A PR in April? Not too bad, right?🤷♂️
Shively dipped under 4:20, Diaz-Lopez signed with Wichita State, and Andale is still out-throwing the nation
Powered by Garmin Clipboard📋
How in the world are high school athletes running so fast? It has to be the shoes or maybe their diets and hydration methods. Could it be their strength and core workouts? Well, I think it is a combination of all of those extremely important aspects of the sport, but I think one of the most key elements to their success are the workouts that they’re doing and the training that goes along with it! Wouldn’t it be considerably handy if there was an accessible database full of tried and true workouts, written by some of the most successful coaches in the sport? Over the next few weeks, Garmin Clipboard is going to enter dozens, if not hundreds of workouts into the Clipboard library! Coaches from across the nation, from the high school to the professional level will have access to some of the most beneficial and well-written workouts in the sport. If you want to try a workout similar to “The Michigan” but don’t have access to a good road loop, they have another workout just for that! If you want to introduce Vo2 Max into your training, there are plenty of workouts built solely for that purpose! Over the next few weeks, different workouts will be added to the library. More will be added throughout the summer to help prep your team for the fall!
Download the Garmin Clipboard App → Apple Store & Google Play
Learn more about the Garmin Clipboard App → Garmin Clipboard Overview
Go check out Garmin products → Garmin Running Watches
Adrian Diaz-Lopez to Wichita State🏃♂️
The Wichita State Shockers are arguably getting one of the best JUCO runners in the nation in Adrian Diaz-Lopez. The Cowley star is heading just an hour North to join a young and rising distance program in Wichita. After finishing 9th in the Midwest Region in the fall, the Shockers are looking for 6 out of their 7 athletes to return, including all but one of their scorers. Diaz-Lopez sports a personal best of 24:40.3 in the 8k, and will immediately add a dangerous weapon to the young Shocker core. However, Diaz-Lopez may be even more dangerous on the track, as he’s collected two national titles at the NJCAA level in the 3000m, complimented by a third-place finish in the mile last winter, and a runner-up finish in the DMR last month. Diaz-Lopez has gone 4:07.30 in the mile, 8:01.33 in the 3000m, and 14:20.80 in the 5000m, and will most definitely get even faster over the next few years. I for one cannot wait to see what he is able to produce at the next level.
Andale is the Throws Capital of the US📍
Last May at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships in Wichita, Andale simply dominated 4A in the throws. On the boy’s side, Andale claimed state titles in the discus and javelin, along with four other All-State performances. The girls, won all three throwing events, along with five additional All-State performances.
Boy’s Javelin
Riley Marx — State Champion
Boy’s Discus
Riley Marx — State Champion
Beau Kerschen — State Runner-Up
Boy’s Shot Put
Jackson Kraus — State Runner-Up
Beau Kerschen — Third Place
Noah Bruce — Fifth Place
Girl’s Javelin
Katelyn Fairchild* — State Champion
Mckenzie Fairchild — State Runner-Up
Samantha Marx* — Third Place
Girl’s Discus
Mckenzie Fairchild — State Champion
Katelyn Fairchild* — State Runner-Up
Samantha Marx* — Fifth Place
Girl’s Shot Put
Katelyn Fairchild* — State Champion
Mckenzie Fairchild —State Runner-Up
Graduated*
Coming into the 2022 outdoor track and field season, Andale is returning five athletes who left Cessna Stadium with a medal last spring. Riley Marx will try to defend his javelin and discus title, and will look to improve on his runner-up finish in the shot put. Along with him, Beau Kerschen plans on medaling again in both the shot put and discus. Noah Bruce, top eight in the shot put, will look to add another state medal to his collection. On the girl’s side, Mckenzie Fairchild is the only one returning out of last year’s trio of Andale medalists, but after finishing runner-up in the javelin and shot put, Fairchild will try and move up a spot in both, hoping to complete the throwing trifecta.
In addition to dominating the state level, Andale’s javelin duo of Fairchild and Marx are both some of the best throwers in the nation. Marx, with a throw of 209-9, sits two feet ahead of the next farthest throw of any athlete in the nation, as of now being the best javelin athlete in the country. According to MileSplit, Fairchild is ranked as the 4th best javelin thrower in the country, but I’m pretty confident someone entered the results wrong. At a small meet in Connecticut, the annual Farmington v. Simsbury dual meet, a trio of athletes allegedly threw 266-4.75, 201-9.25, and 195-2.5. From what I can tell, the first throw would be a new world record by over nine meters, while the second and third would sit 142nd and 217th in the all-time record books. If they did throw that, then the track and field community has failed to celebrate three of the greatest high school marks in history. With that being said, I’m going to say that Fairchild is actually the leading thrower in the nation by over six feet with a throw of 169-4. Overall, Andale is one of the strongest throwing programs both in the state and the nation, and I am anticipating huge throws over the next seven weeks!
Sub 4:20 in April for Clay Shively⬇️
Will Wichita Trinity sophomore Clay Shively ever stop getting faster? I sure hope not! As we watched this last fall, Shively and his teammates progressed week after week until they dethroned the reigning three-time champions in Southeast of Saline. Shively led the way for the Knights, taking second on the rolling hills of the Wamego Country Club. Less than two weeks into April, Shively is already running at his best, after he set a pair of PR’s in the 1600m and 800m at the Joe Vann Invitational in Winfield last week. In his freshman campaign a year ago, Shively had PR’s of 4:47.90 and 2:03.24, which he already shattered in just his second year. Last Friday, he ran a state leading 4:19.56, a twenty-eight second improvement in the event, along with a 1:59.69 in the 800m, almost a four second PR. Last spring, only one athlete went under 4:20 before the month of May (Quenton Walion 4:19.98 @ Olathe Invitational), and Shively has already surpassed that. With how he improved in the fall, I can’t imagine Shively will stay where he is at. The sky is the limit for the 3A standout!
Shockers Head to Hayward🌾
Hayward Field is the greatest outdoor track & field venue in the country, and arguably one of the best in the world. Last weekend, Wichita State had the chance to travel to Eugene and test the facilities out themselves. At the second edition of the Hayward Premiere, 44 athletes went up against 23 other schools, going head to head at the same venue that’s hosting the greatest athletes in the world in less than one-hundred days. There were stellar performances all-around for the Shockers, so let’s run through the scorers and bring you up to date.
5th — Faith Turner — 100m (11.77)
2nd — Triple Jump (39’ 10.75”
5th — Paula Garcia — 200m (24.35)
5th — Sydney Johnson — 400m (57.14)
7th — Abeba Sullivan — 1500m (4:34.12)
7th — Brianna Utecht — 100mH (14.41)
8th — Long Jump (18’ 1.5”)
3rd — Turner, Garcia, Johnson, Utecht — 4x100m (45.79)
6th — Johnson, Garcia, Okoro, Utecht — 4x400m (3:51.48)
3rd — Margaux Thompson — Pole Vault (12’ 1.5”)
4th — Semaj McGhee — Triple Jump (39’ 2.25”)
5th — Summer Stevenson — Triple Jump (39’ 1”)
5th — Amanda Kakoulias — Shot Put (49’ 6.5”)
7th — Samantha Marx — Javelin (139’ 0)
2nd — Jaleel Montgomery — 100m (10.64)
4th — Joakim Genereux — 400m (48.19)
6th — JD Prinsloo — (400m (48.85)
8th — RJ Hutchison — 400m (49.54)
4th — Adam Moore — 800m (1:50.80)
1st — 1500m (3:44.93)
4th — Bryce Merriman — 1500m (3:49.05)
6th — Trey Rios — 10,000m (30:11.80)
7th — Jackson Caldwell — 10,000m (30:17.16)
8th — Adria Navajon — 110mH (14.65)
3rd — Long Jump (23’ 5.5.”)
8th — Clayton Duchatschek — 3000mS (8:57.25)
5th — Goncalves, Genereux, Prinsloo, Montgomery — 4x100m (41.12)
2nd — Genereux, Goncalves, Hutchison, Prinsloo — 4x400m (3:18.74)
3rd — Bailey, Navajon, Montgomery, Ludolph — 4x400m (3:21.58)
3rd — Brady Palen — High Jump (6’ 8.75”)
5th — Davis Dubbert — High Jump (6’ 8.75”)
7th — Dae’Trell Gordon — Shot Put (52’ 6.75”)
4th — Ridge Estes — Discus (173’ 4”)
3rd — Michael Bryan — Hammer Throw (230’ 8”)
2nd — Taran Taylor — Javelin (226’ 6”)
The Shockers showed up and showed out in Eugene, updating their record books and earning top national marks in the process! Michael Bryan threw his way into the #5 spot in the nation in the hammer throw, while Taran Taylor followed suit, currently sitting at #18 in the javelin after the meet! As weeks pass by, I can expect the Shockers to get faster and stronger on the way back to Eugene!
Natalie Cook Dethrones Jenna Hutchins👑
Natalie Cook continues to get faster and compete at the highest level she can, and she’s still just a senior in high school! The Flower Mound senior most recently broke the high school girl’s 5000m record set in 2020 by Jenna Hutchins by nearly eight seconds, running 15:25.93 at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, CA this past weekend. Cook finished 3rd behind two professionals, but crossed the line ahead of a plethora of professionals, All-Americans, and other collegians. Cook’s 5000m time is now just five seconds away from a possible U20 record, set by Sarah Disanza back in 2014, while she was in the midst of her collegiate career at Wisconsin. In addition to running a 5000m that would have ranked her second and fifth in the past two NCAA DI track seasons (Indoor 22’ & Outdoor 21’), the Oklahoma State commit won both the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships on the first weekend of December, and then turned around and won the Eastbay Cross Country Championships just a week later in San Diego. Since then, she’s added a 9:44.44 two-mile PR that won her the title at New Balance Nationals, but she also ran a leg on the national record 4xMile relay (19:37.78). Cook also boasts PR’s of 2:12.52 in the 800m, and a 4:44.70 for 1600m. Natalie Cook is putting together one of the greatest high school seasons in history, and I can’t imagine that this is the last we will hear of her this spring.
What a great weekend that was for the sport! Athletes across the state are already setting new PR’s and showing off their winter training, and it’s not even halfway through April! With seven weeks left to go in the season before everybody books their hotels for Wichita, there is still plenty of time left before things start to get serious. In about a month we’ll start seeing teams competing for league titles, followed by Regional titles, and of course the coveted state title. For the state’s NAIA schools, they have under a month until the Heart of America and KCAC championship meets, and then after that it’s time for them to focus on getting to Gulf Shores! The MIAA is also just under a month out, as the state’s DII schools begin to get focused in for an important month of competition. For the Big 12 and the AAC, they have an extra week compared to the rest of the schools in the state, and their conference championship is a week after. Regardless of when the big meets are, competition is beginning to heat up, and we as fans get to sit back and watch it all unfold! If you are an athlete reading this, then you will need to more than sit back and watch. Good luck to all of you competing this weekend, and if you’re not, go enjoy some track and field for me!