What do we have against fast athletes?🧐
The entire newsletter isn't about this, but it's a question raised at the end.
One Year of the Lap Count: Go Kyle!
Before we get into it, I wanted to give a shoutout to The Lap Count, celebrating one full year of newsletters on Wednesday of this week! I’ve been a huge fan of what Kyle Merber has been doing for the sport, and an avid reader of his newsletter. Honestly, The Lap Count played a big role in my design I have for this newsletter and the way I try to write. If you want another newsletter that brings you up-to-date on the world of track and field at the international level, The Lap Count is the way to go!
Recap of Big 12’s
The Big 12, one of the “Power 5” conferences may be the most competitive conferences in the country. On the men’s side, Texas and Texas Tech are ranked as the #4 and #5 teams in the nation, while the women’s teams face Texas and Texas Tech, the #3 and #8 teams in the national rankings. Even with the fierce competition, Kansas schools still showed up and showed out. Avryl Johnson, the Kansas junior edged out Kansas State’s Sydney Burton in the 1000m final, winning 2:48:21 to 2:49.04. Although she isn’t a Jayhawk or a Wildcat, Girard alumni and Iowa State legend Cailie Logue won the 5000m, her 8th Big 12 title. Switching to the field events, Kansas junior Rylee Anderson won by a foot in the high jump, clearing 6’ 1.5 to win gold!
The men followed suit, winning a title as well. It was a 1-2 punch in the pole vault from the duo of Zach Bradford and Clayton Simms, clearing 18’ 5.25” and 17’ 7.25, the only two marks above 17 feet.
At the end of the day, the Wildcats finished 7th on the women’s side and 6th on the men’s, while the Jayhawks finished 8th as a team in the women’s race and 7th on the men’s.
Wichita State @ The AAC Championships🌾
The Shockers are still relatively new to the American Athletic Conference, after leaving the Missouri Valley Conference in 2018 to “increase its basketball profile”. The transition to a larger conference has brought great results for the Wichita State team, most recently when the men finished 2nd in the AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship, and the women were just two points out of 3rd. Last week the Shockers finished 10th on the women’s side and 3rd in the men’s scoring.
Michael Bryan, a Shocker senior won the men’s weight throw by over 4.5 feet, finishing with a throw of 74’ 1”, more than enough for a victory over the second place finisher. Heptathletes Adrià Navajon and Tanner Brown took 1st and 2nd in their respective event, scoring 5616 and 5512 to score 18 points for the Shockers.
Kansas Dominance in the MIAA🌻
Just as the Big 12 is one of the most competitive conferences in Division I, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, or MIAA is one of the top in Division II. Three women’s teams, including the #5 ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas, are ranked within the top twelve, as Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri State sit in 8th and 12th. The men’s side has the #1 ranked team in the country, Pittsburg State, along with four other teams in the top twenty-one spots. The other Kansas team joining the Gorillas is Fort Hays State, the #15 team in the country, while out-of-state teams including Nebraska-Kearney (21st), Missouri Southern (11th), and Central Missouri (6th) display the depth throughout the conference.
Last weekend, the MIAA had their indoor championships at Hughes Fieldhouse, hosted by Northwest Missouri State. All four Kansas teams represented well, winning plenty of conference titles during the meet.
🏆 Lyric Holman — Fort Hays St. (60m)
🏆 Christine Williams — Pittsburg State (200m)
🏆 Jenna Ramsey — Emporia State (3000m/5000m)
🏆 Kyla Davis — Pittsburg State (Pole Vault)
🏆 Braylen Brewer — Pittsburg State (200m/400m)
🏆 Ethan Lang — Fort Hays State (600 yd)
🏆 Mason Strader — Pittsburg State (Mile)
🏆 Tudor, Stone, Alarahshun, Brewer — Pittsburg State (4x400m)
🏆 Ryan Stanley — Fort Hays State (Pole Vault)
🏆 Connor Last — Washburn (Long Jump)
🏆 Henry Kiner — Pittsburg State (Triple Jump)
🏆 Trey Mooney — Pittsburg State (Heptathlon)
Each of the four Kansas schools walked away with at least one individual MIAA championship, as Pittsburg State led the way with seven total first place finishes, followed by Fort Hays State with 3, Emporia State with 2, and Washburn with 1. In the team race, the Gorillas went home with a team title on each side. The men beat out Nebraska-Kearney (97.5) and Missouri Southern (91) by 75 points, scoring 173 in total. The women beat out Northwest Missouri State (98) and Lincoln (86) by over 20 points, finishing with 119.5 points after three days of competition.
Time for a Roadtrip, Birmingham or Pittsburg?🗺
As we move on from the excitement that was the conference championships, we look ahead to the next two weekends of national championships! This weekend, the NAIA and NJCAA are competing in Brookings, SD and Pittsburg, KS, while DI and DII are next week in Birmingham, AL and again, Pittsburg, KS. Our instagram highlighted the NAIA qualifiers from around the state yesterday, and will have something similar for the NJCAA at some point today. With roughly a week in between us and the NCAA track & field championships, let’s take a look at the athletes from Kansas, Kansas State, Wichita State, Emporia State, Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State and Washburn who are fighting for All-American status (maybe even a national title) next week.
Starting with the MIAA champions and hosts of the national championships, the Pittsburg State Gorillas will be represented by twenty-one individual qualifiers, and three relays. Here’s a brief summary of Pittsburg State athletes who are competing next week at the national meet!
Christine Williams — 400m/4x400m
Trace Mosby — 60mH/4x400m/Pentathlon
Madelyn Marquez — 60mH
Kyla Davis — Pole Vault
Isabelle Peters — Pole Vault
Blakelee Winn — Long Jump/Pentathlon
Matti Price — 4x400m
Olivia Lowrey — 4x400m
Braylen Brewer — 200m/400m/4x400m/Distance Medley Relay
Nizar Alarahshun — 200m/400m/4x400m
Sam Tudor — 400m/4x400m
Mason Strader — Mile/Distance Medley Relay
TJ Caldwell — 60mH
Hunter Jones — High Jump/Heptathlon
Henry Kiner — Long Jump/Triple Jump
Konner Swenson — Shot Put
Trey Mooney — Heptathlon
Bryce Grahn — Distance Medley Relay
Connar Southard — Distance Medley Relay
The ladies are predicted to finish 6th as a team based off the cloud training systems meet scorer, with the men projected to win the meet. As we have all learned at one point or another, virtual meets look cool, but they don’t mean a thing once the meet itself gets rolling. Every athlete is there to win, but the Pittsburg State squad has an advantage over the nation, as they get to compete on their home track in front of their fans.
Fort Hays State is taking thirteen individual qualifiers on a five hour drive across the state, where they will hope to leave with their fair share of hardware. Here are the tigers that made the cut!
Lyric Holman — 60m/200m
Mattie Rossi — 60mH/Pentathlon
Alexandra Hart — High Jump
Taylor Savolt — Triple Jump
Philip Landrum — 60m/200m
Ryan Stanley — Pole Vault
Jacob Clark — Pole Vault
Xavier Robinson — Triple Jump
Nolan Churchman — Heptathlon
Ethan Lang — 800m
The Tigers, who both finished 5th at the MIAA championships a week ago are projected to finish 24th on the women’s side, and 20th for the men. I think this team is more than capable of finishing much higher than projected, with both sides having some dark horses when it comes to All-American finishes and even national championships.
The Washburn Ichabods are sending four athletes and a relay to Pittsburg, while Emporia State is sending a lone qualifier in the 5000m. Isabella Hohl is running the 60m dash and running a leg in the 4x400m relay. Virgi Scardanzan will be competing in the pole vault, while the trio of Darian Hillebert, Lindsay Stinson, and Chia Okoro making up the remainder of the 4x400m squad. The Ichabod men are sending a pair of long jumpers in Connor Last and Josh Hopkins. The lone hornet traveling to Pittsburg is none other than Jenna Ramsey, an Emporia State phenom who is taking the region and nation by storm. The Ichabod men are projected to finish 26th, with the women predicted to finish in 30th. Don’t sleep on the these athletes though, a lot of people thrive when counted out, I’d expect this group to react the same way! For Ramsey, I mean she is a threat in any race regardless of her hip number. She has only improved throughout the year, so I don’t think it’s smart for people to count her out either.
On the Division I side of nationals, seven Kansas athletes will be competing in Birmingham next week, made up of three Kansas athletes, three from Kansas State, and one from Wichita State. Zach Bradford and Clayton Simms are two names to watch out for in the pole vault, as Bradford has finished as an All-American four times, and is itching to win his first national title. Simms is just a freshman, and has many more years to contend for a title, and will benefit highly from the experience of the meet alone.
Rylee Anderson has competed at this level before, as this will be her third appearance at the indoor national meet. Last year she finished 10th, just two inches away from an All-American finish. The junior will look to use her momentum from the Big 12 Championships and work her way in to the top eight spots in the nation.
Tejaswin Shankar has had a decorated career at Kansas State, following in the footsteps of Olympic gold medalist and Kansas State alumni, Erik Kynard. Shankar already has a national title under his belt, as he won the outdoor high jump in 2018. In the 2019 outdoor season, Shankar finished 2nd, and followed that up with a 3rd place finish in the 2021 indoor championships. Most recently, the former champion took 2nd last May, finishing 2nd behind double Olympic trials champion JuVaughn Harrison, formerly of LSU. Shankar is a man on a mission this year as he looks to finish his collegiate career back on top.
Kassidy Johnson, a Kansas State junior has lowered her collegiate best from 2:16.16 to 2:04.00 over the last couple of years as a wildcat! After just missing out on a Big 12 title by .13 seconds, Johnson’s consolation prize was a trip to the national meet, as she is ranked 14th heading into the preliminary round. Teammate Taishia Pryce, a senior triple jumper is not unfamiliar with one of the sport’s bigger stages. Pryce has competed at three national championships, and finished 7th a year ago in the long jump. She is tied for 8th out of the field, and will look to out jump as many as she can, hopefully collecting her second NCAA medal.
The final athlete of the seven is Michael Bryan, the senior thrower from Wichita State, and previously Hutchinson Community College. Bryan is 5-1 this season in the weight throw and riding momentum from his personal best thrown last week at the American indoor championships, which was also a meet record. Bryan is seeded 8th going into the championship meet, and looks to earn his first All-American medal of his collegiate career.
One of the Fastest Collegians Ever is Technically from Kansas?🤷
I’ve written about this man a few times throughout this newsletter, highlighting the success he has seen and the attention that he has brought to the NAIA level. Personally, I have always been a fan of him and considered myself lucky to be able to compete against him last Spring in Cedar Rapids (I was not even close to him). Recently I have seen various comments and posts that are seemingly downplaying his accomplishments, instead of celebrating the world-class talent he is. This week we had the chance to talk with Zouhair Talbi, an Olympian and NAIA national champion.
Zouhair Talbi may be one of the most talented athletes that the NAIA has seen in recent memory. This year alone, he’s put up times of 7:40.39 in the 3k, 13:18.17 in the 5k, and a sub-four mile. The 8th fastest collegian of all-time over 5000m, and the 3rd fastest collegian ever in the 3k. Isn’t that amazing and an accomplishment that should be celebrated by the running community? You would think so, right?
I reached out to Zouhair because of comments I saw on a post made by the USTFCCCA Instagram account, celebrating the success the Moroccan native has seen this season. I clicked on the post and saw a surprising amount of negative comments, mixed in with those in awe of his accomplishments. I’m fully aware that people have different opinions about certain aspects of the sport and I feel like I understand where each side is coming from. However, that doesn’t help me understand why people react the way that they do. The reactions I saw in the comment section of the post made me ask myself a question I asked myself back during the fall cross country season. Why is the running community so quick to criticize and discredit any amount of success displayed by athletes? I’ll circle back to that towards the end of the newsletter, because this is supposed to be all about Zouhair and the great things he is doing for the sport in the region, and for his native country of Morocco. Here is a glimpse into the journey of Zouhair Talbi.
1. How do you see so much success in the multitude of distances you run?
“Running successfully in a lot of different distances has come through years of training and practices. It comes with adding more volume to your training and more intense workouts.”
2. You’ve broken 4 in the mile and ran 1:02:21 for the half-marathon. Do you train for the individual distance or is there something bigger down the road that you are training for?
“In the half-marathon, I ran 1:02:01 recently in Houston. In my general preparation for races, I usually run a lot of volume from the months of August to January, so it’s basically half marathon training during those months. For that reason, I usually try to run a half marathon in January or December, but after that I shift to more speed-endurance for my 5k/10k training. When I broke 4 minutes in the mile, I did it because I knew I could do it based on my workouts, but I didn’t necessarily train for it.”
3. How did you find NW Kansas Technical, and what was the reason that took you there?
“Coming to the United States, I went through the NCAA system. but, realized that I was not eligible for four years of competition in order to complete my bachelor’s degree. I was also very stressed in the school that I was in since my English was undeveloped and wasn’t ready for a school setting. So, I found NW Kansas Technical with the idea of finding a college that was less stressful, so that I could both improve my English and use my eligibility. I basically chose it because they had classes starting in March and most schools throughout the nation already had started their semesters.”
4. What was your favorite memory from your time there?
“I loved the trails around NW Kansas and the easy access to the nice running places. The school was small, so for me it was easier to meet people and make friends, and start improving my English.”
5. Obviously, you have the talent to have earned the title of “Olympian”. What made you decide to go to Oklahoma City instead of a Division I school, or even turning professional?
“I didn’t want to go professional until I had completed by bachelor’s degree, and I didn’t go to the NCAA because I didn’t have any eligibility, so the only option for me was to go to an NAIA or Division 2 or 3 school. I had some friends in Oklahoma City that told me about the program, and I liked it. Just to clarify, I didn’t run any Olympic times until after I got to Oklahoma City where the program helped me to achieve my goals.”
(Before Zouhair was enrolled at Oklahoma City, he had run PR’s of 14:06.13 in the 5k, 8:25.59 in the 3k, and 23:57.6 in the 8k on grass)
6. You have been performing at a world-class level over the past year, what is keeping you at Oklahoma City and is there a reason you have not turned pro?
As I mentioned, I am still at Oklahoma City because I want to finish my bachelor’s degree before turning pro.
7. When did you know that you wanted to make running your priority?
“Running has been my priority since I was 15 years old. But, as you know, achieving a high level takes time and you build through the years. The harder you work, the greater the results will be.”
8. If I have it correct, you’ve ran in the Diamond League before. How was that experience?
“I ran in the Diamond League in 2018 in Oslo, Norway, in a 10k. It was a very good experience. I shared my hotel with the best athletes in the world and was able to meet people from around the world. I gained so much motivation through that experience, and I can’t wait to run in big races like that again.”
9. What is your favorite distance to run?
”My favorite distance to run is the 10,000 meters on the track. It’s the distance that’s not too short for me and not too long, so I can perform very well at that distance”
10. What has been your favorite memory up to this point in your career?
“I have a lot of favorite memories from throughout my career. If I had to pick a favorite, it might be traveling to Tokyo in 2021 to run the Olympics, but unfortunately it didn’t happen due to some AIU rules for Morocco. But, I met so many people from around the world during my stay in Tokyo. It felt awesome to be a part of such a big event like that, and now I’m planning to travel to run in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Serbia, so I am very excited for that.”
(Zouhair explains the situation that kept him out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in this Instagram post.)
At the end of the day, people are going to have an opinion about every single thing, and rarely is everybody going to agree on a sole opinion, and that’s okay. My reason for reaching out to Zouhair and asking him about his backstory wasn’t to get everybody on the same page, but to give everybody a backstory and more than speculated thoughts. I truly enjoy watching this guy run, and as an NAIA athlete, I think he is bringing a little more respect to one of more overlooked divisions of collegiate athletics, especially in the world of track & field. From what I can tell, Zouhair is just like a lot of us. He loves running, and wants to be the best he can be, and is in the sport for the right reasons.
When I had finished reading the responses that he sent back to me, I came to a realization and an “answer” to the question I brought up earlier. I don’t know. I have no idea in the why so many fans of the sport are the first ones to deny or dispute any type of success. We saw it last fall when Newbury Park and the rest of the field dismantled the high school record book on a “short course”, one that was measured dozens of times. We’ve seen it recently with athletes just like Zouhair, and we are going to continue to see it until everybody comes to terms with what is happening. The sport is getting faster, and no it’s not because they are doping. Yes, Alberto Salazar shed a very negative light on the sport in more ways than doping, and people like him are genuinely terrible for the sport and should be nowhere near it, but just because there are a few awful examples doesn’t mean we need to automatically assume that everybody is cheating their way to success, right? The world is getting faster because of the technology, the training, the recovery and so many other factors. For example, the cutoff times in the NCAA this year are things we haven’t seen in the history of the sport. Does the emergence of fast times all-around mean that all of these collegiate athletes are doping? No! It means that they are taking advantage of every single opportunity that will help shape them into the best athlete that they can be.
If you are reading this and you aren’t someone who views the changing sport in a negative way, that’s awesome and I appreciate your perspective and mindset! If you’re someone who tends to view the sport in the negative way, or someone who always speculates the reasons for an athlete’s success, that’s okay. Role models and “activists’ throughout the sport have ruined that for you and so many other people. Figures such as Asbel Kiprop and especially Alberto Salazar have tainted the once innocent view we had on the sport, bringing light to some of the darker aspects that needed to be addressed.
This mindset in the sport has driven me crazy since high school and I finally am able to put my thoughts into words, hopefully in a way that makes sense to anyone who is still reading this opinion based rant. I hope that at least a part of that spiel made sense and got my message across, because I’ve been seeing this too much as of recent, and it’s not helping anyone.
As always, thanks to each and every one of you for your interest in the world of cross country and track and field, whether you get this in your email, or you saw this on Twitter or Instagram for the hundredth time and you finally gave into curiosity. People like you are the reasons that I type this every week and why we do everything we can to bring you the best content and information that we can every day of the week.
Wow that got kind of sentimental didn’t it? I can’t possibly end this on such a somber note. Before you go, make sure to tune in to the NJCAA and NAIA Indoor Championships happening today (03/04) and tomorrow (03/05)! As I type now, Kansas has already had its fair share of athletes and relays moving on to finals. Alyssa Armendariz of Saint Mary took 7th in 5k prelims to secure her spot in Saturday’s final. Johnathan Bowen followed his teammate’s suit, taking 6th in prelims to move onto the final. Both the Friends and Benedictine women’s 4x800m squad booked their reservation for the final, finishing 1st and 8th overall in the prelim. The Saint Mary men’s 4x400m relay took 7th to qualify for the final as well. In the final event of Day 1, the Friend’s women DMR took the final spot by just over a tenth of a second. The men’s DMR saw the men of Saint Mary come oh-so-close to dipping under 10, finishing 4th overall and 2nd in their heat to move on.
As of now (12pm CST), there is nothing else to report on in Brookings, SD, but I would advise you to stay tuned as things begin to heat up, along with the NJCAA getting started on Saturday. Here’s how you can watch and/or follow each championship meet.
NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships @ Dakota State University
📺 NAIA Livestream ($$$)
📍 Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex, Brookings, South Dakota
NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships @ Dakota State University
📺 NJCAA Livestream ($$$)
📍 Robert W. Plaster Center, Pittsburg, Kansas
I hope this goes without saying, but go enjoy some track & field for us, and we’ll see you next week. If you have any suggestions or want to tell me how much you dislike my writing and opinion, our DM’s and email (ksxcountrytandf@gmail.com) are always open.