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

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Multi - Pentathlon

The ladies competed in the 60 hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800m run.

Things seemed to be going okay for Destiny until the long jump where Destiny only jumped 17-11 which is 2 feet shy of her PR. She finished 2nd in the event only scoring 688 points. Destiny then withdrew and did not run the 800m race. A couple of possibilities here. Destiny may have tweaked something and decided not to press the issue and/or she felt like her poor score in the long jump would prevent her from putting up a national qualifying score and opted out of the 800m race, which she hates, since just winning this event was not really her priority.

Rso. Brianna Utecht who did not compete in the past 2 seasons due to injury won the competition with 3,796 points. Brianna's score put her in 10th place on the Shocker All-Time list displacing Claudia Rojo. Jr. Sadie Millard was 2nd with 3,614 points. Those scores would have finished 4th and 6th in last years AAC Indoor Championships.

Let's hope nothing to significant is going on with Destiny. I am not sure how many pentathlons she is planning on this season but I'm pretty sure she will compete in the DeLoss Dodds invitational at the end of January if she is healthy with the AAC Indoor Championships at the end of February.

[goshox74]

Destiny pulled out of the competition because she was noticeably sick. She tried to get through it, but was running on fumes by the time the long jump came around. She battled hard in the high jump to have a solid mark. You're correct in that she wasn't going to get a NCAA qualifying mark and decided not to run the 800.

[1972Shocker]

Thanks goshox74 for that report on Destiny Better for that to happen now then at the end of the season.

[SubGod22]

[SubGod22]

[1972Shocker]

I didn't see anything to get too hyped about with the 3 distance runners but distance runners are almost guaranteed to improve as they mature.

Lexi Boss has a high school PR as a junior of 144-6 in the discus and 125-5 in the javelin. Her discus PR would have placed 7th and her javelin PR would have placed 12th in last year's AAC Outdoor Championships. Lexi was the 2024 KSHAA Class 3A discus champ and had the 3rd best throw only exceeded by 2 Class 6A competitors. She finished 7th in the Class 3A javelin so has some work to do there.

Margo Todd has a high school PR as a junior of 140-10in the discus and 41-4 in the shot put. Her discus PR would have placed 11th and her shot put PR would have placed 13th in las year's AAC Championships. Margo was the 2024 Class 5A discus champ. She finished 7th in the Class 5A shot put at 37-7.5 but her PR would have been a closed 2nd.

Note that the weight of the discus, javelin and shot put are the same for high school and college female athletes. It will be interesting to see what kind of progression Lexi and Margo show as seniors but I think Coach Hetzendorf will have something to work with with Lexi and Margo.

[1972Shocker]

Now that is an All-American smile:

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[1972Shocker]

Small Group of Shockers Tunes Up at Friends First Chance Qualifier

Just a couple of items of note.

Freshman Kylie Scott made her collegiate debut winning the pole vault with a decent mark of 11-11.75. A solid start to her Shocker career. She will probably need to be in the neighborhood of 12-6 to get on the score board in the AAC.

Senior Destiny Masters participated in a couple of events running 8.72 (P) and 8.85 (F) in her two 60m hurdles races and leaping 18-5.75 in the long jump. This was her first action since failing to complete the pentathlon at the Shocker Multi on December 5th reportedly due to illness. Those are not particularly strong marks in these events from Destiny. Perhaps a little bit of a concern on where Destiny is with her fitness level at this point. She has a little under 7 weeks before the AAC Indoor Championships.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State Set for 11th Annual KU-KSU-WSU Triangular

For the majority of the Wichita State track and field team, Friday's 11^th Annual KU-KSU-WSU Triangular will serve as the 2025 indoor season opener.

The Sunflower State showdown is taking place in Manhattan, Kan. for the first time since 2018, hosted by K-State in its one-year-old indoor track facility. Field events begin at noon with the men's weight throw, and running events kick off at 2:30 p.m., starting with the women's 60-meter hurdles.

Each of the three teams will send a 30-man and 30-woman roster to compete for the team title. 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.

Two Shockers are entered in four events with freshman Chairo Ogbebor set to compete in triple jump, long jump, the 60 meters and 200 meters and senior Destiny Masters scheduled for the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and shot put. Ogbebor, along with 19 other athletes will be making their Shocker track and field debuts.

Wichita State has yet to win the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular, while K-State and Kansas have each won five times, with KU claiming that last two-consecutive titles.

The Shockers' best team finishes came in 2015 and 2020 when they took second with 234 and 221 points, respectively.

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Final Men & Women Combined Score: KU 254, WSU 210, KSU (Shocks finish 2nd for the 3rd time in the 11 years of this event)

Final Men's Score: WSU 126, KU 125, KSU 76.
Final Women;s Score: KU 129, KSU 112, and WSU 84

Some nice individual performances for the Shocks from both veterans and newcomers. I post the recap from goshockers.com when that is available.

[1972Shocker]

Highlights for the Shock women from the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular:

In the women's 200, senior Sydney (nee Johnson) Brown opened her season with a personal-best time of 24.25 to move up to tie with Jacque Darby for No. 4 in Shocker history, finishing second in the race.

Junior Sadie Millard also ran a Wichita State all-time top-10 time in the 400, finishing second in 55.80 to move into 9th place All-Time at Wichita State.

Freshman Faith Ekart made her collegiate debut running a decent 2:18.06 to finish 4th in the 800m run which is only 5 seconds outside of a Shocker Atl-Time Top 10 mark.

Another Shocker freshman, Cailey Freeze, ran the 10th best time in Shocker history in the 1000m run with a time of 2:57.59. That list is topped by Desirate Osburn (2:49.68) and Rebecca Tophan (2:49.71).

In the long jump, senior Chidera Okoro jumped her best season opener of her career, taking second with a mark of 5.87m/19'3.25".sen

In the pole vault senior Arantxa Cortez cleared 12-5.5 finishing 4th behind 3 KU vaulters who all were 1 to 1.5 feet higher. Freshmen Kylie Scott and Alexis Phillips made there college debuts and cleared 11-11.75.

Destiny Masters competed in the 60m hurdles, long jump, high jump and shot put which are the first 4 events of a pentathlon. Her marks were pretty similar to the mediocre marks (for her) that she scored in those 4 events at the Shocker Multi in early December. In fact, they would have scored at 84 points behind her December marks. Not sure what, if anything, is going on what Destiny.

[1972Shocker]

At the Prairie Wolf Invitational in the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday redshirt-junior Audrey Parson won the 600 meters with the third-fastest time in school history at 1:35.36, and freshman Faith Ekart won the 1,000 meters with the ninth-fastest time in school history at 2:57.32. Redshirt-junior Lea Jerkovic finished right behind Ekart in the 1,000, taking second with a time of 2:57.68.

Destiny Masters also threw a big personal best with a mark of 13.46m/44'2", almost a full meter farther than her previous best. She took fourth with her mark and ranks seventh in the AAC. Destiny also ran in the 60m dash running 7.83 in the prelims and 7.90 in the finals. Her PB in this event is 7.56.

[1972Shocker]

Competing against Nebraska, South Dakota and Kennesaw State at the Mark Colligan Memorial in Lincoln on Saturday the Shocker women recorded 4 top-three finishes and 2 Wichita State all-time top-10 marks.

Sophomore Kate Campos and Senior Destiny Masters went 2-3 in the women's final, running 8.57 and 8.58, respectively. Kate's PB in this event is 8.45 and Destiny's is 8.32. Destiny also cleared 5-9.75 in the high jump and leapt 18-10 in the long jump as she continues to edge back towards top form.

In the women's 400, Sadie Millard ran another personal best of 55.64 to move up to No. 7 in Wichita State history and finish third.

The Wichita State women capped off the meet with a second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay, running 3:49.23 with the squad of Sydney Brown, Sadie Millard, Audrey Parson and Campos.

Freshman Lexi Gagnon ran the 8th fastest 600m time in school history at 1:37.24 which was good for a 4th place finish at this meet.

Freshman Faith Ekart ran a 2:14.56 time in the 800m race. That's a couple of seconds outside the All-Time Top 10 marks at Wichita State but pretty solid for a freshman.

Freshman Kylie Scott and senior Arantxa Cortez both cleared 12-5.25 in the high jump.

[SubGod22]

[1972Shocker]

TF Preview: Coach Wilson Invite/DeLoss Dodds Invite/Washburn Open

Wichita State track and field is hosting the Coach Wilson Invitational from Thursday, Jan. 30 to Saturday, Feb. 1 in the Heskett Center. The meet honors longtime track and field coaches, Herm Wilson and Pat Wilson.

Coach Wilson Invitational events begin at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, 11:00 a.m. on Friday and 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Entry is free on Thursday and Friday and $5 at the door on Saturday.

Shockers to watch at the Coach Wilson Invitational include 60-meter hurdles champion from the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular, Kate Campos. The Shocker pole vault squad will be competing in full force, including Arantxa Cortez, who currently ranks fifth in the conference.

The Shocker multi-eventers travel to K-State to compete in the DeLoss Dodds Invitational on Friday, January 31st.

The No. 2-ranked pentathlon squad in the USTFCCCA week one national rankings heads to the DeLoss Dodds Invitational. Destiny Masters looks to put up a big pentathlon score to try to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships for a second-straight season. She did not complete her season opener pentathlon in December, dropping out due to illness, so this will be her first mark of the year. Brianna Utecht, Sadie Millard and Natalie Hill will also compete in the pentathlon at K-State. Redshirt sophomore Brianna Utecht currently leads the AAC in the pentathlon with a mark of 3.818 which would have finished 4th in the AAC Indoor Championships last year. Obviously, Destiny would be in search of a much higher mark than that. If Destiny can put up a big score Friday she can take it relatively easy until the AAC Indoor Championship meet at the end of February.

I am looking forward to see how Destiny Masters fares. So far her marks have generally been below her peak levels of the past but I am not sure if we have been seeing an all out effort by Destiny since her early December illness forced her to drop out of the pentathlon at the Shocker Multis. It could be this is by design to use the intervening non-multi events more for training and timing but to hold back on a max effort until is is most needed.

Coach Kirk Hunter is taking his group to the Washburn Open to race in the mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Sad to say that Washburn has a far superior indoor track facility than Wichita State has.