BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Wichita State track and field heads to Birmingham, Ala. for the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 28 and March 1 at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Competition will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and 9:15 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. on Saturday.
 
The Wichita State men seek to knock of the projected favorite, South Florida, to win their first-ever AAC indoor team title. The Shocker women continue to battle for higher team finishes as both Wichita State teams finished fifth at the indoor championships a season ago.
 
The South Florida men and Charlotte women are the reigning team champions. The Bulls are projected as the No. 1 team in the conference, but Wichita State has a shot at knocking them off for the top spot if it outperforms its projections. On the women's side, East Carolina, Tulane and Charlotte are projected to be in a close battle for the team title with Wichita State ranked sixth going into the championship meet.
 
Last year at the AAC Indoor Championships, Destiny Masters was named the AAC Women's Most Valuable Performer, scoring 21 points. Masters and Brady Palen swept the high jump titles, and Adria Navajon won the heptathlon for the Shockers. The Wichita State men landed on the podium in the 4x400-meter relay, and Luke Czarnecki (high jump), Hudson Bailey (heptathlon), Farrah Miller (800 meters) and Masters (pentathlon) also collected all-conference honors.
 
Wichita State leads or ties for the lead in four events with Yared Kidane ranked No. 1 in the 800 meters, Masters holding the top spot in the pentathlon and tying for No. 1 in the high jump, and Hudson Bailey leading the heptathlon.
 
Three Shockers hold AAC all-time indoor records –  Michael Bryan in the weight throw, Kidane in the 800 meters and Hunter Veith in the heptathlon –  and five Shockers hold AAC Championship records.
 
Wichita State has claimed the last three-straight heptathlon titles, and Hudson Bailey looks to make it four. Bailey's score of 5,342 points from the Shocker Multi in December currently leads the conference by 230 points. Charlotte's Connor Wetherington ranks second, and Czarnecki is five points behind him in third.
 
Darius Graham, along with Czarnecki, will also be battling for a high jump title as they rank second and third in the conference, just two and three centimeters behind South Florida's Kendell Mosley. The women's high jump competition will also be a close one as Masters will compete against the other two podium performers from a year ago, as well as UTSA's Mia Liene, who ties with Masters for the conference lead.
 
Kidane is the three-second favorite to win the men's 800 meters and is coming off back-to-back personal bests. He will have to drop his time to around 1:46.5 to earn a trip to the NCAA Indoor Championship. The conference championship meet record of 1:48.13 could also be broken if he duplicates his performance from the Arkansas Qualifier.
 
In the men's hurdles, the Shockers could send three men to the final. Josh Parrish, Tyler Carroll and Jaleel Montgomery are all ranked in the top eight entering the competition and have led the Shocker men to a top-10 national ranking as a squad.
 
Chairo Ogbebor and Josh Parrish are ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the long jump, and Montgomery clocked the third-fastest 60-meter time in the conference this year.
 
Arantxa Cortez is another one to watch as she leads a squad of five pole vaulters with the fourth-best clearance in the AAC this year. Chidera Okoro and Grace Lange look to score in the women's triple jump with the fifth and sixth-farthest seed marks.
 
In the men's weight throw, Athan Huelskamp and Loudan Hicks enter the competition as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.
 
Adrian Diaz Lopez makes his return to championship racing for the first time since 2023 and will look to score some points for the Shockers in the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters.
 
NO. 1 SEEDS
800m – Yared Kidane – 1:47.21
High Jump – Destiny Masters – 1.81m/5'11.25" (tie)
Pentathlon – Destiny Masters – 4,083 points
Heptathlon – Hudson Bailey – 5,342 points
 
ROAD TO VIRGINIA BEACH
The 2025 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place March 14-15 in Virginia Beach, Va. Selections will be from qualifying performances from Friday, Nov. 29 to Sunday, Mar. 2. The top 16 men and women in each event qualify to compete at the championship meet. The final list of meet participants will be available on Tuesday, Mar. 4. On Wednesday, March 12, the final championships start lists will be posted on the NCAA website.
 
SHOCKERS IN THE NCAA TOP 25
22 – Pentathlon – Destiny Masters – 4,083 points
25 – HJ – Destiny Masters – 1.81m/5'11.25"
25 – 800m – Yared Kidane – 1:47.21
 
 
USTFCCCA EVENT SQUAD RANKINGS
2 – Women's Pentathlon
8 – Men's Heptathlon
10 – Men's 60m Hurdles
18 – Men's Long Jump