Men's Track and Field | 4/23/2022 2:08:00 PM

Emporia State Track & Field
hosts
Midwest Classic
Sunday, April 24 • Field at 12:00 p.m. • Track at 12:30 p.m.  
Witten Track/Welch Stadium • Emporia,Kan.
Live Results: https://results.blacksquirreltiming.com/meets/13238
Complete Notes in pdf | Heat Sheets | Flight Sheets
Up Next: Alex Francis Classic
Friday, April 29 • Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex • Hays, Kan.

SUNDAY CLASSIC
Due to rain and high winds on Saturday, Emporia State will play host to the Midwest Classic on Sunday at Welch Stadium.
 
LOOK BACK AT MULE RELAYS
Emporia State had three event champions on the way to a pair of fourth place team finishes at the Mule Relays. The Hornets also had two provisional qualifiers and two marks that moved into the top five all-time at Emporia State.
Abigael Reid won the 400m hurdles in a provisional qualifying time of 1:01.88 to move into third place on the Hornets all-time list.   Reid also placed eighth in the 100m hurdles.
The Hornets took four of the top seven spots in the men's 400m hurdles. Chase Rooney won in 53.77 with Davion Scott running 54.54 to finish second.  Brock Merz ran 55.69 to place fifth and Brandon Wilkes was clocked in 56.40 to finish seventh.
Emporia State's men's 4x400m relay of Guy Ramos, Jack Watson, Hayden Goodpaster and Juwan Johnson ran 3:16.94 to beat out Pittsburg State by nearly four seconds.
Johnson also finished second in the 100m in a time of 10.66 and was on the men's 4x100m relay team that ran 41.41 to finish second.
Ramos was second with a time of 48.28 in the men's 400m as well as being on the 4x100m relay.
Both of Emporia State's women's relay teams placed second.  The 4x100m team ran 47.81 while the 4x400m ream was clocked in 3:57.75 for their runner-up performance.   
Megan McManis hit another provisional qualifier in the women's pole vault. She cleared 12-3.50 (3.75m) to place third.
Connor Young ended the day with a fifth place finish in the men's 10,000m after 11:00 p.m.  His time of 31:23.48 moves him to fifth all-time at Emporia State.  

THE COACH
Steven Blocker is in his 11th year as the head coach for the Emporia State men's and women's track and field programs. He served as an assistant with the Hornets beginning in 2009 working primarily with the sprinters, jumpers and multi-event athletes. He has produced 64 All-Americans and 42 MIAA Champions as a head coach after coaching 14 All-Americans, six MIAA Champions and an NCAA Division II National Champion as an assistant at ESU.

LAST YEAR'S MIDWEST CLASSIC
The Emporia State men and women combined for eight event championships, 13 runner-up finishes and four provisional qualifiers as they swept the team titles at the Midwest Classic at Witten Track/Welch Stadium.  The Hornet men scored 200 points to out distance Cloud County CC by 73 points while the Emporia State women outscored Fort Hays State 156.50 – 146.50 for the championships. Both programs showed depth across the board with a win or runner up finish on the track, in the jumps, and in the throws.
 
TEAM RANKINGS
The MIAA has seven men's and five women's teams ranked in the top United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 Power Rankings. The Emporia State women are ranked #81  out of 135 ranked teams and the men are #102 in the nation out of 128 teams that are ranked.
The Hornet men are ranked #14 out of 29 teams in the Central Region while the women are #19 out of 37 teams.

EVENT SQUAD RANKINGS
In the Event Squad rankings the Hornet men's hurdlers are both ranked in the top 12 nationally. The 400m hurdle group of Chase Rooney, Davion Scott, Brock Merz and Jake Johnson are ranked sixth in the nation as a group while Xavier Hall, Merz, Jake Johnson and Aren Trost are ranked #12 as a group in the 110m hurdles.
For the women the Emporia State javelin group of Holly Brockmeier, Libby Schurle, Brenna Davidson, and Mary Grace Lassiter is ranked #14 in the nation while Grace Jacobs, Victoria Pettay, Chloe Thakker, and Abigael Reid are ranked #20 nationally in the high jump.
 
UP NEXT
Emporia State has made a change in their schedule for next week. The Hornets will be going to the Alex Francis Classic at Fort Hays State instead of the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The Alex Francis Classic is on Friday, April 29 with throwing events beginning at 2:00 p.m., jumps at 3:00 p.m. and running events at 4:00 p.m. at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex in Hays, Kan.

NATIONALLY RANKED HORNETS
Emporia State has eight individuals with nine spots and a relay team ranked in the top 40 of NCAA Division II entering this weekend.
Alyssa Conway has a provisional qualifier with a mark of 182-10 (55.73m) in the hammer at the ESU Spring Invite. She is ranked 14th in the nation.
Abigael Reid is in the top 40 of two events for the Emporia State women. She is ranked 23rd in the nation in the 400m hurdles. Her 1:01.88 at the Mule Relays ranks third all-time at Emporia State.  She is ranked 31st in the nation in the women's heptathlon after winning the event at the ESU Relays with 4,424 points.
Holly Brockmeier is ranked 25th in the javelin with a provisional qualifier of 139-7 (42.54m) at the ESU Relays.
Megan McManis cleared a provisional qualifying bar of 12-6.25 (3.82m) at the KT Woodman Classic to rank 28th in the nation in the women's pole vault.
Libby Schurle gives Emporia State two athletes ranked in the top 40 nationally in the women's javelin. She thre 134-3 (40.91m) at the ESU Spring Invite to rank 33rd nationally.
The men's 4x400m relay team of Guy Ramos, Jack Watson, Hayden Goodpaster and Juwan Johnson ran 3:14.14 at the ESU Relays to rank 21st in the nation.
Nathan Ewing cleared 6-7.50 (2.02m) at the ESU Relays to rank 35th in the nation in the high jump.
Juwan Johnson ran 10.57 in the 100m at the KT Woodman classic and is ranked 40th in the nation.
Chase Rooney is ranked 31st in the men's 400m hurdles after running a 53.77 at the Mule Relays.  

EARLY IMPROVEMENTS
After the first two out door meets Emporia State had combined to better their best marks from last year in 12 events.  The men have better marks this year in the 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay, pole vault, triple jump and discus while the women have already eclipsed last year's bests in the 100m, 400m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 4x100 and 4x400m relays, triple jump and shot put.

LOOK WHO'S BACK
The Hornets have seven performers returning this season that were provisional qualifiers last year including three that competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Travis Morrison's 60-3.75 (18.38m) at the Loper Twilight was ranked seventh in the nation in the men's shot put headed into the NCAA Championships. He placed tenth at the National Championships.
Juwan Johnson was ranked tenth in the nation after running 10.40 in the 100m at the MIAA Championships. He finished 12th at the National Championships.
Alyssa Conway was ranked tenth in the women's hammer with a school record of 189-1 (57.63m) at the Drake Relays and her toss of 144-05 (44.02m) in the javelin at the ESU Spring Invite was ranked 24th nationally. She finished 14th at the National Championships in the hammer.
Holly Brockmeier threw 143-0 (43.58m) in the javelin at the Wichita State Open to rank 30th nationally.
Megan McManis cleared 12-7.50 (3.85m) at the ESU Spring Invite to rank 36th in the nation while Allie Barrett went over 12-2.50 (3.72m) at the Midwest Classic to rank 46th in the women's pole vault.
Xavier Hall ran 14.48 at the ESU Relays to rank 38th in the nation in the men's 110m hurdles.

EMPORIA STATE TO HOST MIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Golden Oval of Witten Track at Welch Stadium will be the host site for the 2022 MIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. It will be the sixth time since 1997 that Welch Stadium as served as the host site for the conference championships. That is the most times for any track in that time.  The MIAA Championships will begin on Friday, May 6 and run through Sunday, May 8.

EMPORIA STATE AND THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Emporia State has been the host site for three NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships (1995, 1999, & 2006) and has been selected as the site of the 2024 and 2026 national championships. The five national championships in Welch Stadium will be tied for the most ever in one location since the NCAA began hosting women's championships in 1982 and are the most by one location in the period between 1995 and 2006.
The Hornet men have placed in the Top 25 nationally 16 times since joining NCAA Division II in 1992 while the women have 11 Top 25 finishes in that time.
Emporia State has won 11 women's individual national championships to rank 17th all-time at the Division II level while the Hornet men have three individual national titles.