BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Wichita State's Josh Parrish led the Shockers to a second-place team finish, claiming the Most Valuable Performer award after scoring 22.5 points over two days at the American Conference Indoor Championships.
 
The junior from Olathe, Kan. put up two podium performances, placing second in both the long jump (7.49m/24'7") and 60-meter hurdles (7.71), finished sixth in both the triple jump (14.92m/48'11.5") and 200 meters (21.37), and ran on the seventh-place 4x400-meter relay, scoring the most points of all male competitors in the meet.
 
The Wichita State men placed second as a team in a tightly contested race with South Florida. The Bulls claimed their third-consecutive men's indoor championship, defeating Wichita State 134.5-132. North Texas won its first women's team title with 90 points, and the Wichita State women placed seventh with 56 points.
 
The Shockers recorded six podium finishes on day two to bring their total to nine. Jelese Alexander had a big day in the women's high jump, clearing a six-centimeter personal best of 1.84m/6'0.5" in a back-and-forth high jump competition, ultimately placing second. She went on to finish fourth in the 60-meter dash with a personal-best time of 7.43. The senior scored 13 points for the team. Also in the high jump, Mattelyn Swartz cleared a season best, jumping 1.70m/5'7" to place fifth and score four points.
 
On day two of the heptathlon, Rikard Trogen Hedin cleared a personal best of 4.85m/15'11" in the pole vault on his way to a third-place finish in the heptathlon with 5,370 points. Cole Smither and Myles Larsen placed fifth and seventh with 5,100 and 4,670 points, respectively. The Shockers scored 11 points in the event.
 
On the track, the Shocker men recorded two more podium finishes in the 60 meters as Chairo Ogbebor finished second with a time of 6.73 and Jason Parrish took third in 6.75 to score 14 points for the team. Jason Parrish also joined his twin in the 200-meter final, where he finished fifth in 21.14 to score four points.
 
The final podium performance of the day occurred from a huge personal-best jump by a redshirt-freshman in the triple jump. Asher Buggs-Tipton jumped 15.50m/50'10.25", a 14-centimeter improvement on his previous best to claim the silver medal in the event.
 
Three Shockers scored in the 3,000 meters as Elkana Kipruto finished fourth in the men's race with a time of 8:04.37, and Lucy Ndungu and Vivien Kipkorir finished fifth and eighth in the women's race with times of 9:30.24 and 9:34.74, respectively.
 
Tyler Carroll and Jabari Armstrong joined Josh Parrish in the hurdles scoring, finishing fifth and seventh with times of 7.90 and 8.05, respectively to bring the hurdles point total to 14.
 
Also, scoring on the track, Kelvin Kipyego ran 4:04.54 to finish fifth in the mile, good for four points. Both Shocker 4x400-meter teams finished seventh to score two points each as Andie Rasmussen, Sadie Milalrd, Hannah Glenned and Zakilya Zeigler ran 3:43.09 and Josh Parrish, Canyon Crowley, Brock Merz and Jason Parrish ran 3:14.55.
 
In the shot put, Eli Johnson threw a big personal best, recording a mark of 16.49m/54'1.25" to place seventh and score two points.
 
The Wichita State men tied their best American Conference Indoor Championship team finish, scoring the most points they've ever scored as a team, scoring the most points since 2020.