Men’s tennis

Wichita State men’s tennis took a 5-2 victory against Omaha in Nebraska on Saturday. With the win, the Shockers now sit at 2-4 on the season after a rough five games to start.

UNO took the doubles point when a tiebreaker on the first court became the decider, as senior Alejandro Jacome and sophomore Ilias Worthington took a 6(5)-7(7) loss. Sophomore Amir Milushev and senior Luke Bracks were the first to fall, 6-3.

Freshman Pablo Roche Alcaya and sophomore Zaid Al Mashni were the only Shockers to take a doubles victory that afternoon, 7-5.

Wichita State bounced back after the doubles matchups and had a gentleman’s sweep of the singles round as it only lost one matchup.

Roche Alcaya kept his momentum up with a decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory over UNO’s Pavan Uppu on the singles court. Al Mashni took his matchup to the super tiebreaker, losing 6-3, 6(7)-7(9), 0(6)-1(10). It was Al Mashni’s first singles defeat of the spring season.

Wichita State will continue on to Abilene, Texas to take on Abilene Christian on Thursday.

Women’s tennis

Wichita State’s women’s tennis team lost both its Friday and Saturday matchups at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Lubbock, Texas.

No. 10-ranked Oklahoma State swept the Shockers, 4-0, in the semifinals, leaving four games unfinished in both the singles and doubles matchups.

Juniors Xin Tong Wang and Giorgia Roselli were up 5-4 in their doubles match before their match went unfinished as the Cowgirls won two courts. WSU sophomore Sati Aubakirova and senior Kristina Kudryavtseva took a 0-6 loss in their match.

Wang and Roselli were also the only Shockers to win more than one game in the singles bracket. Wang went 0-6, 4-6 in her matchup while Roselli was the only Shockers to take a set — 3-6, 6-2 — before leaving the third set unfinished.

The Shockers then took to the consolation side of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, losing out to Long Beach State, 4-3.

Kudryavtseva and Aubakirova avenged their Friday evening loss in a 7-5 victory on the doubles court. Senior Vichitraporn Vimuktananda and graduate student Anne Knuettel also took a 7-5 victory in doubles.

Senior Tatyana Nikolenko and Wang fought to a tiebreaker but left the doubles court unfinished with the two other victories.

The Shockers were held just short as they could only muster up two wins on the singles bracket. Wang won her matchup with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 scoreline. Vimuktananda took WSU’s second win on the singles court in a 6-1, 6-4 decision.

After Vimuktananda’s win put the Shockers ahead 3-1, Long Beach took three straight to hand WSU a heartbreaking defeat to leave Lubbock winless.

Wichita State will make a brief road trip to Iowa on Saturday at noon against Iowa State. Then they will travel eastward to play the University of Iowa for another noon matchup Sunday.

Track and field

Wichita State track and field took three first place finishes at the Prairie Wolf Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday.

Junior Chairo Ogbebor took first place in the men’s 200-meter race with a time of 22.03 seconds. 

Fellow junior Josh Parrish took first in the 60-meter hurdles preliminaries with a time of 7.79 seconds, the only athlete with a time below eight seconds. Parrish did not make a finish in the 60-meter hurdle finals, however.

Senior Jelese Alexander took first place in the women’s 60-meter race with a time of 7.63 seconds. Senior Audrey Parson also took first in the women’s 600-meter race with a time of 1 minute, 35.10 seconds.

Fellow junior on the men’s side Kelvin Kipyego took third in the men’s 800-meter race with a time of 1 minute, 54.01 seconds, while senior Riley Vandaveer was not far behind in fifth with a time of 1 minute, 56.69 seconds.

Freshmen Vivien Kipkorir, Jasmine Stiede and Mercy Jepkoech finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the women’s 800-meter race.

Freshman Greyson Ellensohn finished second in the men’s 1000-meter race with a time of 2 minutes, 32.61 seconds.

Senior Lea Jerkovic led the pack of Shockers in the 1,000-meter race with a second place finish clocked in at 2 minutes, 55.94 seconds, as other Shockers also took the fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth place spots.

Senior Beau Kerschen took second in the men’s weight throw with a mark of 18.33 meters.

At the Mark Colligan Memorial in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Wichita State men’s track and field placed third out of four teams, while the women’s team placed fourth out of four.

Junior Josh Parrish set a new school record in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.70 seconds on his way to first place, beating Shannon Armstrong’s record time of 7.72 seconds set in 2004.

Jason Parrish, Josh’s twin brother, finished first in the men’s 400-meter race with a time of 47.84 seconds. Ogbebor took first place in the men’s 60-meter race with a time of 6.74 seconds.

The women’s squad did not bring in any first-place finishes during Saturday’s events, but managed to nab a few podium finishes. 

Freshman Keely Hoback placed second in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.61 seconds. Kipkorir placed third in the women’s mile at 4 minutes, 47.60 seconds.

Wichita State’s “A-Squad” took second in the men’s 4×400 relay with a time of 3 minutes, 15.10 seconds, spearheaded by the Parrish twins, along with Brock Merz and Rikard Throgen-Hedin.

Sophomore Elkana Kipruto led the Shockers in the long-distance races, placing second in both the men’s mile and the 3000-meter race. Kipruto finished with a 4 minutes, 06.01 seconds in the mile and 8 minutes, 14.12 seconds in the 3,000-meter race.

Freshman Cole Smither placed second in the men’s high jump with a mark of 2.09 meters.

Senior Jelese Alexander took third place in the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.74 meters. Sophomore Kylie Scott took second in the women’s pole vault with a time of 3.96 meters.

Wichita State will return home for the Coach Wilson Invitational at the Heskett Center from Wednesday to Saturday.