The Shockers beat Kansas and Kansas State --- what does it mean?

This past weekend we had the opportunity to compete against our in-state Division I rivals Kansas State and Kansas in a scored competition (along with the Air Force Academy).  We ended up defeating all three teams on both the men’s and women’s sides and our kids proudly left the facility with their heads held high.

The meet was scored in dual meet fashion and here were the scores:

MEN

Wichita St 104, Kansas St 81

Wichita St 99, Kansas 86

Wichita St 113, Air Force 85

WOMEN

Wichita St 94, Kansas St 92

Wichita St 98.5, Kansas 84.5

Wichita St 117, Air Force 76

I have a few thoughts about the meet …

First of all had a really nice meet with lots of season bests and many victories during the course of the day.  We finally had a meet with warm weather and not much wind so our athletes got some legal (not wind aided) races as well as our long sprinters got to run races without a fierce wind on one side of the track.  It helped our placing in the MVC standings and with less than two weeks to go we are feeling pretty confident about our chances for one or maybe two titles.  All in all we got a lot accomplished as a team!

But what does it really mean?

Last week I lightheartedly referred to this meet as the “Battle of Kansas”.  Does it mean we have the best team in Kansas?  Will it propel us to victories in the MVC Championships in two weeks?  Will we get more recruits because we can brag about beating KU and K-State in head to head competition?  Will we qualify more athletes to the NCAA Championships this year?

I don’t know the answers to any of those questions.  But what it does do is make me think about our sport on a larger scale.  This is one of the few meets that we got mentioned on local television and in the Wichita Eagle newspaper.  The reason is, obviously, because we beat our in-state rivals.  But there are problems with this.

I don’t think Kansas and Kansas State were too thrilled that we beat them in the meet but I also don’t think they care too much because at the end of the day winning a meet like this doesn’t mean anything except for bragging rights.  That’s a major problem with our sport.  Kansas State hosted a very nice meet and can talk about several victories and outstanding performances they had.  Kansas can do the same, and in fact they didn’t even mention the team scores in their press release.  Is that good?  Is it ok that every team can spin their press release to make it look like they were successful?

Kansas might have been able to win the meet if they entered their athletes in more events (as could’ve K-State), but they didn’t because the bigger goal is to get ready for the Big-12 Championships.  I don’t blame them at all, we did the same thing by not doubling our best athletes as well, but shouldn’t winning this meet mean something more than bragging rights?  What if winning this meet meant Wichita State (or KU/KSU) would earn more national qualifiers?  Would they “try” to win a lot more then?

None of this should diminish the accomplishments of our men and women this weekend, in fact we have very strong outdoor track and field teams.  We expected to win the men's meet and thought our women had a chance although winning that meet was probably a slight upset.  Our men's team will probably be favored to beat Indiana State at the MVC Championships in two weeks - and Indiana State is REALLY good.

Our coaches association is trying to change the culture of the sport but most of the things I’ve heard doesn’t really address questions like the ones I’m talking about.  I’ve heard rumors that there are changes coming in the near future but will it make our regular season more important than just preparation for the conference and NCAA Championships?  Our basketball team had to win many regular season games to earn a better seed for the NCAA Tournament.  Everyone knows each game means something and that creates lots of interest.

I love our sport, in fact I think it’s the most pure and beautiful sport there is.  I just wish that beating KU and K-State meant more than just having bragging rights.