CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Wichita State men's and women's track teams were off to strong starts on Friday at the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championships at the Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex in Carbondale. While the men scored 36 points and ended day one in first place, the women scored 46.5 points and were also in first place to end day one.
The Shockers had two student-athletes who won championships—Chase Pote won the men's javelin throw as Meagan Williams won the women's javelin throw. Wichita State's men also broke three personal records and nearly set a school record. The WSU women broke several personal records and had a top-ten result in school history.
Decathlon/Heptathlon
Day one of the decathlon saw four Shockers finish in the top-ten and three finish in the top-five. Austin Bahner finished with 3794 points to finish the day in first place.
Kyle Troxler was third in the decathlon after day one by scoring 3409 points and Tobias Boese was fourth by scoring 3405 points. John Nicholas scored 3296 points to place seventh while setting a new personal record with a 6.82-meter long jump. Chris Peters scored 2937 points to place tenth.
During day one of the heptathlon, each Shocker finished in the top-ten while three placed in the top-five. Three of the Shockers also set new personal bests.
Nikki Larch-Miller finished the day in second with 3148 points to trail Paige Knodle of Northern Iowa by just 32 points. Breanne Borman finished third on the day with 3081 points and Jenny Pinkston finished fourth with 2989 points.
Rounding out day one for the Shockers in the heptathlon was Gavyn Yetter who placed seventh by scoring 2909 points while Jaclyn Abrahamian scored 2898 points. Sierra Hays was tenth, scoring 2681 points.
Larch-Miller set a personal best when she ran her 200m dash in 24.43 seconds as Pinkston set a personal best by running a 14.88 in the 100m hurdles. Hays set a new personal best of her own when she ran her 200m dash in 26.95 seconds, breaking her former personal record of 26.96 seconds.
Field Events
During the men's hammer throw, the Shockers had two top-ten finishes while one placed in second. Weston Cottrell placed in second with a throw of 62.65 meters (205-6) on his last throw of the day, edging out Curtis Wideman of Southern Illinois by .30 meters. Taylor Goldsmith placed eighth with a throw of 57.48 meters. Cottrell earned eight points for the Shockers while Goldsmith earned one.
By throwing 62.65 meters, Cottrell set a new personal best by 3.08 meters and now has the second-longest hammer throw in school history. He is just the second Shocker to ever record a throw of over 200. Cottrell's previous personal best in the hammer throw was 59.57m.
John Hamilton holds the WSU men's hammer throw record with a throw of 205-9.
The Shocker men earned 23 points in the javelin throw, including the top-two finishes, fifth place and eighth place. Pote won the javelin throw by throwing 62.93 meters, earning ten points. Tyson Holmes was second, throwing 61.69 meters while earning eight points.
Bahner placed fifth with a throw of 59.78 meters, setting a new personal best while scoring four points for the Shocker men. Dylan Reimer finished in eighth, throwing 56.98 meters that allowed the Shockers to score one point. Alex Freshour placed 11th by throwing 50.35 meters.
Emily Cook finished fourth in the hammer throw with a 55.58-meter throw, setting a new personal record. Her previous personal record in the hammer throw was 54.59 meters. Cook's fourth place finish also earned the Shocker women five points.
The Shocker women earned 31 points during the javelin throw due to placing first and also third through eighth. Meagan Williams posted a throw of 46.05 meters, winning the competition by more than half of a meter to score ten points. She also had the ninth longest javelin throw in school history.
Jaclyn Abrahamiam placed third by throwing 40.83 meters, scoring six points. Friday's javelin throw for Abrahamiam set a new personal record that was previously at 40.21 meters. Breanne Borman was fourth with a 39.57-meter throw, earning five points. Yetter set a new personal record when she threw 39.39m to place fifth while scoring four points.
Larch-Miller also set a new personal record in the javelin throw by throwing 39.25 meters to place sixth and to score three points. Madelyn Halstead placed seventh by throwing 38.19 meters to score two points. Rachel Shearrer was eighth, throwing the javelin at 36.45 meters to earn one point. Caitlin Bauer finished 11th by throwing 34.80 meters.
Cara Detmer had the best Shocker finish at the pole vault, placing in a tie for fourth with a vault of 3.74 meters to give the Shocker women four points. Janelle Wilgers finished right behind Detmer by vaulting 3.59 meters to give the Shockers two and a half points.
Kaylee Eklund placed in a four-way tie for eighth in the pole vault with a jump of 3.44 meters and McKenzee Kroeschell finished in a five-way tie for 12th with a vault of 3.29 meters.
Running Events
Ebeissa Nyandwi was fifth in the 10,000 meter run by running a time of 36:00.80, scoring four points while setting a new personal record.
Chris Burnett placed fifth in the 10,000 meter run by running a time of 29:56.53 and scored four points. Brady Johnson was 17th with a time of 31:47.09.
Women's Preliminary Qualifiers:
-Samantha Shukla qualified for the women's 1500m run finals (4:33.41)
-Nikki Larch-Miller qualified for the women's 200m dash finals (24.44s)
Men's Preliminary Qualifiers:
-Ugis Jocis qualified for the men's 1500m run finals (3:53.60)
-Rahim Thompson qualified for the men's 200m dash finals (21.94s)
-Drew Johnson qualified for the men's 200m dash finals (21.77s)
Shocker head track and field coach Steve Rainbolt was proud of the way his teams performed on day one.
“Today had to be one of the best days ever for Shocker Track and Field in a MVC Championship,” Rainbolt said. “We went up in almost every event we competed in. It was a great way to kick off the weekend.”
Live scoring will be available for day two of the 2014 MVC Outdoor Championships in the 'schedule box' on the home page and on the link above. The 2014 MVC Outdoor Championships can also be viewed live at the 'Watch Live' link.
*The photo used in the article is courtesy of Chris Zoeller.
-WICHITA STATE-
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