Greatest Shocker Female Athlete

[1972Shocker]

Here's one opinion:

"Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton is the greatest female athlete in the history of this athletic department,” Said Head Coach, Steve Rainbolt. “It’s a special thing to have her on our team.”

This after Aliphine shaved 32 seconds off her 10K PR in Palo Alto falling 0.63 seconds short of qualifying for the World Championships.

http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=207466760

Nice to see that Aliphine, as good as she is, continues to improve as her college career winds down.

:encouragement:

[goshox74]

If you only count her all-Americans as one per year, Aliphine would be a Three-Time NCAA First Team All-American. Is there another female athlete in WSU history that is even in the conversation? After college she will probably enjoy a long professional career and even have a shot at the Olympics if she keeps developing. She would be the 4th female distance runner to graduate from WSU in recent years and sign/run professionally (Desiraye Osburn, Tonya Nero, Kellyn Johnson). In fact, I would argue those 3 women might be the 2-3-4 women athletes in school history.

WSU has had a lot of success in women's athletics but Aliphine, in my opinion, is an obvious choice.

[1972Shocker]

I think Aliphine is the greatest female athlete in Shocker histoy in terms of being the most successful female athlete in her sport or event. Her results at an elite level speak for themselves.

A little different question is who is the best female athlete in terms of athleticism. That's a little more difficult question because athleticism is hard to define and observers may have different opinions on exactly what constitutes athleticism. But let's say it encompasses strength, speed, jumping ability, endurance, quick reactions, instincts.

It's also a little difficult to compare athletes in different sports and events because the skill sets are different.

Aliphine is an absolute machine and her endurance is spectacular. Howeve, in track and field I'm kind of partial to the multi-event athletes in terms of most athletic and Tonya Friesen (who I have seen) and Denise Brungardt Steenstra would top that list.

We have had some outstanding athleticism on the VB team during the Lambo era including Sarah Younes, Emily Stockman, Kelly Broussard and Emily Adney.

Women's basketball is interesting because our best players haven't always been our best athletes (i.e. Angela Buckner and Jennifer Kaczka) and our best athletes have not always been our best players (i.e. April Banks). Perhaps Kim Evans, Latessha Hill, Carlesa Dennis, Antionette Wells, Daria Frazier and Haliegh Lankster had the best combination of athleticism and basketball skills. However, current Shocker sophomore Alex Harden may end up a the top of that list by the time she is done. She may be the best pure athlete to play basketball at WSU. She was 4-time state long jump champ with a state record of 19-5.75 and 2-time state triple jump champion. If she had not played basketball Coach Bolt would probably love to have her on his squad. We will just have to see how Alex's basketball skills develop.

I'm sure there are many find female athletes I have not had the pleasure of seeing play and a number I am just not recalling right now, but the above are some of the most althletic female athletes I can recall.

[WuShock16]

I was having the same question as '72. The results speak for themselves, and certainly Aliphine is the most successful female athlete in WSU history. I would agree though that, in terms of pure athleticism, others surpass her. There is certainly more skill and athleticism involved in volleyball, basketball, or even multi-event track competition than long-distance running. I think Sara Lungren should be added to the list, as she deserves a strong argument for that distinction.

[Kung Wu]

Let's talk about speed versus endurance. A popular event in the Olympics is the 800 meter run. It's not quite a dash but definitely has a very strong speed element to it. At the KT Woodman here at WSU this year the runner won the 800 meter in 2:15 seconds. Last place came in at 3 minutes 10 seconds.

Well ... Aliphine's time in the 5000 meter run would have earned her 25th out of 55 women in the 800 meter run. And she ran that pace 6.25 TIMES the distance what the other women had to run it.

Said another way: A woman that never trained for that event would have taken 25th against very competitive women who do train for the event. And she sustained that output for over 6 times the distance. She was 12 seconds short of winning an 800M run with a 5000M pace.

Chew on that for a minute.

The woman is incredible.

[WstateU]

All great choices, however my list would also include a Kansas born and raised heptathlete…

Go Tanya Go!

[1972Shocker]

The woman is incredible.

As I said before she is an absolute machine. She AVERAGES 2:45 per each 800 meters in the 5K.

Perhaps even more impressive was her last 10K where she averaged 2:57 per each 800 meters in the 10K.

Aliphine strength is being able to maintain a very strong pace throughout her races. However, she has fallen just short in her quest for a National Championship because she simply doesn't have the finishing kick of some of the other top competitors like Betsy Saina of Iowa State. However, I think Aliphine is improving in that category and, hopefully, she will break through for a National Championship this year.

I'm thinking Aliphine could be become a tremendous marathon runner if she wanted to.

[1972Shocker]

@WstateU:, I agree and I did inlcude Tanya in my list and if you said, OK pick the best female athete (in terms of overall athleticism) in Shocker history I probably have to give the nod to Tanya.

That said, I think Aliphine is fantastic. Aliphine's trophy case is very difficult to argue against.

We will see both of these young ladies at Koch Arena in 5 years being inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame.

[WstateU]

@WstateU:, I agree and I did inlcude Tanya in my list and if you said, OK pick the best female athete (in terms of overall athleticism) in Shocker history I probably have to give the nod to Tanya.

That said, I think Aliphine is fantastic. Aliphine's trophy case is very difficult to argue against.

We will see both of these young ladies at Koch Arena in 5 years being inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame.

My speed reading is weak... completely missed that you had listed her.

[1972Shocker]

My speed reading is weak... completely missed that you had listed her.

No problem. Always enjoy a picture montage of Tanya.

Here are Tanya's Top 10 performances as a Shocker:

WSU All-Time Top 10 Lists

• #1 in Indoor Pentathlon (4,043 points)
• #1 in Outdoor Heptathlon (5,757 points)
• #2 in Outdoor High Jump (5-10 1/2)
• #4 in Indoor High Jump (5-8 3/4)
• #4 in Indoor Long Jump (20-2 1/2)
• #6 in Outdoor 100m Hurdles (13.93)
• #6 in Outdoor Long Jump (20-3 1/2)
• #9 in Indoor 60m Hurdles (8.64)

Tonya was a long-jumper and a triple-jumper at Buhler High School. Interestlingly, I don't think she was terribly sold on the idea of becoming a multi-event when Coach Bolt presented that idea to her. Tonya has added a little over 1,000 points to her heptathlon score in her 4 years as a Shocker. Glad she gave it a shot and stuck with it.

[1972Shocker]

Another Shocker trackster that deserves mentioning is Audacia Moore.

	Audacia Moore Position: Sprints/Jumps Year: Senior Hometown: Wichita, Kan. High School: Heights HS
WSU All-Time Top 10 Lists #1 in indoor 55m (6.92) #1 in indoor 60m (7.44) #1 in indoor 200m (24.13) #5 in indoor long jump (19-8) #5 in indoor triple jump (40-5 1/2) #1 in outdoor 100m (11.51) #1 in outdoor 200m (23.51) #5 in outdoor 400m (54.73) #7 in outdoor triple jump (40-6 1/4) Part of #1, #2, #3, #4 outdoor 4x100-meter relay teams Part of #1 and #3 indoor 4x400-meter relay teams Part of #1 indoor distance medley relay team NCAA West Preliminary Qualifier - 2010, 2011, 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Most Outstanding Track Athlete - 2011 Outdoor Missouri Valley Conference Most Vaulable Athlete - 2012 Indoor Missouri Valley Conference Champion - (200m; 4x100m relay - 2009 Outdoor; 200m - 2010 Indoor; 100m, 200m dashes - 2010 Outdoor; 60m, 200m - 2011 Indoor; 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay - 2011 Outdoor) All-Missouri Valley Conference - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete - 2010, 2011, 2012 MVC Women's Elite 18 Award winner - 2012 Audacia competed through an injury season most of her senior year. Audacia will be at Koch Arena center court in 4 years being inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame. The thing with Track & Field athletes is that they probably have the lowest scholarship funds available to them of all the sports WSU sponsors and they work as hard as any athletes at Wichita State with very, very little fanfare or attention paid to them. They deserve as much support as we can give them.

[Kung Wu]

What will that break down look like for Aliphine?

[1972Shocker]

	Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton Position: Distance Year: Senior Hometown: Kapenguria, Kenya Other College: Iowa State Experience: Transfer
WSU All-Time Top 10 Lists #1 in Indoor 3,000m (9:07.21) - MVC Record #1 in Indoor 5,000m (15:25.47) - MVC Record #1 in Outdoor 5,000m (15:18.86) - MVC Record #1 in Outdoor 10,000m (32:07.20) - MVC Record #1 in Cross Country 6,000m (19:57.7) #4 in Outdoor 1,500m (4:25.22) #5 in Indoor Mile (4:47.96) USTFCCCA First Team All-American - 2010: Cross Country; 2011: Indoor 5K; Outdoor 5K; Outdoor 10K; Cross Country; 2012: Indoor 3K; Indoor 5K; Outdoor 5K; Outdoor 10K NCAA Championships Qualifier - 2010: Cross Country; 2011: Indoor 5K; Outdoor 5K; Outdoor 10K; Cross Country; 2012: Indoor 3K; Indoor 5K; Outdoor 5K; Outdoor 10K; 2013: Indoor 3k, Indoor 5k NCAA West Preliminary Qualifier - 2011; 2012 MVC Women's Most Outstanding Athlete - 2012 Indoor MVC Women's Most Valuable Athlete: 2013 Indoor Missouri Valley Conference Champion - 2011: Indoor 3K; Indoor 5K; Outdoor 5K; Cross Country; 2012: Indoor 3K; Indoor 5K; Outdoor 5K; Outdoor 10K, Cross Country, 2013: Indoor 3K, Indoor 5K All-Missouri Valley Conference - 2011 Indoor; 2011 Cross Country; 2012 Indoor; 2012 Outdoor, 2013 Indoor MVC Scholar-Athlete - 2011; 2012 I expect you will be able to add to more All-American perforumances to this list in the 5K and the 10K NCAA Championships. She will probably add 2 or 3 more MVC Championships to the list. She may well win a MVC Most Valuable Athlete-Outdoor award to go with her two indoor MVA awards. She will definitely receive 2013 Outdoor All-Conference honors and I would expect that she will be named as a MVC Scholar Athlete again in 2013. The ulitmate, of course, would be a National Championship. She has a shot but it won't come easy.