Anyone can see Cessna Stadium while passing by 21st and Hillside streets with its 30,000-seat capacity. It is the home of the annual Kansas State High School Track and Field Championship. It is also the venue many people use to fulfill their fitness needs early in the morning.

“It gets utilized quite a bit,” Robin Gilman said. She is training for a half marathon in the fall and exercises at the stadium starting at 5:15 a.m. for fresh air while it is still cool.

Some exercise individually at the stadium and some go in groups to use the track, but even the stairs and ramps are used.

“It’s good for people to climb like the ‘Colorado Fourteeners Mountain,’” Gilman said. “This is like the only place in Wichita that you can do that unless you have access to the city buildings inside.”

Cessna Stadium is also the place for Wichita State athletic teams to practice and work out, and not just the track and field teams. Gordon Vadakin, WSU head bowling coach, has a non-mandatory summer session for his team.

“We work upper body, lower body, abs, cardio, and core … The session starts when summer school starts in early June,” Vadakin said.

Shocker Fitness is the most active group in the field. WSU Track initiated the fitness program in 2008 under Track & Field Head Coach Steve Rainbolt. He believes the program is a way to bring the Wichita community together and to help raise money for WSU Track and Field program. It costs $55 to join a 10-week session.

“Our typical work out, we do warm ups, [and] then we do some short running,” Emily Maier, the class instructor, said. We do a different work out every single day so [there is] always something new.”

Maier used to be Coach Rainbolt’s assistant coach. There are three classes, one at 5:30 a.m., 7 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Several weight lifting classes are also offered. One is offered after the 5:30 a.m. class and the other offered after the 5:45 p.m. class.

The program is for all fitness levels and ages, from kids to seniors. Almost 200 people are currently in the program this summer. The program is all year long but summer is when the program has the most people.

“When it is winter, they practice in the Koch Arena. We use the practice gym and the arena stairs,” Maier said.