The RoundHouse | 8/21/2020 11:16:00 AM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
Sue Smith didn't know her name remained prominent in the Wichita State softball record books until two years ago.  
 
A co-worker looked her up on the internet during one of those "What do you know about sports?" discussions. Smith knows enough, especially about hitting a softball and sprinting around the bases.
 
"He was making fun of us, and I acted like I didn't know what he was talking about when he would talk about baseball," she said. "I would say 'How many touchdowns did they make this weekend?' Then he finally figured out I actually knew what was going on."
 
Smith, then Sue Pratt, played softball for the Shockers in 1982 and 1983. She hit 17 triples in her two-season career which remains the program's record by a significant margin. Her 11 triples in 1982 is the single-season record. 
 
Neither mark has been challenged, despite the sport leaning toward offense and an increase in games. 
 
Her career triples records of 17 seems far out of reach. The next highest career total is 11 and no Shocker has reached 10 since 1997. Shockers pushed her single-season record of 11 with nine in 1999 and 2000, but no one has hit more than four since in a season.

 

Career triples

1. Sue Smith	17	1982-83
2. Anne Campbell	11	1978-81

Smith, remember, played two seasons in an era when teams played 15-20 fewer games in a season and pitching dominated. 
 
Wichita State's athletic record books are filled with statistics and accomplishments that time hasn't altered and appear untouchable for a variety of reasons and circumstances. Some – think 1980's baseball and Xavier McDaniel – are well-known. Others – such as softball triples and women's tennis – are worth a closer look. 
 
Start with Sue Smith, who walked on at Wichita State after two seasons at Butler Community College, where she switched to softball from basketball. She played center field for the Shockers and earned a scholarship for her senior season. In 1982, she led the Shockers with a .388 batting average and a .664 slugging percentage.
 

Single-season triples

1. Sue Smith	11	1982
T2. Erin Stephens, Tracy LaMontagne	9	1999, 2000

"She made great contact with the right pitches and she was pretty fast," said Peg Foster, a shortstop who played from 1980-82. 

Smith remembers smacking many of those triples to right field, where the opponent often tried to hide the weakest defender. After the right fielder tracked down the ball, she still had to make a lengthy throw.

"The real honest truth is, I could swing pretty hard, but I would swing late," she said. "And, I had some decent wheels, so I could make it to third base before they could catch up with me."
 
Many games, many records
 
Check the NCAA baseball record book to fully understand what Phil Stephenson, younger brother of former coach Gene Stephenson, accomplished as a first baseman from 1979-82.
 
Phil Stephenson holds the NCAA's career records for runs (420 in 288 games), hits (418), walks (300), total bases (730) and stolen bases (206). Those numbers are a product of his talent and the era in which he played. Those factors put Stephenson's numbers in a secure spot.
 
No one has come within 100 of his runs record since 1986. No one has broken 170 stolen bases since 1999. Recent challengers to the hits mark (Clemson's Kahlil Greene with 403 from 1999-02 and Mississippi State's Jake Mangum with 383 from 2016-19) don't seem all that threatening. 

Stolen bases

1. Phil Stephenson	206	1979-82
2. Kent Headley	174	1984-87
3. Randy Young	170	1994-96

 
"I was pretty fortunate to play four years, stay healthy and have a lot of great players around me," Stephenson said.
 
The rare challenger who can match Stephenson's talent faces an important obstacle – opportunity. 
 
The Montreal Expos drafted Stephenson in the fifth round after his junior year. The money didn't tempt him, so he returned for 87 more college games. Signing bonuses and salaries now are much more likely to snag high-level college juniors.
 
The Shockers regularly played 70-plus games in those years, cramming the schedule full of doubleheaders and often against NAIA or NCAA Division II opponents. The 1979 Shockers played 80 games without NCAA regional play. They went 73-14 in 1982 on their way to the College World Series.
 
In the current era, most teams top out around 60 and it takes a deep NCAA run to surpass 70. Games against lower-level schools are rare.
 

Runs

1. Phil Stephenson	420	1979-82
2. Jim Thomas	315	1979-82
3. Mark Standiford	313	1985-88

 
"The competition is a lot greater than it was 40 years ago," said Stephenson, who is head coach at Dodge City Community College. "More teams have put an emphasis on baseball and are recruiting good players."
 
Perhaps Stephenson's most impressive record is his 47-game hitting streak, set in 1981, broken in 1987 by Oklahoma State's Robin Ventura (58) and currently tied for third. 
 
While it's no longer an NCAA record, it remains an imposing one within the program. Among Shockers, Derek Schermerhorn ranks second with 34 games in 2005. The last Shocker to hit 30 consecutive games is Andy Dirks in 2008.
 
"That's about consistency, and a little bit of luck," Stephenson said. 
 
Big brother
 
Phil, for all his accomplishments, might not be the family leader for an unbreakable record.
 
Gene Stephenson won 1,768 games, according to the NCAA record book, from 1978-2013 to rank third among NCAA Division I coaches (his total was 1,837 before the school vacated 69 of his wins in 2015).
 
That's a lot of lineup cards, handshakes and bus trips. And victories.
 
Four years of scoring
 
Cleo Littleton set the men's basketball career scoring record in 1955 and it withstood three-point shots, NBA draft picks, longer schedules and trends toward better shooting and more points. 
 
Littleton scored 2,164 points in 114 games. Xavier McDaniel (2,152 points from 1981-85) is second.
 
Since 2000, five Shockers passed 1,500 points with Jason Perez (1,839) moving into sixth place on the career list. 
 
Littleton started all four seasons, led the team as a freshman by scoring 18.5 points and rarely came out of games. Those circumstances don't come around often. 
 

Points

1. Cleo Littleton	2,164	1951-54
2. Xavier McDaniel	2,152	1981-85
3. Dave Stallworth	1,936	1961-65
4. Antoine Carr	1,911	1979-83
5. Cheese Johnson	1,907	1975-79

 
While recent NBA players Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet stayed four seasons, any Shocker talented enough to challenge Littleton's scoring mark is also likely to get a strong look from the NBA before his senior season.
 
A rare arm
 
Shocker volleyball coach Chris Lamb starts with bio-mechanics when he discusses Sara (Younes) Butler and her record for service aces.
 
"She was loose-shouldered and could reach way back," he said. "There's some range of motion and fast twitch there. To this day, she's as good as an arm as we've had."
 
Butler, who played for the Shockers from 2001-04, recorded 351 aces and zoomed past the previous mark of 172 early in her junior season. Kori Rosenkranz (who played from 1992-95) remains second on the career list and no recent Shocker is close to that mark.
 
Butler also hold the top three single-season spots with 113 (2002), 109 (2003) and 76 (2004). Her single-game marks of 14, 11, 10 and nine aces also lead the list. She hit a left-handed jump serve that Lamb said reached the mid-50's mph, a rare level for women's volleyball.

"That's what you need," he said. "She just hit it flat and deep and it got on people in a hurry. She had this uncanny ability to keep it down."

So many wins
As Phil Stephenson said, streaks are about consistency and a bit of luck.

Choosing the most imposing is impossible. It is hard to imagine a men's basketball team topping 35-0 (2013-14) or volleyball passing 29 straight wins (2008). Baseball's record is 24 in a row (1989).

Here's one you might have missed: The women's tennis team won 89 straight MVC matches (regular season and tournament) from 2009-17.
 

Men's basketball win streaks

1. 35	2013-14
2. 16	2017
3. 14	1953-54
4. 13	1982-83
T5. 12	1983, 2015-16

 

Baseball win streaks

1. 24	1989
2. 22	1998
3. 20	1982
T4. 19	1981, 2008
T6. 17	1979, 1985, 1991, 1998

X on top
Xavier McDaniel's 1985 basketball season is worth its own discussion. 

The easy choice for this list – McDaniel led the nation in scoring (27.2) and rebounding (14.8), the first collegian to do so.

No Shocker will duplicate that. 

McDaniel recorded double-doubles in 30 of his 31 games that season, tied with Jerry West (1960) behind David Robinson (31 in 1986). 
 

Season scoring average

1. Xavier McDaniel	27.2	1984-85
2. Dave Stallworth	26.5	1964-64
3. Dave Stallworth	25.0	1964-65
4. Greg Carney	23.2	1969-70
T5. Dave Stallworth, Antoine Carr, Maurice Evans	22.6	1963, 1983, 1999

He scored 844 points that season, topping Wichita State's season list. The last Shocker to top 600 was Maurice Evans with 632 in 1998-99.

Best in the nation
Einars Tupuritis swept the NCAA men's 800 meters in 1996, winning the indoor meet with a meet record time of 1:45.80 (since broken). In the outdoor meet, he ran a 1:45.08. 

Then he got faster and set a time that should stand.

In July 1996, he set the outdoor school record with a time of 1:43.90 in an Olympic prep race in Durham, N.C. That mark is almost five seconds better than second at WSU (Viktor Lacis, 1:48.25 in 2002).

Later that month, Tupuritis represented Latvia in the Olympics in Atlanta, where he advanced to the semifinals.

Around the block with Wiley

Center Gene Wiley claims a tough-to-beat spot with four triple-doubles during the 1961-62 season. He put them in an exclusive neighborhood as points-rebounds-blocks triple doubles, instead of the more common points-rebounds-assists (Warren Jabali has four of those).

Wiley, who played for the Shockers from 1959-62, started with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 15 blocks (also a school record) against Purdue. He followed that with 12-16-12 vs. Santa Clara, 22-23-10 vs. Tulsa and 12-25-12 vs. Louisville.

It must be said that statistics from that era weren't as uniform, home and away, and verified as in today's game. Blocked shots didn't become an official NCAA statistic until 1985-86. 

Even if you are bit skeptical of Wiley's numbers, don't let it detract from his talent. He earned All-MVC honors as a junior and senior and played four seasons in the NBA and one in the ABA.

"Gene was like no other," former teammate Lanny Van Eman said in an email. "We didn't realize it then, but in retrospect he was really special. Hot Rod Hundley told me the greatest play he had ever seen was when Gene (during his NBA career) blocked three of Wilt (Chamberlain's) interior shots before Wilt overwhelmed him."
 
Another Shocker obstacle
 
Theresa Dreiling did for Wichita State women's basketball what Wiley did in the 1960s. She blocked shots over and over again and no other Shocker has come close to her deterrence.
 
Dreiling, who played from 1979-83, holds the career record with 256 blocked shots, 87 more than second place (teammate Mary Kennedy with 169).

Dreiling's single-season marks of 91 and 88 ranks first and second.

Perfect night

A volleyball Shocker might tie this record. It is hard to beat.

Middle blocker Abbie Lehman recorded 15 kills on 15 swings in a 2014 match against Bradley. That perfect hitting percentage tops the NCAA record book for most swings, a mark she shares with two others at 15 for 15.
 

Attack percentage (minimum 10 kills)

1. Abbie Lehman	1,000 (15-0-15)	vs. Bradley, 2014
2. Janelle Watton	.917	vs. Tulsa, 1991
3. Chelsey Feekin	.900	vs. Evansville, 2013
4. Katy Dudzinski	.846	vs. Southern Illinois, 2106
5. Sarah McGee	.833	vs. Drake, 2009

Tuliamuk sets the pace

Aliphine Tuliamuk transferred from Iowa State to Wichita State and Shocker coaches knew she would be a big factor as a distance runner on the track and field team.

Tuliamuk exceeded even those expectations during her career from 2011-2013 by earning 13 NCAA All-American honors, highlighted by finishing second in the 10,000 meters in the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships. She holds four schools and her mark in the outdoor 10,000 meters is particularly imposing. 

"Those are just really remarkable performances," Shocker distance coach Kirk Hunter said. "Obviously, I hope that I can someday get somebody to break those records."

It won't be easy. Tuliamuk, who qualified for the 2020 Olympics (later postponed) in the marathon, holds a time of 32 minutes, 07.20 seconds in the 10,000 in 2013. Tonya Nero's time of 33:11.71 (2011) is second.

Still in the circle

Patty Bautista carried the Shockers to their first NCAA softball appearance in 1989. When she started a game in the circle, she almost always finished.

Bautista ranks first at WSU with 103 complete games from 1986-89. Lindsay Craig recorded 81 from 2002-05 to rank second.
 

Complete games

1. Patty Bautista	103	1986-89
2. Lindsay Craig	81	2002-05
3. Margo Pruis	75	2004-07
T4. Stacey Hart, Donna Campbell	64	1993-96, 1985-88
6. Trudi Maosi	62	1996-99

Bautista graduated with 23 school records and remains second with 25 shutouts and sixth with 368 strikeouts.

Familiar ending

Shocker baseball won almost all the time in the early 1990s and the embodiment of that was pitcher Kennie Steenstra.  

Steenstra set the school with 25 straight wins in 1991 and 1992, highlighted by a 17-0 season in 1991.
 

Consecutive victories

1. Kennie Steenstra	25	1991-92
2. Pat Cedeno	18	1987-89
3. Ken Greenwood	16	1982-85
T4. Rob Burgess, John Tetuan	14	1978-80, 2001-02
T6. Five, most recently Nate Robertson	13	1997-99

The 25 wins rank third in NCAA history. He is one of three pitchers to go 17-0 and no NCAA pitcher owns more wins without a loss.

At Wichita State, Pat Cedeno ranks second with 18 consecutive wins (1987-89) no pitcher reached double figures since John Tetuan's 14 in 2001-02.

Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.