2024-25 Shocker Women's XC and Track & Field

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers open their XC season hosting the JK Gold Classic at their home course, L.W. Clapp Memorial Park. Technically, the opened the season last weekend at the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic in Hutch but that was essentially a JV event as none of the Shockers top runners participated in that meet. The college women's race is at 9 a.m. Weather is looking great tomorrow morning for an XC race.

Lucy Ndungu and Miranda Dick are battling injuries and will not race on Saturday. Ndungu placed second in the AAC meet in 2023. Sarah Bertry, who placed third in last fall's JK Gold Classic, and Jenna Muma are running well this fall.

"(Bertry) came back looking really good," Hunter said. "She trained very hard. I think she's the best I've ever seen her."

Wichita State will host the conference championship at Clapp on Nov. 2.

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Hopefully nothing too serious injury-wise going on for Lucy and Miranda.

[1972Shocker]

Typically the JK Gold Classic only attracts a variety of D-II, NAIA, and JUCO teams this year's meet did draw perennial AAC Champion Tulsa along fellow AAC member North Texas. I assume that was largely, if not exclusively, because this years AAC Championships will be held at Clapp Park. Hopefully, they will find the meet to their liking and return in the future.

Unsurprisingly, Tulsa dominated the women's race finishing in the top 5 spots for a perfect score of 15 with times ranging from 17:16.49 to 17:37.01. North Texas wit a top finisher at #8 was 2nd with 70 points.

The Shocks were closed behind the Mean Green with 72 points led by Sr. Sarah Bertry's new PB of 17:37.72 was less than a second shy of what was needed to break up Tulsa's sweep. Sarah's previous PR was 18:02.2 set in this meet last year. So that was a very nice improvement. Sr. Jenna Muma also lowered her PB slightly and So. Isabelle Hartnett. Faith Ekart and Emily See are both freshman so this was the debut College XC race.

As mentioned in my meet preview post Lucy Ndungu (PB of 17:19.7) and Miranda Dick (PB of 17:36.6) did not compete due to injury. Had they competed its very likely the Shocks would have broken up Tulsa's sweep and would have finished ahead of North Texas (assuming North Texas was at full strength).

Wichita State will have three weeks of training before returning to competition for the Gans Creek Classic on Friday, Sept. 27 in Columbia, Mo.

[1972Shocker]

XC Preview: Gans Creek Classic

The Wichita State cross country teams are set to race in the sixth annual Gans Creek Classic, hosted by Missouri, on Friday morning in Columbia.

The women's in the DI 6K run at 8:45 a.m. with two Shocker women running in open 6K at 10:15 a.m.

The Gans Creek Classic Division I Women's race features over 300 athletes from 36 teams, including in-state rivals Kansas and Kansas State, as well as American Athletic Conference foeTulsa.

The Gans Creek Classic presents the highest level of competition for the Shockers this regular season as the Shockers look to move up in the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Rankings.

The Wichita State women will face off against three other regionally ranked teams, host Missouri (No. 8), Kansas (No. 10) and Illinois State (No. 13), and the Shocker women will race against Midwest No. 9, Tulsa, No. 13 Missouri and No. 15 South Dakota, in addition to three nationally ranked squads, Florida (No. 6), Tennessee (No. 9) and Ole Miss (No. 26).

Miranda Dick is scheduled to make her 2024 season debut after sitting out the first two meets of the season. Dick finished 16^th at the 2023 Gans Creek Classic to help the Shockers to a third-place team finish and went on to earn all-conference recognition at the 2023 AAC Championships.

This meet will be the Shockers' first 6K of the season for the women which is the distance that will be contested at the AAC Championships on Nov. 2.

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Sounds like Lucy Ndungu is still sidelined.

[1972Shocker]

If they had Lucy available the Shockers perhaps would have been top 12 to 15. I'm wondering if Lucy maybe redshirting this season and, if so, whether that will extend to the indoor and outdoor track seasons as well. goshox74 do you have any insights on this?

Sarah Bertry, a senior from France recorded the best Shocker finish of the day, taking 59^th out of 329 athletes with a 22-second personal-best 6K time of 21:13.9.

"I was very happy with how Sarah ran her race," Hunter said. "She just consistently moved up the entire race, which is exactly what we wanted to do, and she showed she's a contender to be an all-conference girl."

[1972Shocker]

I've always wondered if any of our Shocker team incorporated yoga into their strength and conditioning regimen. I like it.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Shockers Welcome 34 Newcomers to the Track

The Wichita State track and field 2023-24 signing class has hit the track at Cessna Stadium for fall training and looks to make a strong impact on the team's success this season.

"We had a heck of a nice recruiting year on the men's side, and it's going to really bolster our men's team, which we were already excited about," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Steve Rainbolt said. "And we improved ourselves on the women's side. Our team is on an upward trajectory and is continuing to rebuild back to the top of the conference."

Wichita State signed 34 new student-athletes throughout the 2023-24 recruiting season, including five distance/mid-distance runners, five multi-event athletes, nine throwers, five pole vaulters, three sprinters/hurdlers and seven jumpers.

"We really feel like this turned out to be a nice group of newcomers, and we're excited to see the impact they have on Shocker track and field," Rainbolt said.

The Shockers welcome talent from nine different states and three countries, including 13 in-state recruits and three of Canada's top secondary school athletes, Cailey Freeze, Jett Hasiuk and Chairo Ogbebor. Ogbebor won the 2024 New Balance Indoor Nationals long jump competition, Hasiuk claimed the Alberta Provincial U18 record in the 400 meters with a time of 47.42 and competed for Team Canada at the U18 Commonwealth Games, and Freeze finished eighth in the 800 meters at the 2024 Canadian U20 Championships.

The incoming class also includes 10 high school state champions and a few of the top athletes in the nation in their respective events.

There's info on each member

[1972Shocker]

The 15 newcomers to the Women's team don't seem to be quite as strong as the 19 newcomers to the women's team, at least in terms of immediate help, but there does seem to be some nice potential to develop.

There is one area where the Shockers have been weak in recent years but appears to have been shored up significantly. Newly wed pole vault coach Aliyah Fertig (nee Welty) appears to have made significant improvement to the pole vault group.. We have already discussed this in depth. The high school PR's of her 4 newcomers are Shellamae Farmer (12-6). Abby Rexford (12-3.5), Kylie Scott (12-3.5) and Alexis Phillips (12-0). The Shockers had one vaulter clear 12' this past year. Arantxa Cortez cleared 12-3.5 in early April and 12-10 three weeks later. However, Arantxa was only able to clear 11-9 in this past years AAC Outdoor Championships although that was good enough for 8th place.

Unfortunately, were not seeing that yet in the men's pole vault squad but hopefully that will change in the next year or two. A lot may depend on much improvement Coach Fertig can get out of her current guys and the 1 relatively inexperienced male vaulter she did recruit.

Coach Rainbolt added Anna Bundy (no relation to Al and Peggy) to his high jump/multi event squads. Anna was the 2024 Kansas 6A high jump champion and cleared a personal-best 1.70m/5'7" as a senior. Rainbolt may have Anna pegged as a multi-event competitor perhaps with an eye to follow in the footsteps of the less heralded out of high school Destiny Masters.

https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita-state-athletics/wichita-state-women-s-sports/1406104-2023-24-shocker-women-s-xc-and-track-field?p=1447954#post1447954

Distance Coach Kirk Hunter seems pretty high on the 4 additions to his distance squad, especially Canadian Cailey Freeze, an appropriate name for a Canadian. However, I am thinking that name maybe a psuedonym, to cover up the plot to actually get Ivanka Trump on campus:

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[1972Shocker]

Shockers Finish 20th at Bradley Pink Classic

Sarah Bertry recorded the top Shocker finish for the third-straight race, finishing 47^th with a 6K time of 21:21.11. Jenna Muma (94^th), Faith Ekart (115^th), Lea Jerkovic (148^th) and Isabelle Hartnett (158^th) recorded the Shockers' other four scoring finishes as the Wichita State women placed 20^th out of 32 teams.

The Shockers continue to operate without their top XC runner as Lucy Ndungu (6k PR of 20:41) apparently redshirting this season and with their 2nd best runner Miranda Dick (PR of 21:09) not finishing this race (injury?). With a healthy Ndungu and Dick in the race the Shocks probably finish anywhere from 10th to 12th in this race.

The Shockers have one weekend off before hosting the American Athletic Conference Championships on Sat., Nov. 2 at Clapp Cross Country Course. Without Lucy Ndungu and a healthy Miranda Dick it seems pretty unlikely that the Shockers will be much of a factor this year.