WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State track and field team will compete in its first of three regular season outdoor home meets Friday and Saturday at Cessna Stadium.
 
The Shocker Spring Invitational plays host to athletes from Friends University, Iowa Central CC, Cowley CC and Butler CC.
 
"I have always gotten the impression that our athletes really love Cessna Stadium and love competing here," head coach Steve Rainbolt said. "There will be some good competition at this meet, but that's not necessarily the main focus this weekend. I really believe our athletes will be competing with an eye on how things stack up for them in the American Athletic Conference."
 
For the majority of the team, this will serve at the first opportunity to compete outdoors, as only a partial squad made the trip to Emporia last weekend.
 
"We had some really good things happen at Emporia this past weekend, but that was just a partial squad, so I know the athletes will be excited about kicking things off with the entire team this Friday and Saturday," Rainbolt said.
 
At the ESU Spring Invite, Taran Taylor and Amanda Kakoulias collected the Shockers' first event titles of the outdoor season with wins in the javelin and shot put, respectively.
 
"Taran holds himself to a high standard," Rainbolt said. "I'm guessing he probably was hoping for a bit of a better performance in his first meet, but I certainly felt like it was a good, solid start for him. He's such an explosive, dynamic athlete that any time he's throwing, I'm excited that something good is getting ready to happen."
 
A group of Shocker multi-event athletes will compete in the heptathlon and decathlon that will span over the two days of competition, starting Friday at 1 p.m. The hammer, javelin, 1500 meters, 3k Steeplechase and 3,000 meters will take place Friday evening, with the remainder of the events starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday.