Natty time⏰
conference championships are done, and nationals are on deck
Is the 5k hard or something?
To this day and to our knowledge, which we got from Chris McAfee, head coach of Mill Valley, only eleven Kansas graduates had gone on to break the fourteen-minute barrier during either their collegiate or professional careers. The short but talented list includes state champions, NCAA champions and even Olympic gold medalists. However, within the last few weeks, two new Kansans have etched their name onto the list, as Teagan Flanagan (Kingman ‘19) and Mitchell Dervin (Mill Valley ‘18) both broke the coveted barrier this month. Flanagan did so just last week at the Sun Belt Championships, where he ran 13:58.25 to finish runner-up. Dervin’s dip under fourteen came at the BU Valentine Invite, where he ran 13:58.25 to finish 58th. Also, though St. Thomas Aquinas graduate Ethan Marshall had already broken fourteen once in his career, he ran 13:53.70 in the same heat as Dervin to set a new PR and move up on the list. If you think there is somebody missing from this list or any suggestions, you know where to find me.
Kansas Graduates To Go Sub-14
07.18.2017 — Reid Buchanan (Manhattan) — 13:27.83
07.16.2004 — Mark Menefee (Buhler) — 13:37.68
05.20.1972 — Jim Ryun (Wichita East) — 13:38.2
07.15.1965 — Billy Mills (Haskell) — 13:41.4
04.15.2016 — Zach Zarda (Maranatha Academy) — 13:42.35
05.06.2022 — Jacob Klemz (Topeka-Hayden) — 13:46.12
04.19.1998 — Steve Fein (Shawnee Mission Northwest) — 13:40.86
02.11.2023 — Ethan Marshall (St. Thomas Aquinas) — 13:53.70i*
02.11.2022 — Cooper Schroeder (Manhattan) — 13:55.58
02.13.2015 — Jacob Morgan (Topeka-Washburn Rural) — 13:57.08i
02.11.2023 — Mitchell Dervin (Shawnee-Mill Valley) — 13:58.25i
02.20.2023 — Teagan Flanagan (Kingman) — 13:58.83i
04.30.2006 — Paul Hefferon (Blue Valley West) — 13:59.47
Kansas Alum Check-In📍
William Jones — Blue Valley
Jones is a member of the 4x400m relay that ran 3:05.01 at the Ken Shannon Last Chance Invite in Seattle, WA. Jones and company broke the previous facility record, and are currently ranked 9th in the NCAA with a season best of 3:03.38.
Kennedi Cline — Olathe West
Cline is a true freshman at Northwest Missouri State, and over the weekend she finished runner-up in the MIAA 400m with a time of 54.88. She also ran a leg of the champion 4x400m that won in 3:41.44. She’s ranked twelfth in the 400m across all of DII, and her 4x400m is ranked third.
Victoria Robinson — Lansing
Previously at Kansas State and Northern Illinois, Robinson is in peak form after finishing runner-up in the 800m at the American Athletic Conference championships this weekend. Robinson set a PR in 2:08.58, and also ran on the fourth place 4x400m and fifth place DMR.
Kassidy Johnson — Maize South
As a graduate student at Rutgers, Johnson finished 3rd in the 800m at the Big 10 Indoor Championships, running 2:04.36, her best time as a Scarlet Knight so far.
Venters, Logue & Born — Lawrence Free State, Girard, & SM Northwest
Once a trio of some of the fastest high schoolers in the country, they are now fulfilling the rest of their collegiate careers at three of the best distance programs in the NCAA. All three had a busy weekend, with Logue and Born going head-to-head at Big 12’s. In the 5000m, Logue was runner-up in 16:18.36, and Born was 7th in 16:38.09. The 3000m saw Logue finish as runner-up once again in a time of 9:21.60, as Born was twelfth in 9:42.58. As two-thirds of the trio ran in Lubbock, Venters was up in Seattle, WA where she ran a new PR of 8:58.50 in the 3000m. Venters sits in 19th in the current NCAA 3000m standings, with Logue in 22nd. In the 5000m, Venters is ranked 5th, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, will be racing for a national title in a due time.
Yazmine Wright — Hutchinson
Wright, who is now a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma previously competed for Wichita State. In her time in Norman, she has already added three All-Big 12 honors to her name, as she finished 5th, 6th, and 4th in the Mile, 3000m and as a leg on the 4x400m.
It’s the end of the AAC as we know it😔
Track & field, as we know it, is going to look much different in 2024, as six new teams will become full member institutions on July 1, 2023. The addition of teams came after the announcement that Houston, Cincinnati and UCF will join the Big 12 on the same day, along with BYU. However, to make up for the departure of three programs, the American Athletic Conference will be adding UAB, FAU, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice and UTSA this summer.
Basically, this was the second-to-last time that Wichita State will see the three departing programs, and the last time they’ll see them with a roof over their heads.
The Shocker women finished in 10th, totaling 25.75 points in a very competitive conference. In the 800m, Farrah Miller set another PR, this time lowering it to 2:08.80, her first performance under 2:10. The other Shocker on the podium was Destiny Masters, who finished runner-up in the Pentathlon, totaling 3958 to finish just over two-hundred points back of first. Masters’ best finish in the event was the high jump, where she finished 2nd after clearing 5’ 9.75”.
After winning the AAC outdoor title last May, the Wichita State men finished 4th with 102 points, just half of a point off of the podium. Cincinnati won over Houston 143-126, as South Florida took 3rd with 102.5 points.
Adria Navajon was the lone Shocker conference champion as he won his third consecutive conference title in the multi-event, as he won both the 2022 indoor Heptathlon and outdoor Decathlon in the black and gold. Navajon won five of the seven events, picking up a lot of points in 60m, long jump, high jump, 60mH, and 1000m, along with a 2nd and 5th place finish in the pole vault and shot put. There wasn’t much to question about Navajon’s performance, as the Spaniard looked unstoppable once again, winning by a 401 point margin as he put up a new PR of 5641. Navajon also competed in the 60mH and long jump, finish 3rd and 8th, totaling seventeen points.
In the 3000m, school-record holder Adrian Diaz-Lopez finished as the AAC runner-up in 7:55.06. Diaz-Lopez was also a member of the DMR squad that picked up a 3rd place finish, running 9:52.05 to finish more than ten seconds ahead of the fourth place finisher. Along with the DMR, the 4x400m relay also finished 3rd, running 3:14.00 for a new season PR. In the high jump, the star-studded duo Brady Palen and Weston Lewis finished 2nd and 3rd, clearing 7’ 2.5” and 7’ 0.5”. Yuben Goncalves hadn’t competed in over a month, but was rust-free as he finished runner-up in the triple jump after leaping 50’ 1.75”. Nathan Vann also finished 3rd behind Navajon in the Heptathlon, scoring 4999 points.
With the next meet being the national championships, the Shockers currently have one athlete with their ticket to Albuquerque, NM punched, as Brady Palen sits in the top eight at this point of the season.
How many more meets are there in Lubbock?🤔
Just as the American Athletic Conference is getting a new look next school year, the Big 12 is going under some renovations of their own. As a lot of Wildcat and Jayhawk fans eagerly await the departure of Oklahoma and an orange team, a lot of fans are excited to welcome Houston, Cincinnati, Central Florida and BYU. As a fan of the Big 12, I think it’ll be fun to watch the four new additions to the conference in the larger sports like basketball and football. But as an even bigger fan of track & field, I can’t wait to see how BYU’s distance teams and Houston sprint teams challenge the conference. Keep in mind, Cincinnati and Houston finished 1st and 2nd at the AAC Championships this weekend, and UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston went 1-3 on the women’s side. The world of track & field got even more fun within the Big 12, and I can’t wait for the new era to get here!
In the last Big 12 Indoor Championships with ten teams, the Jayhawks finished 4th on the men’s side and 7th on the women’ side, with Kansas State taking 8th on both sides.
Over the weekend, Kansas left Lubbock, TX with a trio of Big 12 champions. Aaliyah Moore won the 800m with a huge PR of 2:05.11. which was just barely enough to squeak past runner-up Gabija Galvydyte of Oklahoma State. Both have official times of 2:05.11, but her 2:05.101 prevailed over Galvydyte’s 2:05.106. For Moore, this was her first Big 12 title of any kind. In the high jump, Rylee Anderson won her fourth high jump title, clearing 6’ 2” as the only athlete over six feet. The All-American will compete for a national title in a few weeks. For the Jayhawk men, Patrick Larrison was crowned the king of shot put for the conference, landing a throw of 64’ 5.75” to distance himself from the field by nearly a meter and a half. For Larrison, this is his first ever Big 12 title.
In the women’s 60mH, Gabrielle Gibson finished runner-up in a 8.11 (8.13 Conversion), a huge PR that puts her at 19th in the nation. Devin Loudermilk finished 2nd in the men’s high jump, his highest ever finish in the event at Big 12’s. He cleared 7’ 1.75” on his first attempt, putting him in 3rd ahead of two Texas Tech athletes who also cleared that height, but on their third jumps. As they have all season, the pole vault team for the Jayhawks has been incredibly dominant, as Clayton Simms and Ashton Barkdull finished 2nd and 3rd with clearances of 18’ 1.75” and 17’ 9.75”. The pair finished behind former Jayhawk and school record holder Zach Bradford, who is finishing his eligibility with Texas Tech. As a freshman, Tayton Klein finished 3rd in the long jump, as he finally got into the 25’s, with a new PR of 25’ 0.5” to his name. In the triple jump, Jaden Patterson finished as the runner-up, also with a huge PR of 53’ 0”. The final top three finisher for Kansas was school-record holder Alexander Jung, who took 3rd in the Heptathlon with a new PR of 5721.
Though the Wildcats didn’t have a conference champion, they did have multiple top three finishers throughout the meet. The women’s long jump saw Shalom Olotu take 3rd, with a PR mark of 20’ 3.5” coming on her last jump of the competition. In the weight throw, it was a strong performance from Jasmine Greer and Emma Robbins who took 2nd and 3rd respectively, with their best throws of the competition being 67’ 8.25” and 66’ 7.75”.
As it sits, Rylee Anderson (High Jump), Gabrielle Gibson (60mH), Michael Joseph (400m), Devin Loudermilk (High Jump), Clayton Simms (Pole Vault), Jaden Patterson (Triple Jump) and Patrick Larrison (Shot Put) are all ranked within the top twenty marks for the NCAA this season. Seemingly, Anderson, Loudermilk and Simms are locks based on their ranking, but chances are still very strong for the other four. For the ‘Cats, chances of qualification are less likely for Devon Richardson (High Jump), Kamryen Garrett (High Jump), Monique Hardy (Weight Throw) and Emil Uhlin (Heptathlon), but are in no way out of the picture.
Home field advantage🤝team sweep
Arguably, the MIAA is the toughest conference in all of Division II. The only other conference that I personally think rivals the MIAA is the RMAC, but I’d say these two sit way above the rest. In the latest USTFCCA Rankings (02/21), the MIAA has ten ranked programs combined, which was the second most out of other DII conferences, just one behind the RMAC. The Pittsburg State women are the highest ranked MIAA squad, sitting in 5th, followed by Northwest Missouri State, Central Missouri and Lincoln, who are ranked 20th, 11th and 15th respectively. On the men’s side, Pittsburg State has sat at number one throughout the entire indoor campaign, as Missouri Southern (#6), Central Missouri (#7), Fort Hays State (#10), Nebraska-Kearney (#22) and Lincoln (#25) all cracked the top twenty-five.
Within the MIAA, Pittsburg State, Emporia State, Washburn and Fort Hays State are the four in-state programs during track season (Newman does not have a track program, only cross country).
For how competitive the conference is, it’s a pretty impressive feat for seventeen of the possible thirty-six conference champions to be from a Kansas program, and it’ll be even more impressive when I tell you how many of those are from Pittsburg State.
Emporia State🐝
The men’s 4x400m relay was the lone podium performance for the Hornets, as Guy Ramos, Jack Watson, Brock Merz and Jake Johnson hit the NCAA DII Provisional Standard, running 3:14.28, a time good enough for a 3rd place finish. The men finished 10th and the women finished 11th, scoring eighteen and ten points over the weekend.
Washburn🎩
Like the Hornets, the Ichabods came close to a couple of MIAA titles, but Isabella Hohl came oh-so-close in the 60m, running a new lifetime best of 7.37 for a runner-up finish. Along with Hohl, the Ichabod DMR quartet made up of Eve Weber, Katelyn Jones, Lexie Fontaine and Lily Johnson finished on the podium, as they took 3rd in 12:00.01, hitting the DII Provisional Standard as well. In the long jump, Kim Smith jumped 19’ 3.5”, a new PR and nearly a top-twenty performance so far this season. On the men’s side, the duo of Connor Last and Josh Hopkins finished 2nd and 3rd in the long jump, reaching marks of 24’ 8.5” and 24’ 2.5”. Both the men and women finished 7th as a team, scoring 40.5 and 44.33 to do so.
Fort Hays State🐯
The Tigers had a pair of MIAA champions, as Nolan Churchman won the Heptathlon and the 4x400m relay as well. Churchman tallied 5304 points, the 12th best performance in the NCAA this season. En route to his first ever conference title in the event, Churchman won the 60m. long jump, high jump and pole vault within the competition, while finishing 4th, 5th and 7th in the three other events. With over eighty points separating himself and the runner-up, Churchman had just a little breathing room as the event was winding down, and he found himself on top. While an individual title is nice, Churchman also was a key part in the Tiger’s 4x400m title, as he anchored the team to a MIAA title in 3:11.32.
In the 5000m, Regan Hodsden finished 3rd in 17:32.64, and followed that up with another 3rd place finish in the 3000m, where she ran 10:03.46. In the Pentathlon, Mattie Rossi finished 3rd, scoring 3815 points and winning the 800m, the final stage of the five-event competition.
In the men’s 200m, Philip Landrum matched his highest MIAA finish in the event, running 21.49 for a new season best. Ethan Lang dropped his third fastest time of this indoor campaign, as he ran 1:51.22 to finish runner-up to the defending indoor and outdoor champion, who also hasn’t lost any of his six 800m races this season. A top-fifteen team in the DMR this season, the Tigers ran their second fastest time of the season, as the team of Trever Medina, Churchman, Grant Bradley and Lang ran 9:54.61 for 3rd. In the pole vault, Jacob Clark and Ryan Stanley finished 2nd and 3rd, clearing 16’ 11.5” and 16’ 7.5”.
Pittsburg State🦍
Fifteen conference champions and seventy All-MIAA performances. The Pittsburg State program put on a clinic on both the men’s and women’s sides on their home turf over the weekend, as the men won their third consecutive indoor title, and the women won their sixth in seven years.
Conference Champions
AJ Evans won both the 60m and 200m titles this weekend, running 6.70 and 21.04 along the way, leading himself and two teammates to a 1-2-3 sweep in the 60m.
At the end of his NAIA career with St. Mary, we knew Corey Lyons was going to be a threat at the Division II level, and over the weekend he reminded us that he was almost a national champion last May. Lyons won the 400m title on Sunday in 46.62, nearly matching his PR of 46.60. Lyons led the way for a 1-2-3-5 Pitt State barrage in the final.
Braden Zaner won the 5000m title on Saturday night, edging out his teammate in 14:24.81, picking up his first MIAA title of his career. He helped the Gorillas put four runners in the top seven finishers.
The NCAA DII 60mH record holder came within striking distance of making history yet again, as Cordell Tinch ran under 7.60 in both the preliminaries and finals, running 7.58 to win the title. He led the way for another Pittsburg State sweep. Tinch also won the MIAA high jump title, clearing 7’ 3.25”, passing his previous PR of 7’ 2.5”.
In the long jump, L.J. Kiner held off the Washburn duo, jumping 25’ 4.5”, a new lifetime PR. This is Kiner’s third MIAA title, but his first in the long jump.
In what seems to be both his season and Pittsburg State debut, Treyvon Ferguson won the triple jump crown, notching a mark of 51’ 3”, roughly a foot and a half ahead of the runner-up. Just like that, Pittsburg State is somehow even more dangerous with the addition of Ferguson.
Konnor Swenson won his second consecutive MIAA shot put title, throwing 58’ 3.75 to edge out the field by nearly a foot.
Kate Dawson was one of three Pittsburg State women to win a distance conference title this weekend, as she won the mile in 4:57.88, her third fastest time of her college career.
Hannah Honeyman won the 3000m in a new PR of 10:02.10, a seven second improvement from her previous best. This was Honeyman’s first conference title of her career.
Jentrie Alderson won her first MIAA conference title in her second MIAA race, winning the 5000m in 17:28.07. As it currently stands, every Pittsburg State freshman that I’ve interviewed for The Lead Pack has gone on to win a MIAA title in the following months. Some spooky stuff!
In the high jump, Erica Schamel led a Gorilla sweep, as she and three teammates finished 1-2-3-6. After two consecutive runner-up finishes in the MIAA high jump, Schamel finally gets the victory after clearing 5’ 8.75”.
The defending indoor national champion Kyla Davis won her second MIAA title, with a new PR of 13’ 9.25”. This was nearly a seven-inch season best for Davis.
Auna Childress won her trademark event, and picked up her first conference title of her career, as she jumped 42’ 9.5” and won by over a foot.
In the men’s 60m, Xavier Carmichael and Tevin Wright-Rose helped complete the sweep, as the pair ran 6.72 and 6.73 to finish 2nd and 3rd. In the 400m, Sam Tudor and Braylen Brewer helped complete another Pittsburg State sweep, with a PR of 46.91 for Tudor and a 46.92 from Brewer being enough to hold off the rest. In the Mile, Diego Contreras finished 3rd in 4:06.74, just a tenth of a second back of the winner. The top four finishers all crossed within .13 seconds of one another. Matthew Oglesby finished as the runner-up in the 5000m with a season best of 14:25.51. In the 60mH, two of the best hurdlers in the nation, TJ Caldwell and Daylin Williams ran 7.64 and 7.80 to help complete ANOTHER 1-2-3 sweep for Pittsburg State. Kiner, who also won the long jump, finished 3rd in the triple jump with a mark of 49’ 6.25”. In his third Heptathlon of his collegiate career, Doug Brown finished runner-up with a new PR of 5220 points scored.
On the women’s side, Jamiya Morgan took 3rd in the 200m, lowering her PR to 24.28 in the process. In the 600y run, Kinleigh Hall took 3rd in 1:22.71, in just her second time ever running the event. Audreanae Hagan took care of business in the 60mH, taking 2nd in 8.34, her third fastest time of the year. The quartet of Blakelee Winn, Morgan, Hall and Olivia Lowrey finished 3rd in the 4x400m, running 3:46.54 along the way. Helping complete a high jump sweep, Allary Liberatore and Rachel Wilson both cleared 5’ 6.5”, over an inch higher than the next finisher. Shelbi Day stepped up to the plate big time in the pole vault, as she cleared 12’ 11”, six and a half inches higher than her previous best. In addition to her win in the triple jump, Childress took 3rd in the long jump with a new PR of 19’ 2.5”. In the shot put, Camryn Williams threw her best throw of 44’ 10.75” to finish over four inches ahead of 4th place, sitting on the podium in 3rd. In the Pentathlon, Winn, who also competed in the 60mH and 4x400m, finished runner-up with a total of 3820 points.
Another week of training🗓️
As I was perusing different articles and reviews on different Ironman races, I came across one that covered the ‘Ironman Madison’, which was the race I had been planning for, and I quickly realized that I had made a grave mistake. Apparently, the course is labeled by many as ‘one of the hardest in the country’, and is a course where athletes have not shied away from walking their bikes up the hill to conserve their energy. With that being said, I made what I consider to be a smart choice, and I moved my race date back a month and I’ll be taking my talents to Waco, TX instead. For this course, the bike route is flat and the running route is ‘rolling’, which to me sounds better than a ‘hilly’ bike course. Another bonus is that the swim is in a river, so I’ll have the current with me. I guess there is a possibility they could have us swim against the current, but that seems like it would be pretty foolish.
For my training, it has been pretty inconsistent up until last week, due to a busy schedule and the fact I had to move a lot of it around since I had a new race date. I’ll keep it short, but I’ll run you all through the last week of training to give you an insight that you may or may not care about.
Monday — 35 Minute Run🏃 (4.5 Miles)
Embarrassingly, this was my longest run since the group runs in Eugene in July. Oof. Honestly, my legs and body were tired, but my lungs and head were in it and it felt relatively good. I am fit?😤
Tuesday — Pool Workout🏊♂️ (1550 yds)
After I hopped out of the pool, I realized I didn’t really drink water the previous two days, which explains my excessive cramping following the workout. All-in-all, good workout where I hit the times.
Wednesday — Cycle Workout🚴♂️ (15 Miles)
This was tough. Felt like I was going to fall to my knees as soon as I got off the bike, but luckily my mind is tougher than my scrawny legs.
Thursday — Treadmill Workout🏃 (5 Miles)
This. Felt. Good. This truly made me miss running and being in shape. Something about pushing yourself when you’re extremely out of shape and thinking of the workouts I was able to do when I was training. Hopefully the first of many great workouts.
Friday — Pool Workout🏊♂️ (1500yds)
This was easier than the last workout in the pool, but still pretty tough. I had more rest but the repetitions were faster. Definitely felt the previous workouts in my legs.
Saturday — Off Day
Thank goodness.
Sunday — Stair Master
I was supposed to have a long bike ride this day, but I was still feeling sore and wanted to give my body an additonal break. For most, they would just take an additional day off, but I’m not that bright. I opted for the Stair Master and climbed to the top of the Empire State Building (and some). This was a new kind of pain, but it felt really good once I was done.
Week Totals
🏃 — 9.5 Miles
🚴♂️ — 15 Miles
🏊♂️ — 3,050 Yards
One good week down, hopefully an even better week on deck. ‘Till next week.
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