Track and field

To end the month of January, the Wichita State track and field team made moves on home soil, hosting the Coach Wilson Invitational inside WSU’s Heskett Center from Wednesday to Saturday. 

Freshman Cole Smither placed first in the men’s indoor heptathlon, scoring 5098 points. Smither took gold in five out of the seven events, including a 7.13 second finish in the 60-meter (837 points), a 6.66-meter finish in the long jump (734 points), a 2.03-meter attempt in the high jump (831 points), a time of 8.70 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles (813 points), and a 2:45.02 time in the 1,000 meter (818 points). 

Smither placed second in the pole vault with a 3.65-meter attempt (522 points), and a fourth place finish in the shot put after a 10.96-meter throw (543 points). 

In the women’s indoor pentathlon, sophomore Anna Bundy placed fifth with freshman Kaytlin LaDuke right behind her in sixth. Bundy scored 3,102 total points over the five events, LaDuke following her with 3,069. 

Senior Jelese Alexander and junior Kennady Washington took first and second in the women’s long jump, with a 5.89 meter and a 5.54 meter attempts, respectively. Junior Josh Parrish and sophomore Travon Williams similarly took first and second in the men’s long jump after twin-7.32 meter attempts.

Sophomore Alexis Phillips finished second in the women’s pole vault after a 3.69 meter attempt. Junior Kinslee Stokely finished seventh after her 3.24 meter attempt.

Three Shockers, sophomores Faith Ekart (first place), Emily See (second) and Kalyn Willingham (third), took the top three places in the women’s 3,000 meter.

Freshmen Liam Miller and Ty Bybee took first and second in the men’s pole vault with 4.84 meter finishes. Sophomore Carson Ratzlaff finished fourth, right behind them, with a 4.54 meter attempt. 

Freshman Margo Todd finished third in the women’s shot put after a 12.86 meter throw. Sophomore Reese Goodlet took sixth after a 12.15 meter throw. Sonya Haylor took first in the women’s triple jump with her 11.75 meter attempt. 

Freshman Eli Johnson threw himself into third in the men’s shot put with a 15.65 meter throw. 

Freshman Keely Hoback led the pack in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.75 seconds. Seniors Courtney Wilborn and Cali Kerschen trailed right behind Hoback in the second and third place spots, with 8.84 and 8.87 times.

Josh Parrish (7.80), freshman Jabari Armstrong (8.00) and junior Tyler Carroll (8.02) took first, second and third in the men’s 60-meter hurdles. After advancing to the finals, Parrish, Carrol, and Armstrong took the top three spots with 7.76, 7.87, and 7.96 times, respectively.

Ogbebor and Jason Parrish took first and second in the men’s 60-meter with 6.74 and 6.81 times respectively. The pair took first and second after advancing to the finals with a 6.65 and 6.66 times, respectively. Ogbebor’s time of 6.65 seconds broke a program record.

Wichita State dominated the women’s 200-meter with seven top-eight finishes. Senior Sadie Millard led the charge with a time of 25.50 seconds.

The Shockers’ pole vaulters on the women’s side also kept busy by participating in the DeLoss Dodds Invitational on Friday, which was hosted in Manhattan, Kan., by Kansas State. 

Four WSU athletes participated in the women’s pole vaulting competition, including sophomore Shellamae Farmer, who placed fourth after a 3.92 meter attempt. Freshman Lilly Charest and junior Isa Evans tied for eighth, after 3.62 meter attempts. Sophomore Kylie Scott rounded out the list, tying for 10th with another attempt of 3.62 meters. 

Wichita State’s distance team, however, took to Kansas’ capital to attend the Washburn Open in Topeka from Friday to Saturday. 

In the men’s mile, sophomore Elkana Kipruto — who had a stellar cross-country season — placed second overall with a quick time of 4 minutes, 3.86 seconds, and missed out on first place by less than half of a second. Sophomore Kelvin Kipyego trailed close behind, rounding out the top five with a 4:04.18 time. 

In the women’s mile, Wichita State had two top-10 finishes. Thanks to freshman Vivien Joritch Kipkorir (4:47.25) and senior Lea Jerkovic (4:57.74), the two placed second and ninth overall. 

In the men’s 5,000-meter, graduate student Zander Cobb placed second with a 14:10.29 time, and also missed out on first place by less than a second. Sophomore Victor Kemboi landed right outside the top-10 in 11th place with a 14:31.74 time. 

In the women’s 5,000-meter, freshman Mercy Jepkoech placed third with a time of 16:51.88. 

The Shockers also placed second in the 4,000-meter relay with a 11:50.83 time, thanks to Jortich Kipkorir, sophomore Lexi Gagnon, graduate student Audrey Parson, and senior Lucy Ndungu. The team only fell to Tulsa, which finished in 11 minutes, 39.54 seconds. 

WSU will next compete in the Tyson Invitational, hosted by Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., from Feb. 13-14. 

Tennis

The Wichita State women’s tennis team made its way to Iowa for two days of competition. The Shockers began with a match in Ames to compete against Iowa State on Saturday, then faced off against the University of Iowa in Iowa City on Sunday. 

In the singles competition, Wichita State led ISU 4-2, with the first match being set between junior Xin Tong Wang and ISU’s Ashlee Narker. Their matches resulted in 6-4, 5-7, and 3-2 decisions. 

Junior Georgia Roselli then faced Mari Paz Vilar, with their matches ending in a 6-4 and 6-2 scorecard for Roselli. Senior Theodora Chantava then faced Julia Camblor, where Chantava handed Camblor the loss via 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-2 scorecards. 

Wichita’s first defeat in the singles competition came through Stanislava Shulzhenko, who handed the Shockers’ senior Kristina Kudryavtseva a loss via scores of 6-2, 7-5. 

Senior Palmy Vimuktananda then defeated ISU’s Suzanie Pretorius, 6-4 and 6-2, before ISU’s Alicia Dale handed graduate student Anne Knuettel a pair of 6-1 losses. 

ISU’s Vilar and Shulzhenko faced off against Roselli and Wang in the first doubles match, which was left unfinished. 

Chantava and Kudryavtseva then handed Camblor and Narker a 6-2 loss, which was mirrored by Knuettel and Vimuktananda handing ISU’s San Martin and Pretorius a 6-2 loss. 

WSU then moved on to Iowa City to face the Hawkeyes. On the singles side, the first match was set between Wang and Iowa’s Mia Mack, which ended in a 4-6 and 5-7 loss for Wang. 

The second match set up Roselli and Iowa’s Daianne Hayashida, which was left unfinished as a 3-6, 6-3 and 2-5 decision. 

Chantava faced the Hawkeyes’ Emma Tothova, defeating her with 6-2 and 6-4 decisions. Kudryavtseva got a win over Iowa’s Teresa Dejnozkova after going through a 3-6, 7-5 and 6-2 decision. 

The final two singles matches for the Shockers were between Vimuktananda and Pia Kranholdt, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 win for WSU. Knuettel lost by scores of 3-6, 6-3, 2-6 to the Hawkeyes’ Nikita Vishwase. 

On the double’s side three matches were set, the first being between Roselli and Wang against Hayashida and Mack, resulting in a 6-4 win for the Shockers. 

The duo of Chantava and Kudryavtseva was handed a 2-6 loss by Dejnozkova and Kranholdt. The final match saw another win for the Shockers after Knuettel and Vimuktananda won, 6-1. 

WSU’s women’s tennis team will face Nebraska and Abiline Christian on Friday at the Wichita Country Club. The Shockers then face Kansas on Sunday. 

The men’s tennis team traveled to Lubbock, Texas to face Texas Tech on Saturday, where the Red Raiders frustrated the Shockers with three losses and three unfinished matches on the singles side. 

The first match was set between sophomore Ilias Worthington and TTU’s Niksa Arsic, where Arsic handed Worthington a 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 loss. Sophomore Zaid Al-Mashni was defeated by the Red Raiders’ Ludovico Vaccari, who won after a 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 5-0, retired, decision. 

Senior Alejandro Jacome took the third loss for WSU, which was dealt by TTU’s Felipe Pagnacco with a 6-2, 6-4 decision. 

Matches between freshman Pablo Roche Alcaya and TTU’s Sebastian Abboud, sophomore Amir Milushev and the Red Raiders’ Thomas VanDen Dooren, and senior Luke Bracks against TTU’s Thiago Guglieri were all left unfinished. 

On the doubles side, the Red Raiders handed another two frustrating losses to WSU, with the final doubles match that featured Worthington and Cruz being left unfinished. 

Bracks and Jacome were handed a 6-2 loss. Roche Alcaya and Al Mashni also lost, 6-4. 

The Shockers will look to bounce back in Norman, Okla., against Oral Roberts Friday. 

Women’s bowling

The Wichita State women’s bowling team found success in St Louis, Mo., during the 2026 Saints Invite. The team went 9-1 in 10 traditional matches before twice in the best-of-seven Baker matches to secure a second place finish out of 16 teams. 

Starting on Friday, the Shockers faced Louisiana Tech and won, 1001-914. They then faced Central Missouri (W, 1053-927), Valparaiso (W, 1074-906), Wright State (L, 958-1097) and Nebraska (W, 1091-971) to end the first day of the tournament. 

The team then rattled off five straight wins against Quincy (1101-991), UAB (1180-974), McKendree (1112-906), Wisconsin-Whitewater (1026-1010), and Sacred Heart ( 1201-1096). 

The Shockers went 1-2 in the following best-of-seven Bakers, losing their first final match to Sacred Heart (3-4), then beating UAB (4-1), and losing to Sacred Heart one last time (2-4). 

Wichita State will return to action in Lincoln, Neb., for the Big Red Invite, hosted by Nebraska from Feb. 20-22.