The RoundHouse | 10/27/2022 3:23:00 PM

 

 
In the summer of 2021, Wichita State's Clayton Duchatschek considered himself ready to run for a fifth and final season and then attend chiropractic school and start his adult life.
 
A few months later, the good vibes around the cross country team changed his mind. A year later, he is back for a sixth season – at age 23 and noticing the generation gap with his young teammates – and leading Shocker cross country into Friday's American Athletic Conference Championships in Tulsa.
 
"I've been working at this running thing for 10 years," he said. "It would be kind of dumb for me to not use an extra opportunity to get better. I've got to lay it all out there in my sixth year."
 
His first big moment is Friday. The Shockers believe they are capable of pushing favored Tulsa, ranked No. 7 nationally and winners of eight straight AAC titles.
 
Duchatschek, from Washington, Mo., is coming off a school-record time in the 8-kilometer race (23 minutes, 43.8 seconds) in the Bradley Pink Classic. The Shockers finished second, ahead of regionally ranked Illinois (No. 4), Drake (No. 5) and Miami of Ohio (No. 6) and moved to sixth in the Midwest Region rankings. Coach Kirk Hunter called it the team's best regular-season performance in his 12 years at coach.
 
The Shockers finished second in last fall's AAC meet, their best finish in a conference meet since finishing second in the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Duchatschek, Ben Flowers, who finished seventh in 2019 before injuries sidelined him, and Bryce Merriman, the 12th-place finisher in 2021, played major roles in the program's rise. Sophomore Trey Rios finished 20th in last fall's conference meet. The addition of transfer Adrian Diaz-Lopez and freshman Jacob Meyers rounded out the lineup.
 
"They came in motivated right off," Hunter said. "Even coming to the end of spring last year, all they talked about was the potential to have a really strong team. They used that as a springboard over the summer to train really well."
 
Duchatschek contributed to that good feeling by winning the conference steeplechase last spring to help the Shockers win the outdoor title. By then, he already planned to use his sixth year of eligibility (due to COVID-19) and give distance running a strong farewell in college.
 
He liked the potential and the mood around the distance runners and decided to put off a career for another year.
 
"After the success off cross country season (last fall) – I only foresee us going up," he said. "I have some goals left unfinished."
 
Grabbing the school record – Brady Johnson previously held the 8k mark with a time of 23:54.16 in 2015 – knocked down one goal. Up next are conference and NCAA performances, followed by track in the spring.
 
"He wanted to be a part of this team," Hunter said. "But he also felt like he had more to do. I'm really happy for him, given the sacrifice he's making for Wichita State. Some kids need to move on. There's life waiting for them. He's going to take every ounce of eligibility he can and get what he can out of it."
 
Duchatschek is accepted into chiropractic school and is also interning for his father's management consulting firm while he decides which direction works best. He is a four-time Academic all-conference selection.
 
Duchatschek finished 14th in the conference cross country meet last fall to continue steady improvement since he transferred to Wichita State from NCAA Division II Lindenwood (Mo.) in 2018.
 
"He's always had it – he knows what he wants, and he knows what he can do," Hunter said. "The first and foremost goal is that the guys want the team to do well. But they also have individual goals."
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.