WICHITA – The Wichita State cross country team is set to break in its brand-new home course Saturday, Sept. 2 at the JK Gold Classic.
 
The men's race begins at 8:25 a.m. followed by the women at 8:55 a.m. For the full schedule including high school races, visit the home meet info page.  The Shockers are set to race against Emporia State, Newman, Kansas Wesleyan, Friends, Mid-America Christian and Cowley.
 
"Every year, it's great to get everybody out there, have them starting to race again and just see where we really are," head coach Kirk Hunter said. "Practices are not the same as racing, so after this weekend a lot of questions will be answered, and we're going to know a lot about where we're headed this season."
 
The 75^th Annual JK Gold Classic will have a new backdrop this year as the Shockers will race for the first time at the Clapp Cross Country Course at L.W. Clapp Park.
 
"The course we ran on for my entire career here, I could tell you every inch of it, and I knew everything to tell anybody on that course," Hunter said. "This course, I know better than anybody, but I still don't know exactly how it's going to run because we haven't raced on it. I'm going to learn a lot about how this course races, how the athletes will adjust to it and how they need to move on different things. It's going to be fun to see the results and see how it plays out."
 
Wichita State runs its season opener at home for the fourth-consecutive season, giving the team a comfortable starting point for the year. The men will race a 6K, and the women will run a 5K, both distances shorter than championship-season races, which is common for early-season racing.
 
As with most season openers for the Shockers, Hunter will race a majority of the newcomers unattached before deciding whether to put them in uniform or redshirt the remainder of the season.
 
"I almost never race freshmen in uniform the first meet because it's a way to protect them and protect their season if anything goes wrong or they're not ready," Hunter said. "We get to gauge them a little bit without having to race them in uniform, and after this week is done, we will reevaluate and determine who will be in uniform for the season."
 
Wichita State returns three all-conference runners for the 2023 season in Adrian Diaz Lopez, Trey Rios and Sarah Bertry. The Shocker women added two freshman and two-time NJCAA outdoor track and field champion, Lucy Ndungu, a junior transfer from Cloud County Community College. The men added four freshman and three transfers, including Central Michigan transfer, Adam Rzentkowski.
 
 
 
Spectators can note that Wichita State will ask for a moment of silence to honor the late Pat Wilson, longtime Shocker pole vault coach, who passed away on Sunday.
 
Fans can follow along with the meet on X (formerly Twitter) @GoShockersTFXC or keep up with the live results.