WICHITA – The Wichita State men held off Houston on day three of the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships to win their first team title as a member of this conference.
"I saw all the guys fighting, all the guys competing," head coach
Steve Rainbolt said. "It really meant the world to me because I really was impressed with the spirit and toughness of our team."
Following the meet,
Adria Navajon Fabregat was named Freshman of the Year after scoring 15 points over three days in the decathlon (1
st; 10 pts), high jump (8
th; 1 pt) and 110-meter hurdles (5
th; 4 pts).
"After busting up his heel at the start of the decathlon, to keep battling the way he did, that's another [crucial turning point in the team competition] that I think of," Rainbolt said.
The Shockers entered day three with an 89-14 lead on the Cougars, but a form chart that still showed a projected 19-point loss fostered a come-from-behind team mentality. Knowing Houston had a history of final-day success, the WSU men did not let off the gas, making every effort to outperform the form chart.
The top-two Shocker men's high jumpers,
Brady Palen and
Davis Dubbert, led off the day with all-conference honors, placing second and third behind South Florida's All-American Romaine Beckford to clone the indoor conference podium.
Chandler Stiawalt and Adria Navajon also scored in the event with sixth and eighth place finishes as the high jumpers were just off their form chart at -0.5 points.
The discus squad made up some ground by sending four athletes to the final to score a total of 21 points in the event, five more than the projected 16.
Matt Everett claimed the Shockers' sole day three event title with his personal-best throw of 56.13m/184'2". He was joined on the podium by freshman
Ridge Estes, who earned all-conference honors with his second-place throw of 53.65m/176'0". Rounding out the scoring,
Michael Bryan took seventh with a personal best in his second discus competition of the season, and
Dae'Trell Gordon snagged the eighth spot, throwing just two centimeters under his personal best.
"I've been dreaming of winning the conference discus for over three years now, before I even came to the American Conference, and then to win as a team means even more because where I came from, we didn't go for a team title,"
Matt Everett said. "For every point to matter and to have everybody support each other like this just means the world to me."
A huge performer for the Shockers,
Yuben Goncalves wrapped up his conference meet with all-conference honors in his first triple jump competition of the season, jumping a huge PR of 15.64m/51'3.75" to take second and enter the Shocker all-time list at No. 7. He also outperformed the form chart in the 400-meter hurdles, moving up a spot to place fifth with a season-best 52.07.
"
Yuben Goncalves was unbelievable to me," Rainbolt said. "To do things the way that he did and to keep competing so hard, he was truly remarkable."
The 1500-meter runners also scored more points than projected, led by
Adam Moore, who earned two all-conference honors on day three, recording a third-place finish in the 1500 meters and outkicking Cincinnati's Siro Pina Cardona for second in the 800 meters.
Bryce Merriman also scored in the 1500 with a seventh-place finish, and
Josh Cable and
Riley Vandaveer added points to the team total in the 800 meters, placing fifth and eighth, respectively.
In a meet where every point was crucial, the Shocker men outperformed the projection chart in 11 events with eight of those performances coming on Sunday. They also showed their versatility by collecting points from 19 of the 21 events, while Houston scored in just 13.
"There are all sorts of things like the champions, the whole discus event was unbelievable, but the first thing that really comes to my mind is the fact that every point mattered," Rainbolt said, "and I am valuing that in real time for future teams to tell that story that every point mattered. Instead of winning by 30, it came all the way down to the wire, which I think is super exciting, but it also validates every single guy on that team."
JD Prinsloo ran a personal-best 47.61 as the eight seed in the 400-meter final to move up two spots and place sixth, scoring three points for the team. In the 200-meter dash,
Joakim Genereux neared his PR in the 200 meters, running a 20.94 to score four for the Shockers, and
Jaleel Montgomery earned his projected one point in a competitive 100-meter final with a new personal best of 10.40.
Wichita State's 75-point lead had been chipped down to just 7.5 points with two events to go. Houston's world-class speed had just gained 134 points in seven running events, but the Shockers had the opportunity to clinch the meet by scoring just one point in the 5,000 meters and simply finishing the 4x400-meter relay.
In a Tulsa-heavy 5K, the seven Shockers entered were tasked with knocking off just one of their top eight guys. Cheers for the Golden Hurricane could be heard coming from the Cougar team, but
Clayton Duchatschek gutted out the eighth-place finish to take the pressure off the Shockers' relay team.
The lack of pressure for a high finish, though, did not stop the quartet from racing hard to earn a podium finish. Genereux,
Ke'Adre Thompson,
RJ Hutchison and
JD Prinsloo all earned all-conference honors for their third-place finish that officially clinched the meet for the Shockers with a final score of 185.5. Houston placed second in the race to bring its final team total to 179 points.
This is Shockers' first men's conference team title of any kind since their Missouri Valley Conference win in 2017.
On the women's side, the 4x100-meter relay team of
Faith Turner,
Paula Garcia,
Sydney Johnson and
Brianna Utecht highlighted the day as the four women earned the Shocker women's first podium finish of the weekend. The team placed third with the fourth-fastest time in school history (45.25) to earn all-conference honors.
The Wichita State women placed 10
th as a team with 31.5 points, while UCF completed the indoor/outdoor sweep of the team titles.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS
Men
1.Wichita State – 186.5
2.Houston – 179
3.Tulsa – 123
4.Cincinnati – 116
5.South Florida – 87.5
6.Memphis – 70
7.East Carolina – 51
8.Tulane – 4
Women
1.UCF – 163
2.Houston – 105.5
3.Cincinnati – 105
4.Tulsa – 83
5.East Carolina – 75.5
6.Memphis – 73
7.South Florida – 63
8.SMU – 48
9.Temple – 42
10.Wichita State – 31.5
Tulane – 23.5
