CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Wichita State
junior Kellyn Johnson earned the only victory for the Shockers on Friday at the
State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships in Cedar
Falls, Iowa at the UNI-Dome on
the campus of the University of Northern
Iowa.
The junior transfer from Cloud [Kan.]
CC won the 5,000 meters by nearly three seconds clocking a time of 17:06.99.
Also in the race, newcomer Irene Kosgei placed fifth with a time of 17:41.42
outracing Indiana State's
Kayla Alexander down the homestretch.
“I was really happy for Kellyn today,” head coach Steve
Rainbolt said. “She looked like she ran a smooth, controlled race from start to
finish.”
After the opening day of the conference championships, the
Shocker men and women sit in third and fourth place with 24 and 23 points,
respectively. Southern Illinois leads the men's team
race with 53 points, while Northern Iowa leads the
women's standings with 62 points.
“I felt like we had a good day today on both the men's and
women's sides,” Rainbolt said. “I feel like we are on pace for strong finishes
tomorrow, but it will still be a dogfight.”
The Shockers were also successful in the men's and women's
distance medley relay races. The women placed second in the race with a time of
11:54.06. Olivia Martinez, Kiara Moore, Heather Klotz, and Mica
Land combined for the all-MVC
performance. For the men, Bryce Forward closed hard down the homestretch in the
mile to move up from fifth and help gain the Shockers a third-place finish (10:13.71). Sam Chege opened the race for WSU,
followed by Justin Smith and Jake Stecklein.
“I was really happy with our (DMR) relays today,” Rainbolt
said. “They ran some nice races to get second and third.”
On the men's side, the Shockers scored solid points in the
long jump and the pole vault. Justin Taylor was one of three Shockers to place
in the long jump, finishing fourth with a leap of 23 feet, 1 ? inches. Freshman Josh
Crawford (22-8 ?) took seventh, and Tyler Simmons (22-8) took eighth in the
event.
The Shocker men's pole vault crew combined to score nine
points led by Chris Dickman and Zack Steffen. Dickman and Steffen tied for
fourth place, each clearing a height of 15-9 ?. Tony Johnson also
placed, clearing 15-3 ? to tie for seventh.
Also in the field events, Kyle Becker tossed a season best
of 57-3 ? to place seventh in the weight throw.
Junior Scott Reed placed in the only final track event, the
5,000m. Reed came away with eighth place with a time of 15:05.14.
In the women's pentathlon, junior Stephanie Hammond battled
through a painful foot injury to finish in eighth place. Hammond
posted a score of 3,102 points, just 47 behind sixth place.
The men's heptathlon finished four of the seven events on
the first day. Krzysztof Slupkowski is sitting in second, just eight points
behind UNI's Mat Clark. Justin Taylor and Chris Dickman also hold down spots in
the top five, sitting in third and fifth respectively. Each of the top five
competitors is within 160 points of the leader.
Day One also saw many Shockers qualify in track events.
Senior sprinter Jennifer Snyder moved on to the finals in both the 60m hurdles
(8.51) and the 400m (56.69). Snyder is the top qualifier in the hurdles and had
the second fastest time in the 400m. Also for the women, Linda Feldberga
(2:15.10) qualified sixth in the 800m.
For the men, Girts Azis led the final round qualifiers. Azis
(1:53.97) and fellow Latvian Arturs Lazdekalns (1:55.00) had the first and
third fastest times of the day in the 800m. The Shockers had three qualifiers
in the 60m hurdles led by Luther Wilson's second-ranked run (8.08), which was a
career best. Chris Allen (8.36) will be ranked fifth heading into the final and
teammate Cooper Hanning (8.38) qualified eighth. In the 200m, Jared Foley
qualified fifth with a time of 22.01.
The Shockers will be back in action tomorrow for Day Two of
the MVC Indoor Championships at the UNI-Dome.
--Wichita State--
