WICHITA – The Wichita State track and field 2023-24 signing class has hit the track at Cessna Stadium for fall training and looks to make a strong impact on the team's success this season.
 
"We had a heck of a nice recruiting year on the men's side, and it's going to really bolster our men's team, which we were already excited about," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Steve Rainbolt said. "And we improved ourselves on the women's side. Our team is on an upward trajectory and is continuing to rebuild back to the top of the conference."
 
Wichita State signed 34 new student-athletes throughout the 2023-24 recruiting season, including five distance/mid-distance runners, five multi-event athletes, nine throwers, five pole vaulters, three sprinters/hurdlers and seven jumpers.
 
"We really feel like this turned out to be a nice group of newcomers, and we're excited to see the impact they have on Shocker track and field," Rainbolt said.
 
The Shockers welcome talent from nine different states and three countries, including 13 in-state recruits and three of Canada's top secondary school athletes, Cailey Freeze, Jett Hasiuk and Chairo Ogbebor. Ogbebor won the 2024 New Balance Indoor Nationals long jump competition, Hasiuk claimed the Alberta Provincial U18 record in the 400 meters with a time of 47.42 and competed for Team Canada at the U18 Commonwealth Games, and Freeze finished eighth in the 800 meters at the 2024 Canadian U20 Championships.
 
The incoming class also includes 10 high school state champions and a few of the top athletes in the nation in their respective events.
 
Darius Graham, the Missouri State Class 5 high jump champion, ranked fourth in the national high school rankings with his clearance of 2.16m/7'2", and Bronson Krainak, the 2024 Pennsylvania State AA javelin champion, ranked fifth in the national high school rankings with his mark of 65.74m/215'8". Krainak also took second at the Nike Outdoor Nationals and placed fourth at the USATF U20 Championships.
 
Krainak's high school javelin mark would have placed him in the top three at the 2024 AAC Outdoor Championships.
 
"He's going to raise the level of our group immediately," throws coach John Hetzendorf said. "He could be our number one based on marks, and he will continue to get better and drag some people along with him."
 
Hetzendorf added four new men and five new women to his throws group, including Krainak, Loudan Hicks, Athan Huelskamp, Jarrett Schmidt, Reagan Ayres, Addison Bailey, Kelli DeSpain, Reese Goodlet and Jenna Kuepker. Goodlet was the 2023 Iowa State discus champion, and DeSpain was a back-to-back Oklahoma State discus champion in 2023 and 2024. Huelskamp, a senior transfer from Abilene Christian, is another strong addition to the throws squad. He is a two-time WAC Champion, winning the 2024 discus and weight throw, and he qualified to the 2024 NCAA West Preliminaries in the shot put.
 
"The overall theme is I recruited people who are fired up to throw. They are anxious and ready and want to be good," Hetzendorf said. "I definitely see some good talent and potential in everyone here, and the returners have had good summers as well. The group is melding well together. This newcomer class will add a lot, not just to the throws group, but to the team."
 
The Shockers added significant depth in the horizontal jumps with the additions of Ogbebor, Asher Buggs-Tipton, Darius Graham, Amarrion Reese, Travon Williams, Kaleb Tesmer and Kielon McQuarters.
 
"These are guys that are already strong in the long jump event," horizontal jumps coach Heidi Benton said. "We've started talking about what it will take to be in the [USTFCCCA] event squad rankings in the long jump and the triple jump. The transfers that are coming in are motivated to improve, and the freshmen are eager to make their mark."
 
The group of guys joins all-conference long jumper, Josh Parrish, who was a member of Team USA at the 2024 World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.
 
Wichita State achieved its highest long jump squad ranking in 2018 when they reached No. 3 with the group of Rayvon Allen, Hunter Veith, Jared Belardo and Kaden Griffin. This incoming group of long jumpers looks for its top four to total 100 feet and move up in the rankings. Last season, Arkansas held the top spot in the rankings with a total of 104'8" for its top four.
 
In the high jump, in addition to the fourth-best high schooler in the nation, Graham, Rainbolt added Tesmer, Williams, McQuarters and Anna Bundy. Bundy was the 2024 Kansas 6A high jump champion and cleared a personal-best 1.70m/5'7" as a senior. Rainbolt also added to his multi-events group with Rikard Trogen-Hedin from Sweden, Holden Atwood, an Oklahoma State transfer, Bundy, Ali Jacobs and Blakely Scott.
 
Second-year pole vault coach Aliyah Fertig signed a talented group of five pole vaulters, including four women and one man.
 
"The girls all had really successful high school careers, and they all have similar PRs," Fertig said. "They'll help push some of the girls who were here last year and give each other some friendly competition at practice."
 
Shellamae Farmer, a two-time Kansas 3A State pole vault champion, Abby Rexford, Kylie Scott and Alexis Phillips all cleared 12 feet or higher in high school.
 
"Shellamae has the highest PR, but they're all within six inches of each other, so I think they're all going to be battling," Fertig said. "They all room together, so they've created a bond already and have realized they're in a similar spot and can push each other."
 
Carson Ratzlaff, an All-State midfielder on his high school soccer team, cleared 4.80m/15'9" in high school after picking up pole vault more diligently around his sophomore year.
 
"For Carson, he's a little bit newer to the sport," Fertig said. "He'll fit right in with the guys' group, and he's very motivated and eager to get going and learn."
 
Kirk Hunter's distance group added five newcomers, Jonah Allison, Cailey Freeze, Kalyn Willingham, Emily See and Faith Ekart, who are already competing for the Shockers this cross country season.
 
"This freshman group of girls is really one of the best I've ever had," Hunter said. "Cailey is a girl we're extremely excited about who can come in and contribute quickly. Kalyn is one of the best girls I've had out of high school, and once she rounds into shape, she'll be a contributor. Faith and Emily both put in the work this summer, and they're contributing factors already in cross country, so the fact that they came in the way they did – motivated and determined to be successful – it just makes me excited to have them on the team."
 
Jonah Allison, a Southern Illinois transfer, is the lone male distance newcomer, but the Shockers will see Yared Kidane in a Wichita State track and field uniform for the first time after redshirting the 2023-24 season. Kidane finished sixth in the 800 meters at the Swedish Championships this summer and will make a huge impact in the mid-distance events.
 
"Yared is such a significant factor for us this year that's it's impossible not to mention him," Hunter said. "He's going to be a difference maker and will threaten to win titles every time he steps on the track. And Jonah has already taken on the goal of being a good steeplechase guy, which is an area we need people."
 
The sprinters and hurdlers group added some fast times to its roster with the signings of Buggs-Tipton, Hasiuk, Luke Holthusen (brother of All-American Shocker hurdler Joseph Holthusen), Ogbebor and Reese on the men's side and Aurora Wessel on the women's side.
 
"More than ever, we feel like these kids are going to be ready to come in and contribute immediately, and that's a tough thing to do in our conference," sprints/hurdles coach John Wise said. "We feel confident that they're going to make an immediate impact."
 
Nine-time Missouri Class 1 State Champion Buggs-Tipton won titles in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, long jump and triple jump throughout his high school career. He raced against Shockers Josh and Jason Parrish while competing for Green City High School while the twins were at Olathe North High School.
 
"You get a guy like Asher, who ran against the Parrish brothers in high school and was able to beat them at a younger age, and that's pretty exciting after you've seen what the Parrishes did last year," Wise said.
 
Wessell cut her 100-meter hurdles time by a second and half from her junior to senior year of high school, running 13.88 to finish second at the Kansas 6A State Championships.
 
"She got way better as a senior and made huge improvements, so who knows how good she could be?" Wise said. "It's just the tip of the iceberg."
 
The 2023-24 recruiting class came together nicely with the coaching staff staying disciplined with recruiting and finding terrific athletes to join the program.
 
"These athletes coming in will hopefully score points right away, and then you add in some of the guys who redshirted outdoor due to uneven COVID eligibility," Wise said. "If we're going to beat a team like South Florida, we're going to have to be hitting on all cylinders, and we have, on paper, a team that can compete with them."
 
The Shockers' 2024-25 indoor season opens Dec. 4-5 at home with the Shocker Multi, and fans can get a preview of what's to come from the rest of the team at the Black vs. Yellow Intrasquad the following day.