*NCAA CROSS COUNTRY MIDWEST REGIONALS – PREVIEW*
Wichita State will travel over to Columbia, Missouri, to compete in one of nine NCAA Cross Country Regionals across the country this weekend. Before I get into what the Shockers have to do to qualify to the NCAA Championships, let me explain HOW you qualify first:
The top-2 teams from across the nine regions receive automatic bids to NCAA’s (total of 18 teams), then 13 “at-large” teams are chosen to fill out the field. The at-large selections are based first on their performance at regionals (making 3rd and 4th place teams most likely candidates). A committee looks at regular season and conference championships to create a resume that accumulate points for victories over teams that have already been selected for the NCAA meet.
The top-4 individual runners that aren’t on a team that qualifies will also get to compete at NCAA’s. And since the at-large team process can take some time to figure out, often athletes won’t know right away if they qualify as an individual.
How do the Shockers stack up? The men come in ranked #8 in the region and the women are not ranked in the top-15. Those rankings don’t mean a lot since WSU has beaten teams during the regular season that are currently ahead of them (the regional ranking system isn’t very scientific). On the men’s side, the top-2 ranked teams are heavy favorites to advance (Oklahoma St and Tulsa), after that the race looks to be pretty open and that’s where Coach Hunter and the Shockers are setting their targets. Finishing 3rd all but assures the team of qualifying. Fourth would probably be 50/50 and anything 5th or lower would be a long shot. It’s one of the toughest regionals in the country, so a good placing will go far in terms of advancement. Individually, the top-3 guys from conference (Clayton Duchatschek, Adrian Diaz-Lopez, and Ben Flowers) have all showed potential to qualify as well. On the women’s side, it doesn’t appear we have a team ready to challenge the NCAA qualifiers yet, but individually Abeba Sullivan is in the best form of her career and could be in the mix. It will be a great experience for the young women’s team, and a valuable one if they aspire for national success in the future.
Also, the men’s race will move up from the 8k distance they’ve run all year to 10k (women remain at 6k). How does that affect the Shockers? If you’ve followed the team closely and looked at splits during their races, you’ll notice the men are best in the 2nd half of the race, and in particular the last 2000m. Coach Hunter has been doing a great job in preparing them for the championship season, so that should bode well in adjusting to the longer distance.
The women will race the 6k at 11am, with the men stepping up to the 10k at noon. If you aren’t there in person, make sure to follow our social media accounts for live stats and results during the race! Should be fun!
-NCAA Regional info: https://www.visitcolumbiamo.com/ncaa-2022-division-i-cross-country-regional/
**COACH BOLT DID IT! 65 HOLES OF GOLF!**
Coach Rainbolt once again accomplished his goal (and raised money for WSU T&F) of walking the number of holes that he is old. And not only did he finish before sunset, but he also played extremely well shooting 86-85-83 in the 18-hole rounds before finishing up with the final 11 holes and a total score of 305. His goal was to shoot around 90 for each round (total 325). If you’re impressed with the accomplishment, you can still donate to the fundraiser! Email me for details!
Thanks to everyone who came out in person or who has already donated! Special thanks to Shocker alum Larry Staton who was out there for all 65 holes and documented it with pictures and videos! Check out Larry’s work here:
Video recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9RZ3MQC8D4
Photos: https://shockertrack.smugmug.com/Coach-Rainbolt-Golf-Challenge-2022/Bolt-Takes-on-Golf-Challenge/
Make sure to subscribe to Larry’s YouTube channel, which is solely devoted to supporting WSU T&F and Cross Country! https://www.youtube.com/user/stixstat/videos
***DECEMBER 9 INTRASQUAD AND SENIOR CELEBRATION***
We are starting to get details together for a big day in our program – December 9, 2022! Early in the day we will host our annual Intrasquad Meet where our Shockers will preview the 2023 version of WSU Track & Field. Later that evening (beginning at 7pm), we will be celebrating the past three years of seniors. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do this in recent years because of Covid, but we are very excited to see as many alums as possible on December 9. Not only will it be a celebration of seniors, but it’ll be a terrific event for any current or former Shocker fan, parent, or alumni. We’ll be having a silent auction as well as celebrating our men’s championship from last spring with a special ring ceremony. Admission will only be $10 (free for current athletes and honored alumni). Look for more info in the next few weeks on how to reserve your spot!
We are currently looking for donations for the silent auction, so if you have something you think would be good for that please let us know! This has been a great way for our program to raise money to pay for senior awards in the past years. And it makes for a fun night bidding on unique items for Shocker Track & Field!
//ATTACHMENTS (PDF’s)//
–none this week
//LINKS//
–XC schedule – https://goshockers.com/sports/cross-country/schedule
–T&F schedule – https://goshockers.com/sports/track-and-field/schedule
–GoShockers video galleries – https://www.facebook.com/GoShockersTFXC/videos/?ref=page_internal
–Shocker Track Backers photo galleries – https://shockertrack.smugmug.com/
–Shocker Track Club – http://www.shockertrackclub.com/
–NCAA and AAC results and performance lists (TFRRS) – https://www.tfrrs.org/
DISCLAIMER
This is one of our weekly emails that I will send out each Sunday of the season. It has a ton of information attached that will hopefully enhance your knowledge and excitement for our 2022-23 season! If, at any time, you do not want to receive these emails simply reply to this message and let me know. On the other hand, if there are other people you think would want to get this info let us know that too.
Keeping track of detailed T&F stats for a team of over 100 athletes is a huge undertaking and, inevitably, there will be some mistakes. If you see anything that is not right just shoot me a quick message and I will make sure to fix it for the next time. If you are not familiar with TFRRS make sure to check it out. It is the official NCAA results website and full of tons of information and stats.
Follow Wichita State Track & Field on our Facebook page as well at @GoShockersTFXC on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Wichita State Track & Field on our Facebook page as well at @GoShockersTFXC on Twitter and Instagram.