AUGUSTA, Kan. – The Wichita State men and women opened the cross country season with dominant quad meet wins Saturday morning at the JK Gold Classic, sweeping the team and individual titles. The women scored a perfect 15 points and the men cleaned up with just 16 points.
 
"Sometimes it's good to not worry about having a competitive meet," head coach Kirk Hunter said. "We can get out there, just relax and do our thing."
 
Bryce Merriman earned his first collegiate cross country win with a time of 18:05.1 in the 6,000 meters, and Abeba Sullivan snagged her third collegiate individual title. Merriman finished less than two seconds ahead of teammates Clayton Duchatschek and Ben Flowers.
 
"It was fun working with Ben and Clayton," Merriman said. "We were kind of just talking to each other the whole time. I saw them start to move with 2k to go and I was falling off a bit, but coach yelled at me with a mile or less to go, and that's what got me back connected."
 
Since applying to PA school, Merriman has been working full time at the hospital to get clinical hours and has had to train by himself the majority of the time.
 
"It's super validating to know that even though I'm mostly training on my own, I'm still in competition with the team because you can question things when you're running miles in the morning by yourself," Merriman said.
 
Shocker alumni Adam Moore finished fourth, followed by Jackson Caldwell in fifth. Erik Enriquez rounded out the men's scorers with his eighth-place finish, just behind unattached Shocker freshman Jacob Meyers.
 
"I'm just really excited about the way these guys are starting out the year," Hunter said. "I was very impressed with them coming in here and doing what they did because I know the course and I know the times, and they ran fast on a muggy day on a tough course."
 
The women's team scored a perfect 15 points, placing first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth individually (third-place runner unattached) to complete the Shocker sweep of all titles.
 
Sullivan opened her season with a 5,000-meter time of 18:12.9 to win her first cross country title as a Shocker.
 
"Last year, I didn't do so well, so I was happy to get back on my feet," Sullivan said. "It felt really good to just keep pushing and moving forward."
 
Sophomore transfer, Sarah Bertry, placed second in the women's race, followed by Miranda Dick in fourth, Lubna Aldulaimi in fifth and Lea Brueckner in sixth.

"Abeba looked really good," Hunter said. "She was strong and ran the race the way she should have. She, Sarah and a number of girls did well."
 
The Shockers are back in action Saturday, Sept. 17 in Lincoln, Neb. for a men's 8k and women's 5k at the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational.