The Basics
            The Shockers send a majority of their athletes on a short day trip Friday to Lawrence for the Jayhawk Classic. A small group of sprinters will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the Prairie Wolf Invitational on Friday. They'll get to practice on a 200-meter banked track, which is the same style track at the Birmingham Crossplex, the site of the AAC Indoor Championships. 
 
FOLLOW THE MEET
            Fans can follow live updates on Twitter @GoShockersTFXC. A recap will also be posted on Twitter and Facebook at the end of the competitions.
 
Meet Schedule
            The first day of the Jayhawk Classic is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. with the first day of heptathlon competition.
            Friday's section of the meet will start at 9 a.m. with both field events and running events.
            The Prairie Wolf Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska, starts at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.
 
Last Time Out
            The full roster of Shocker athletes opened their seasons last weekend with a pair of home meets.
            Friday saw the Shocker Prelude, which included WSU as well as Kansas' finest DII and JUCO schools.
            Antonio Norman and Joseph Holthusen put their names in the Shocker record books in the 60-meter hurdles. Holthusen ran a time of 8.00 seconds and Norman ran an 8.03. Holthusen is now at No. 6 all-time in the event and Norman is ninth-best in school history.
            Some Shockers competed unattached but put up some impressive marks and times in their respective events. Cory Martens (shot put), Sadie Boos (weight throw) and Ben Flowers (3,000 meters) all threw down big PRs as unattached participants.
            Saturday welcomed in Kansas and Kansas State for the sixth-annual KU-KSU-WSU Triangular.
            The Shockers finished as the runners-up in the team competition to Kansas State.
            Rebekah Topham had a good start to the new year. She won the Mile and finished second in the 1,000 meters. Her 1,000 meters' time of 2:49.71 was just .03 seconds off the Wichita State school record.
            Mason Buckmaster tied his personal best in the high jump, clearing 2.15m/7-0.50 to finish in second. His mark puts him at No. 3 all-time in the indoor high jump at WSU.
            Sidney Sapp also found success in the high jump, setting the conference lead with a jump of 1.75m/5-8.75.
 
Sprints Coach John Wise on the Meet
On the goals and expectations for this weekend
"The reason we're sending people to Nebraska is to get experience for our sprinters on a 200-meter banked track. The focus of these meets are to get back into the swing of things in terms of competing. We have a two-meet start, kind of like a preseason. Then we'll give most of our athletes the week off and we get into the meat of our schedule in February. Right now, we're just looking for athletes to get some consistency. We want to get back into the routine of competition."
 
On seeing a lot of PRs early this year
"It's great especially because we had five weeks off. That's the longest winter break we've had. We weren't sure what we were going to have. We thought it might be a slow start, but we were encouraged overall. That means our kids did a good job of training on their own over break. If a team can do that on their own, then it's going to get better as the season goes on."
 
On the differences between flat and banked tracks
"There's a little bit of difference in running the backstretch going down the hill and then at other times running uphill. If you haven't done it before, it can throw you off. We'll do it this weekend and then again at Arkansas before conference. Having that experience gives kids a little familiarity with it. We'll go up there early and get on the track the day before and practice then run some races. There are so many subtleties that make a difference."
 
Personal Best Fest
            The Shockers posted 36 new personal bests in their first weekend of the new year.
            Four of those performances made the Wichita State all-time indoor performance list.
            Joseph Holthusen and Antonio Norman both made the top 10 in the 60-meter hurdles after their races on Friday at the Shocker Prelude. Holthusen and Norman finished 1-2 in the final of the event. Holthusen moved up to No. 6 with a time of 8.00 seconds and Norman ended up at No. 9 after he ran a time of 8.03 in his Shocker debut.
            Rebekah Topham also moved into second on the all-time performance list in the 1,000 meters. She ran a time of 2:49.71 at the Triangular on Saturday to come just .03 seconds away from the school record.
            Amiya Anoma PR'd her way to victory in the long jump at the Triangular. She jumped 5.81m/19-0.75 to improve her personal-best jump by three centimeters.
            Cory Martens, Sadie Boos and Ben Flowers all competed as unattached athletes, but put down PRs in their respective events. Martens threw a 59-centimeter PR in the shot put, Boos set her weight throw PR and broke her previous mark by over three meters, and Flowers dropped his 3,000 meters PR by four seconds.
 
Shockers Garner Weekly Awards
            Sidney Sapp and Mason Buckmaster were named the American Athletic Conference's Field Athletes of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.
            Sapp and Buckmaster earned the honors for their performances in the high jump at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular.
            Sapp won the event, clearing 1.75m/5-8.75. She was just six centimeters off her personal-best mark. Her high jump mark now leads the American Athletic Conference and is tied for 25th-best in the country.
            Buckmaster's high jump competition saw him tie his personal best with a jump that cleared 2.15m/7-0.50. The jump was an indoor personal best and moved him to No. 3 on WSU's all-time indoor performance list. His performance puts him at No. 2 in the conference and No. 21 in the NCAA this season.
            Buckmaster and Sapp became the first Shocker athletes to claim individual weekly honors this season and the first since Winny Koskei won Athlete of the Week honors for her cross country performance at Pre-Nationals.
 
Taking it to the Bank
            The Shockers will get experience on a banked track this weekend at the Prairie Wolf Invitational.
            Banked tracks are unique because they are solely used indoors and not every school has a banked track (Wichita State does not).
            It's hard to simulate the way a banked track feels in practice unless you go out and compete on one, said sprints coach John Wise.
            The Birmingham Crossplex, which has played host to several NCAA Indoor Championships, is the host site for the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships in February. The track in Birmingham is banked, which means this weekend's experience in Lincoln, Nebraska, will be vital for the squad's preparation for the conference meet.