PEORIA, Ill. – Clayton Duchatschek ran a 44-second personal best to shatter the 8,000-meter program record and lead the Shocker men to a second-place team finish Friday at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois.
Both Duchatschek and
Ben Flowers broke the record with times of 23:34.8 and 23:51.4, respectively, as the Shockers took down seven regionally-ranked teams at the Newman Golf Course. The previous 8K record of 23:54.16 was set by Brady Johnson in 2015 at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
"Both Clayton and Ben popped right out and stuck their nose in there," head coach
Kirk Hunter said. "Clayton just kept battling and every time someone moved, he just kept moving with them."
Duchatschek, Flowers and
Adrian Diaz-Lopez got out hard and kept pushing, finishing fourth, 15
th and 28
th.
Bryce Merriman and
Trey Rios battled their way up throughout the race to finish 23
rd and 30
th.
"We have a tendency to go out comfortable and run everybody down, and we decided to change that strategy a little bit," Hunter said. "What we did right this time was stick our nose in there and hang on."
All five scorers finished in the top 30 to combine for 84 points, just two points behind first-place Loyola. The Shockers beat every team ranked ahead of them in the regional rankings, including Midwest No. 4 Illinois, Midwest No. 5 Drake and Great Lakes No. 6 Miami (Ohio). They also took down a Grand Valley State team that is ranked third in the nation for Division II.
"We beat everybody we came here to beat," Hunter said. "Loyola surprised everybody except maybe themselves."
Loyola entered this week having not been listed in the Midwest rankings since being tabbed No. 11 in the preseason, but went 1-2-15-21-43 to edge out the Shockers with a meet-low 82 points.
Between the men and the women, Wichita State clocked 16 personal bests.
"The ground was hard so this course is much faster than Minnesota's," Hunter said. "I'm proud of the PRs, but in cross country, it's about who you beat."
Abeba Sullivan led the way for the Shocker women in the 6K red race with a 32
nd-place finish in a personal-best time of 21:02.9.
"I was really pleased that Abeba went after it and had a huge 4K PR," Hunter said.
"Unless you take a chance, you're not going to have that success, so I want her to keep doing that."
Miranda Dick also had a strong performance, smashing her previous 6K personal best by 42 seconds to finish 84
th in 21:54.8, followed by
Sarah Bertry in 99
th (21:59.5),
Lubna Aldulaimi in 110
th (22:07.1) and
Jenna Muma in 137
th (22:19.8).
The Shockers head to Tulsa, Okla. Friday, Oct. 28 for the American Athletic Conference Championships.
Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Steve Rainbolt on today's performances:
"I'm very happy for the men's and women's cross country teams. The women ran a strong race today at Bradley and showed that they are continuing to round into form and are improving compared with last year. This was a strong showing and I am confident they will be ready for a good race in Tulsa at the AAC Championship two weeks from today.
"The Shocker men! Their race today was probably the best regular-season meet that we have ever had in my 23 years at Wichita State. I cannot say enough about how proud I am and happy for this men's team. These guys have had very high goals all summer and fall – heck, ever since last cross country season – and they are putting it all together at the right time. Coach Hunter, as always, is doing a masterful job of bringing these two teams to championship form. This is very exciting as we get ready for the AAC Championship."
Men's Results
Women's Results
RED RACE
WHITE RACE
