Fast in HS, Even Faster in College🤯
Marshall,Venters, Klemz, Cochran, Beach, Briggs & Murrow
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Garmin Pay
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Now includes the golf features that are on the golf specific devices
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Alumni Going Up Out West🧭
Besides his family, I’m not sure there is a bigger Ethan Marshall fan than St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Justin Wrigley, Marshall’s high school coach. Every time Air Force is set to race and the former Kansas Gatorade Runner of the Year is entered, Wrigley is posting about it days in advance, letting everyone on Twitter know the start time and how you can watch it. If that’s not dedication, then I don’t know what is! This past weekend, Marshall and his fellow Falcons ran at the 62nd Annual Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California. In his collegiate outdoor debut, Marshall was just 2.23 seconds away from going under fourteen minutes, finishing in 14:02.22 in a loaded field. His debut is already #16 in program history, pairing quite nicely with his 29:12.95 10k debut he ran earlier this month, the #6 best time in program history, and a junior class record. Marshall has been coming on since the fall, and as I find myself saying quite a bit, I can’t wait to see what else he can do.
I’ve always liked Emily Venters, especially after she wrote her piece for the Stride Report back in 2020. In high school, she was a force at Lawrence Free State, and has fought through so much in her collegiate career. After a fast cross country season that ended with a DNF in brutal conditions in Tallahassee, Florida, she’s on her way back towards the top. She was in position and running towards another All-American honor, but unfortunately, like many athletes that day, the heat played more of a factor than it should have. Knowing Venters’ history, I bet she bounced back and focused on her next set of races. After a 15:47.79 at the Stanford Invitational a few weeks back, she doubled her distance at Mt. Sac and made her 10k debut as a Ute, where she ran 33:07.74, the sixth fastest time in the nation and the #2 all time in program history.
Jacob Klemz etched himself into the Portland Pilots’ record books with his first sub-29 performance in the 10,000m, running 28:39.80 in Walnut, CA! The Hayden High School alumni and former Washburn All-American is on a five meet PR streak! Dating back to the 2022 Husky Classic, the standout has seen new bests from the 1500 to the 10k, with the mile, 3k and 5k in between. At the Husky Classic he ran 7:51.95 in the 3k, followed by a 4:11.2 mile at the 2022 MPSF Indoor Track & Field Championships. In his outdoor debut, he cranked out a 3:48.86 in the 1500m at the L&C Spring Break Open, with a 13:47.42 5k at Stanford two weeks later at Stanford. His 10k at Mt. Sac kept the streak alive, but at this point he can’t go any longer in distance. Who knows, maybe an 800m is on deck.
Since Trent Cochran started his career at Colorado Christian, he’s done two things: gotten faster and grown a great head of hair. I mean take a look for yourself.
Along with the hair, the former state champion has had a heck of a career in Lakewood, CO. From his 3:51.07 1500m to his 30:08.0 10,000m on the grass, he keeps getting faster. This past weekend he did it on the track at the Bryan Clay Invitational in the 5000m. The junior ran 12.5 laps in 14:07.31, the 19th fastest time in a deep Division II field. Last spring he finished 11th at the DII outdoor national championships in the 1500m, and I’m confident he has the talent to end the season as an All-American.
The Iowa State trio of Riley Beach, Sarah Murrow, and Taylor Briggs all took their talents to the Bryan Clay Invitational last weekend, as Beach hit the 1500m and the other two tackled the 5000m. The trio has a combined sixteen state titles ranging from 4A-5A-6A, and have been representing Kansas very well during their time at Ames. Beach is currently the 19th fastest athlete in the 1500m across the Big 12, and the second fastest freshman in the conference after only two races at the distance in her career. Murrow and Briggs sit in 13th and 17th in the 5000m. Murrow is the 6th fastest sophomore, and Briggs is the 3rd fastest freshman. The future is bright for the Cyclones, and three Kansas runners are leading the way!
Newkirk v. Shryock 🤝
Ben Shryock is a senior at Lawrence Free State and has been tearing up the 6A ranks since he was a freshman. He took 4th at state cross country his freshman year, and has since gone on to collect three more additional All-State finishes in both cross country and on the track, complimented with his 3200m state championship he claimed last spring. Boasting personal bests of 1:56.42, 4:16.29, and 9:15.01, the Harvard commit will look to add some more hardware before he transitions to the Ivy League.
A senior at Hayden High School in Topeka, Tanner Newkirk has had quite the career of his own. Since his freshman year, Newkirk has only gotten faster, and still hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. In his senior year alone, he’s broken the XC 5k (15:16.67), 1600m (4:14.43) and 3200m (9:18.14) school records at Hayden. He’s also got a 1:57.99 best in the 800m, and all of the signs point to him breaking that one before he walks across the stage. Like Shryock, he’s got quite the trophy case, as the future Jayhawk has five All-State finishes, and a state title on the grass in the fall of 2020.
The two have battled before, but last Wednesday at the Little KU meet at Lawrence High School, the pair dropped the two fastest times in the state in the 1600m (Newkirk-Shryock), and the 6th and 8th fastest times in the 800m (Shryock-Newkirk). In the 1600m, from the snippet of footage I saw on Twitter, I believe the two speedsters ran together the majority of the race, with Newkirk pulling away within the last 150m-200m. Newkirk crossed the line in 4:14.43, with Shryock just behind him in 4:17.34. As mentioned before, those are the top two times in the state, and the fastest time in 6A for Shryock, and 4A for Newkirk. In the 800m, Shryock wasn’t going to let Newkirk bring out the broom, as he edged him out 1:57.67-1:57.99. That’s the 3rd fastest time seen in 6A this year, and the 2nd fastest seen across 4A.
I’m sure this won’t be the last time the two get to race one another, but I can only imagine the times they’ll produce, especially if wind isn’t a factor.
Schwartz and Helm🏋️♂️
Brett Schwartz, a senior out of Santa Fe Trail is the greatest discus thrower in the nation, and that’s not just an opinion. Last Tuesday, at the Royal Valley April Invitational, Schwartz launched a 204-2 throw in the discus, over a foot and a half ahead of the next farthest mark in the nation. Just 20 inches back of Schwartz is fellow Kansas stud, Madison’s Casey Helm. Just a few hours before Schwartz surpassed 200 feet, Helm did it first at the Eureka Invitational, tossing it 202-6. Two of the top throwers in the nation continue to outdo their previous performances. Princeton and Nebraska are each getting a stud and I’m sure this isn’t the last time we’ll hear their names this spring.
NAU’s Dirty Double⏱
Since 2016, Northern Arizona has won five of the six cross country national titles, just over a month ago the trio of Abdihamid Nur, Nico Young and Drew Bosley scored 29 points across the 3k and 5k at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, enough for a 4th place podium finish for the Lumberjack trio. During their stint of five national titles on the grass in six years, they totaled 27 All-Americans, at one point putting six in the top forty finishers. During their podium finish in Birmingham last month, Nur won the 3000m and 5000m, reaping the rewards from Mike Smith’s phenomenal coaching.
You might be wondering why we are talking about NAU, and how they’re relevant to the Sunflower state. Honestly they really don’t, but the double that their distance team tackled last weekend is too wild to leave out. Last Friday at the Bryan Clay Invitational Mt. Sac Relays, the quartet of Abdihamid Nur, George Kusche, Nico Young and Drew Bosley ran the 1500m in Azusa, and then drove under half an hour down to Walnut where they ran the 5000m just under three hours later. In the 1500m, which started at 7:45pm, Nur led Kusche, Young and Bosley to personal bests in the event, additionally the 2nd, 4th, 9th and 23rd fastest times ran in the NCAA this season. After the gun went off for the 5000m at 10:30pm, the quartet doubled back for a 1-4 finish, all crossed the line within four-hundredths of a second, finishing in 13:42.28 (Kusche), 13:42.31 (Nur), 13:42.32 for both Bosley and Young. Talk about a grinder of a workout. If you haven’t followed the NAU squad or are unfamiliar with the Lumberjacks, I highly recommend you change that and look into it.
That’s a wrap for this week, if I missed a Kansas alumni that had a heck of a weekend, let me know so I can share their success! There is a lot of track & field left over the next few weeks, but we are rapidly approaching May, and the high school scene is bound to heat up. For our collegiate athletes, a lot of them will compete this week and next week, with their conference meets within the first two weekends of May. The next few weeks are crunch time for me as I begin to wrap up my senior year, so I’ll apologize in advance if the newsletters over the next two or three weeks lack the content you’re used to. After the weekend of May 15, both the newsletter and KSXCT&F as a whole are going to be introducing a lot more content that we think everyone is going to thoroughly enjoy. Go enjoy some track & field for us, but mind the wind.