Head track and field director
Steve Rainbolt, student-athletes
Ben Johnson,
Austin Corley and
Daysha Bullocks, fielded questions Tuesday afternoon, on the previous Shocker Multi, the upcoming Intrasquad meet and 2019 season expectations.
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HEAD COACH STEVE RAINBOLT ON...
...Ben Johnson:
"I was really happy for Ben as he was going along on that day one and I felt terrible for him when he wasn't able to continue but he showed himself to be ready for a big meet. Last year he ended 19th on the national list and they only take 16 guys to the NCAA indoors, so he just missed and scored 5,615 points. Friday, he was 100 or so points ahead of that pace after day one and I'm anticipating that when he is able to go through a solid indoor heptathlon at either Air Force or conference meet that he will be qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships."
...Team's performance:
"The men were dinged up and had a few guys that were not able to compete at the Shocker Multi. The women were all healthy enough to compete, we had eight women competing in the pentathlon. I was pleased with how they did, there was a bunch of them that redshirted last year and a number of them it was their first time in a Wichita State uniform. The multi event is a learning experience and I thought that everybody learned some of those good lessons and it will help them to prepare for the future."
...Intrasquad meet:
"I'm excited about our intrasquad meet this Friday, we also have a banquet that night and it would be great to see some people at the banquet. The intrasquad is one of the most spirited meets of the year, we divide our team into three teams and we also offer alumni to field a team. It's a quadrangular meet that is a scored team competition and it's really exciting, we do some odd distance events like the 150m, 300m and 600m, but generally speaking it's a pretty standard track meet and scored as quadrangular. Our athletes really look forward to it after a long fall training just before they break for the holidays."
...Expectations of 2019 season:
"The teams in the American better be ready for our men's team because we're going to be there competing hard to try to win a conference title. As far as the women are concerned, we redshirted all those athletes last year and I feel like our women winning the conference cross country title demonstrated that we are now ready to compete and they better be ready for us because we'll field a strong indoor and outdoor team."
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REDSHIRT SENIOR BEN JOHNSON ON...
...2019 season expectations:
"As far as a team, on the men's side, I think we can battle for a conference title in The American. We've had some good additions to team that are going to help us in areas that we've struggled with.
Cory Martens in the throws, we've got a good distance crew coming in, some good sprinters and we've got just about everyone returning from the multis. There was a lot of guys we lost last year but the major one was
Hunter Veith, at the indoor conference meet he was going back and forth between events and wasn't able to score a lot of points and at the outdoor conference he was injured. We didn't lose a lot of points from last year to this year and I think there are a lot of points we have returning and expect our newcomers to score some."
...Shocker Multi:
"We only have 5 of our 10 multis finish the meet, but every single person that finished set a personal record in the heptathlon. There was numerous personal records within the meet itself, that goes to show how hard the multi-group has been training. It didn't go as planned for me, I set a personal record in the 60m and jumped five centimeters short of my PR in the long jump with a strained hamstring. I threw big PR in the shot jump and high jumped 6'4" from short approach, overall day one was 100 or so points better than my best day one score and I know that my day two score will be better than it was last year."
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REDSHIRT SENIOR AUSTIN CORLEY ON...
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…Representing Yellow team:
 "We've won the past four seasons, each team wants to win and this year is in the air. A lot of multi athletes have dropped out due to injuries, but we're still going to come out and compete. Intrasquad is just a fun meet in general, you wouldn't think we'd get after it like we do but it is just like a regular track meet, the competition is real and it gets really hyped in there."
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…2019 season expectations:
 "After projections, the men are realistic in knowing that Houston will be a tough competitor. We have all been training really well and my group in general, the 400 group, we're a really tight group and we're always pushing each other every day. One day I'll have a really good run and the next Gauzy will have a good run, it's just a snowball effect and that really drives us to do better. The jumpers with Rayvon and Jared, they're always trying to push each other to get better and they know they can first and second. We're here to compete and we know we can do really well in this conference, the guys are realistic but we know that the other school's better step up because we're coming."
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…Events he'll enter Friday:
 "I'm planning to run the 60m, 60m hurdles, 4x200m and 300m, if everything goes well that is the goal. If things change, I'll run the 600m to score some points."
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REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE DAYSHA BULLOCKS ON...
…Representing White squad:
"This is a rivalry, white squad really does not like the yellow squad, we feel that they are cocky and 2018 is the year the white squad will win. We have a lot sleepers who are ready to make some noise Friday. Overall it's a fun meet and we all enjoy competing against each other, it's like practice but a little more intensified. I'm personally excited because this will be the first time I'm in a Shocker uniform in over a year."
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…2019 season expectations:
"The women are really excited for this year after having a lot of our members redshirt last season, everybody is coming back this year and everybody is healthy. We look to shake up the American Athletic Conference, I feel like they don't see us as an actual competitor. We have a really great chance of winning, especially in outdoor, we have a lot of strong people coming back as upperclassmen and our freshman class is really good this year. We have a lot of people that can hit all aspects of a track meet, we have really good multis coming back and overall we are really excited. These past couple of weeks we have really been focused with the task at hand which is competing for a conference championship and going out there to take care of business.
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…Events she'll enter Friday:
"I'll be competing in the 300m, 4x200m and I might surprise everybody with the 60m hurdles."
