be handy in the 4x400 relay.

3:35pm - 400m Hurdles- Fr. Kate Campos -- Kate clocked in at 1:02.09. A decent time for her first collegiate 400m hurlde race.

4:20pm - 800m Run -- Although not an AAC scoring time it's worth noting that junior Audrey Parson set 4 second PB in thi race with a time of 2:13.34.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Host Combined Events, Head to Arkansas, Friends

https://goshockers.com/news/2024/4/2...s-friends.aspx

Wichita State Combined Events - Cessna Stadium - April 3rd and 4th

Destiny Masters, Tess Roman, Sadie Millard, Abby Klipstein and Kenisa Meyer will all compete in uniform in the heptathlon. The Shockers will compete against athletes from Colorado State and Cloud County CC.

Friends Spring Invitational - April 4th through April 6th

Arkansas Spring Invitational - April 6th

The majority of the team will then compete down the road at the Friends Spring Open, while three high jumpers will travel to Fayetteville, Ark. for the Arkansas Spring Invitational.

Marissa Jensen and Mattelyn Swartz.will head to Arkansas for the women with the high jump scheduled for 5:30 pm on Saturday.

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Not the greatest weather today in Doo-Dah. Thursday looking okay, Saturday is very windy and possibly stormy. Sunday looking better but sill a pretty breezy.

The weather in Fayetteville on Saturday looks pretty decent although pretty breezy.

Not exactly ideal for top level performances.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State Combined Events - Heptathlon (10-Woman Field)

Day 1 - Wednesday, April 3rd:

100m hurdles: Destiny Masters wins the event in 13.80 seconds, good for 1007 points. The time is a new PB but I'm guessing it won't be recognized as such since it is most likely a wind-aided mark.

High Jump: By the time Destiny entered the high jump competition at 5-7.75 the only other competitor remaining was Coloardo State's Tatum Bailey who had entered at just a little over 5 feet. After clearing 5-6.5 on her 3rd attempt Bailey missed all 3 attempts at 5-7.75. Destiny missed her first attempt at 5-7.75 then made 4 straight successful jumps clearing 5-11.25 before missing all 3 tries at 6-0.5 adding 991 points to her score. Destiny's PB outdoors is 6-0 even so 5-11.25 seems pretty solid especially in this wind.

Shot Put: Destiny won the shot put with a toss of 40-8.5 good for 688 points. Anything over 40 feet is a really good effort for Destiny in this event. Shocker junior Kenisa Meyers has the 2nd best mark with a new PB 37-6.75.

200m Dash; Destiny was edged out in this event by sophomore teammate Sadie Millard who clocked a 25.44 but she certainly helped pull Destiny around the track as Destiny finished a close 2nd with a new PB of 25.48. Again probably wind-aided. Destiny's previous best mark was 25.77.

At the end of Day 1 Destiny has 3,529 points and is 468 points ahead of Colorado State's Tereza Babicka.. 3 Shockers and a CSU Ram are bunched together b between 2,968 and 2,827 in 3rd through 6th places.

Looking ahead to tomorrow we have the long jump, the javelin and the 800m run. Destiny's PB in the heptathlon is 5,557 points which is 4th best all time at Wichita State. That mark is definitely in reach as is Breanne Borman's 3rd best mark of 5,640 points (2017). At the top of the Shocker all-time list in the heptathlon are Tanya Friesen with 5,899 points (2013) and Nikki Larch-Miller with 5,812 points (2015). I think Tanya is safe but Destiny might be able edge past Nikki but that would probably requiring matching her PB's in all 3 events.

The Heptathlon and Decathlon events are not contested at the First Round Sites of the Championships (East and West Divisions). Qualification to the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships in these two events is accomplished through a competitor’s position on the national descending order performance list for the current outdoor season. The top twenty-four (24) declared student-athletes in each of these two events will be accepted into the Championships for competition at the Final Championships Site.

The cutoff for the Top 24 spots in the heptathlon last year was 5,638 points. Destiny's personal best if 5,557 was 34th on last years performance list.

What I do not know is how the impact of the wind in the 100m hurdles, the 200m dash and the long jump will affect whether or not Destiny's score will be allowed for NCAA qualifying purposes.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State Combined Events - Heptathlon (10-Woman Field)

Day 2 - Thursday, April 3rd

Long Jump: A very solid effort in the long jump for Destiny as she went 19-4.75 for 822 points. That will finish up the events that she is strongest. in. That puts her at 4.351 with the javelin and 800m run left. I think 5,750 is within reach.

Javelin: A decent mark of 134-0 for Destiny on her 3rd and final attempt scoring 683 points. Her sophomore teammate, Tess Roman, edged her out in this event with a new PB of 137-1. Destiny sits at 5,034 points with her nemesis the 800m run left on her plate. She needs to run 2:28.20 to reach 5,750 points. Her PB in the 800 outdoors is 2:27.47. Tess is a little stronger 800 runner with an outdoor best of 2:21.19 as a freshman. Destiny needs to latch onto Tess and stay as close to her as she can.

800m Run: Shocker So. Sadie Millard won the event in a time of 2:18.49, while Tess finished 3rd in 2:25.75 and Destiny was 7th in a time of 2:28.28 good for 715 points.

Destiny closes out her winning heptathlon score with 5,749 points, setting a new PB and moving past Breanne Borman into the #3 spot all-time behind Tanya Friesen (5,899) and Nikki Larch-Miller (5,812) assuming the wind conditions don't disqualify the score for record book purposes.

That score would also be very likely to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championship finals if the wind conditions don't cause it to be a non-qualifying mark.

Tess Roman added 7 points to her PB in the heptathlon with 4,996 points (again subject to the effect of the wind).

[goshox74]

FYI, wind doesn't matter in the multi-events, except anything wind-aided won't count for individual event records or NCAA qualifying in open events. The reason is because the wind helps some events and hurts some events - basicially it evens out. Also with so few multi-event competitions the NCAA realizes it could end up not having the best athletes because of a slight gust of wind at an inopportune time.

[1972Shocker]

FYI, wind doesn't matter in the multi-events, except anything wind-aided won't count for individual event records or NCAA qualifying in open events. The reason is because the wind helps some events and hurts some events - basicially it evens out. Also with so few multi-event competitions the NCAA realizes it could end up not having the best athletes because of a slight gust of wind at an inopportune time.

I was hoping you would show up to edumacate me on that. Thanks so much.

[1972Shocker]

Friends Spring Invitational

Are we sure Coach Welter has used up all her eligibility?

In the pole vault, Arantxa Cortez was the top collegiate finisher, placing second behind Wichita State pole vault coach, Aliyah Welter. Cortez cleared an outdoor personal best of 3.75m/12'3.75", and Welter jumped 4.30m/14'1.25".

Cortez is a transfer from Cowley County CC and was the 2022 NJCAA indoor PV champion. She probably needs to be at 12-6 to have a chance of scoring points in the AAC.

Chidera Okoro gave the Shockers the long jump sweep, winning the women's competition with an outdoor personal-best jump of 5.93m/19'5.5".

[1972Shocker]

Shockers to Host 76th Annual KT Woodman Classic

Wichita State track and field welcomes athletes from 39 collegiate teams to Cessna Stadium for the 76^th annual KT Woodman Classic on Friday and Saturday. Including the high school Shocker Pre-State Challenge meet that is set for Thursday and Friday, around 2,500 track and field athletes will come through Cessna stadium over the course of three days.

Outside of the Shocker the great majority of the collegiate teams are Jucos and NAIA teams.

But that's okay, in fact, I might suggest that is by design.. Including the 2,500 high school athletes in the Pre-State Challenge and the many Jucos athletes in the KT Woodman Classic this is about the best way possible to get so many recruitable athletes on campus with the opportunity to scout them and expose them to the campus and the Shocker Track and Field program. By the team the KSHSAA championships roll around the coaching staff will already have had a chance to find some athletes where they would like to focus their attention. Nice little economic boost for the City as well.

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Miranda Dick, Farrah Miller, and Lucy Ndungu will head to California to race at the Bryan Clay Invitational and the Leopard Distance Carnival on Thursday and Friday.

[1972Shocker]

Late last night on the west coast, Lucy Ndungu clocked the fourth-fastest 10K time in Shocker history to finish fifth in her heat at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

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The real Shocker Queen in the 10k is, of course, Aliphine Tuliamuk whose best time was 32:07.20. Lucy has some work to do to get there. Not sure if that will happen but certainly something to shoot for.

That is the fastest time in the AAC this year but it is still very early in the season and I doesn't look like the Tulsa runners have posted any 10k marks yet this season.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State T&F/XC
@GoShockersTFXC

Miller Time! Farrah clocks the third-fastest 800 in school history at the Bryan Clay Invitational

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No. 2 in the AAC at this early stage in the season.

[1972Shocker]

Destiny Masters with a huge new PB in the javelin throw of 155-9 which is 19.5 feet further than her previous PB moves into the 7th spot in the Shocker All-Time top 10. Destiny in now in the All-Time top 10 at Wichita State in 5 outdoor events (100m hurdles, high jump, long jump, javelin and the heptathlon) and in 5 indoor events (60m dash, 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump, and pentathlon.)

That is the 2nd best throw in the AAC this year. The question is whether that will be an outlier. It is such a massive improvement in her PB I wonder if it is repeatable.

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[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]