WICHITA – The Wichita State track and field team will compete in its sole home indoor meet of the season Friday and Saturday at the Heskett Center.
 
"Every track meet is, plus or minus, a glorified practice session," head coach Steve Rainbolt said. "This is dress rehearsal for the championship meet, and ultimately we are learning things that are going to help us in championship competition."
 
The Herm Wilson Invitational will provide the team's third multi-event competition of the year, and the team looks to capitalize off its strong performances from a week ago. The Shockers are hosting 24 teams in the two-day competition.
 
Destiny Masters is set for her third pentathlon after backing off at the end of the competition in Colorado last week, jogging through the 800 meters in order to score points for her team and conserve energy to come back this week with the goal of putting up a point total that would have the potential to qualify to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
"We're going to go for it again, and she's going to finish this time regardless of whether she's on pace to qualify or not," Rainbolt said. "I'm excited for her. I feel like she's in pretty darn good shape. It's immensely difficult to get the events all dialed in at the same time correctly, but when it all does come together, it sure is a magical moment in time."
 
Masters and Marissa Jensen also hope to build momentum in the high jump after both clearing 1.76m/5'9.25, a personal best for Jensen, to move up to second in the conference and 33^rd in the NCAA. Freshman Mattelyn Swartz is also on the rise with a 1.70m/5'7" clearance at Air Force, ranking seventh in the AAC and will join the other two in the Herm Wilson high jump competition.
 
"With three girls like this, even a normal regular-season meet, especially one at home where you're comfortable with the surroundings and you're comfortable with the jumping area, could go really, really well at any time," Rainbolt said."
 
In the men's high jump, Shockers hold five of the top-10 conference marks, and four of those athletes will compete this weekend. Weston Lewis and Brady Palen are tied for second in the AAC and 29^th in the NCAA with 2.10m/6'10.75" clearances and Hudson Bailey and Navajon are tied for sixth in the conference (2.01m/6'7").
 
"Brady jumped over 2.08m/6'9.75" last week, and it was so convincing and so easy that he asked if he could pass a bar, so he passed 2.11m and then he missed 2.14m, but he had real good jumps at it and was disappointed that he didn't make it," Rainbolt said. "He's ready to jump high at any time."
 
Joseph Holthusen and Jaleel Montgomery will duke it out in the 60-meter hurdles for the third consecutive meet. Holthusen won the first matchup at the triangular in 8.03 but Montgomery edged him out at the Lindeman Invitational, running 8.04. Both rank in the top 10 of the American Athletic Conference, with Holthusen in fourth and Montgomery in seventh. Adria Navajon, who will not run the hurdles this weekend, ranks fifth with his Triangular time of 8.06.
 
"I'm excited for those guys," Rainbolt said. "Because Adria is a multi guy and Jaleel spent a year taking a break from the hurdles and focusing on the sprints, I forget that's a nice group of hurdlers. They're going to be tough to compete against at that conference meet, and I love it. I'm proud of those guys."
 
The meet's namesake, Herm Wilson, served as the Wichita State head cross country and track and field coach for 16 years, sending four cross country teams to the NCAA Championships, producing nine All-American athletes and 87 individual conference champions. His cross country teams dominated the Missouri Valley Conference in the 1970s, winning five consecutive league championships. He also coached Olympic long jumper Preston Carrington.
 
"Herm was truly a legendary coach in so many respects and really put Wichita State track and field on the map," Rainbolt said. "He was a terrific coach of the distance group and had that legendary group of steeplechase athletes over time. He was just a wonderful guy, and it means a lot to me. I wanted to do something in Herm's honor, and I'm so glad we've been able to have the Herm Wilson meet the last 13 years. I'm proud of this meet and certainly have unbelievably fond memories of Herm."
 
All home meet info, including live results link, schedule and entries can be found at this link.