DENTON, Texas – Wichita State's
Josh Parrish and
Rikard Trogen Hedin brought home two more gold medals for the Shockers, helping give the men's team the lead to end day two of the American Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Norma Knobel Hunt Stadium.
Parrish claimed his first American Conference long jump title with a personal-best jump of 8.02m/26'3.75", breaking Wichita State's 46-year-old school record, his second school record performance in two days. After North Texas's Derrick Warren jumped a personal best 7.90m/25'11" on his third attempt, Parrish stole the lead from the Mean Green on his next jump to break the stadium record and become the first Shocker in history to break the eight-meter barrier. The mark held through all three jumps of the final to give Parrish the gold and make him a 10x all-conference performer between indoor and outdoor. Parrish led the Shockers to a 17-point event, as
Travon Williams placed fourth with a jump of 7.50m/24'7.25",
Darius Graham took seventh with a mark of 7.46m/24'5.75" and
Asher Buggs-Tipton jumped a personal-best 7.33m/24'0.75" to place eighth.
Earlier in the day,
Rikard Trogen Hedin wrapped up day two of the multi, winning his second-straight decathlon title for the Shockers with a score of 7,377 points, the No. 5 score in school history. The Shockers have now won four of the last five American Conference decathlon titles and five of the eight since joining the conference. Trogen Hedin recorded the best marks of the competition in the shot put, pole vault and discus, breaking his own meet record in the decathlon discus with a personal-best throw of 53.29m/174'10". He led the Shocker men to another big point-scoring event as
Cole Smither finished fifth with 6,882 points,
Myles Larsen took sixth with 6,484 points and
Luke Porter took eighth with 6,381 points, scoring a total of 18 points in the event.
Also landing on the podium on day two of competition,
Jelese Alexander and
Shellamae Farmer both put up bronze medal performances for the Shocker women. Alexander took third in the long jump with a mark of 6.17m/20'3", just one centimeter away from second place, and Farmer placed third in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.99m/13'1". Also scoring in the pole vault,
Lilly Charest cleared 3.99m/13'1" to place fourth, and
Kylie Scott tied for fifth with a clearance of 3.89m/12'9" to give the Shocker women a 14.5-point event.
In the men's steeplechase, the Shockers scored six points courtesy of a fourth-place finish from
Austin Carrera in 9:15.70 and an eighth-place finish by
Jonah Allison with a time of 9:24.03.
Sadie Millard scored two points for the Wichita State women in the heptathlon, placing seventh with a score of 5,086 points.
The Shockers advanced seven more to Saturday's running event finals, four of which will race in the men's 110-meter hurdles final. All four ran wind-aided personal bests as
Josh Parrish clocked the fastest time of the day at13.29, and
Jabari Armstrong,
Tyler Carroll and
Luke Holthusen ran 13.72, 13.77 and 13.91, respectively, to claim four of eight spots in the final. In the women's 800 meters,
Jasmine Stiede recorded a huge personal best to get the big Q with the fastest preliminary time of 2:09.48, good for No. 7 in program history. Two Shockers made it through to the 100-meter dash final as
Chairo Ogbebor ran 10.21 and
Jason Parrish ran 10.23, the third and fifth best times of the day, respectively.
Heading into the final day of competition, the Wichita State men lead the team competition with 66 points, while North Texas and Rice are tied for second with 50. South Florida carries just three points into the final day but has historically been a day three scoring team. The men's competition projections give Wichita State the advantage with North Texas and South Florida in the hunt. The Shocker women sit in fourth after day two with 33.5 points, while Rice remains the women's team leader with 54 points and UTSA sits in second with 52 points. The women's projections have Rice finishing on top with Charlotte and UTSA in the hunt.
Saturday's competition begins at 1:30 p.m., and team champions will be crowned following the men's 4x400-meter relay, which is set for 7:45 p.m. The championship will be live on ESPN+ starting at 5:15 p.m.
