It's MVC week!

We are one week away from the biggest meet of our indoor season!

K-State Open

The last meet on our regular season schedule was to help determine our 32 man and 32 women roster for the MVC Indoor Championships as well as serve as a “tune-up” for several athletes who are needing an extra competition leading up to the MVC meet.  Different teams do a wide variety of things in the week before a conference meet.  Generally we rest our distance runners and horizontal jumpers (and some sprinters) while most of our field event athletes like to keep the rhythm of competing each week.

The KSU Open is a tough meet to have great performances at because it’s a very low key atmosphere – literally.  The lighting at Ahearn Field House is similar to what a movie theater feels like during the coming attractions.  Needless to say we had an up and down evening but overall we head into our championship meet healthy and feeling strong.

Picking the team

Last year I detailed what goes in to picking our 32 person roster for the MVC Championships.  If you are curious about that process click HERE for that blog.

As of writing this on Sunday afternoon, we haven’t made our final decisions but we are close.  We will gather as a staff tomorrow morning to sort through the last couple spots.  For the athletes who are waiting to see if they make the roster, it can be a long wait.  With a roster of around 65 athletes on each side only about half of our team will make the meet.  We wish we could take them all but that’s how it goes.  Each conference is unique – the Big 12 only allows 26 athletes per team.  It’s a very competitive environment, much like the real world, and our young people begin to understand that you have to earn everything you get in life.  Track and Field is a builder of character that way.

MVC race

Let’s start with the men.  I think as many as four teams have a shot to win the MVC title next week and that should make for a very exciting meet.  Indiana State should probably be listed as the favorite since they won both indoor and outdoor last year and return a strong team.  But I don’t see them as a huge favorite with Wichita State, Loyola and Southern Illinois not far behind.  Northern Iowa appears to be solid in fifth with Illinois State, Drake and Bradley following.

On the women’s side I think any of three teams could win between Wichita State, Indiana State and Southern Illinois.  Beyond that I would go with Northern Iowa in fourth followed by Missouri State, Illinois State, Bradley, Loyola and Drake.

The preparation is almost complete, now it’s time to go and compete for a couple of titles!

The meet is next Saturday and Sunday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  I’m told the finals on Sunday will be broadcast on ESPN3.com so if you can’t make it in person be sure to check it out online!

Armstrong inducted into WSU Hall of Fame

I got to be part of the WSU Pizza Hut Hall of Fame ceremony this weekend as we saw former Shocker hurdler Shannon Armstrong get inducted.  Shannon is our school record holder in the 60m hurdles as well as being a multiple time MVC champion and All-American.  Shannon gave a great speech and we were able to have several of his teammates comes to Wichita for the weekend.

Congrats Shannon!

Next week

With the MVC Championships final day being Sunday I won’t be able to blog until at least Monday.  Make sure to follow the meet all weekend long on GoShockers.com.

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!