Men's Track and Field | 2/23/2023 2:33:00 PM

Emporia State Track & Field
at MIAA Championships
Plaster Center • Pittsburg, Kan. • Friday-Sunday, February 24-26, 2023
Friday, February 24
Pentathlon at 2:00 p.m. • Heptathlon at 2:30 p.,.
Saturday, February 25
Heptathlon at 11:30 a.m. • Field Events and Running Events at 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, February 26
Field Events at 12:00 p.m. • Running Events at 1:30 p.m.
Live Results: midwesttiming.com Live Stream: themiaanetwork.com
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: NCAA Championships
Virginia Beach Sports Center • Virginia Beach, Va.
Friday-Saturday, Marc 10-11, 2023

CHAMPIONSHIP TIME  
Emporia State makes their fourth trip to Pittsburg, Kan. this weekend as they start the championship portion of the indoor schedule with the MIAA Championships.

LAST LAP
Emporia State had five event champions, two provisional qualifiers and a school record on Friday at the Steve Miller Invitational in Manhattan, Kan.
Megan McManis became the first Hornet woman to clear 13 feet in the pole vault as she went over 3.98m (13-0.75) to win the event.  As of Friday night she was ranked #12 in the nation in the event.
Travis Morrison had a provisional qualifier of 17.10m (56-1.25) to win the men's shot put.
Emporia State won both the men's and women's triple jump titles. Ashley Cookson took the women's championship with a mark of 10.63m (34-10.5) while Tristan Madden went 13.62m (44-8.25) to capture the men's triple jump.
Jake Johnson had the only first place finish on the track for Emporia State.  He ran 50.11 to win the men's 400m.
Emporia State also sent a small group of athletes to the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville, Ark. on Friday.
Lauren Carlson ran 25.31 to place 13th in the 200m for the best women's finish.  Jack Watson ran a personal best 49.04 to place 16th in the men's 400m for the top men's finish.
 
THE COACH
Steven Blocker is in his 12th 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 65 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.

HORNET QUALIFIERS
Emporia State has six provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Championships this season.
Megan McManis cleared a school record 3.98m (13-0.25) at the Steve Miller Invite to rank #12 in the nation in the women's pole vault.
Travis Morrison went 17.42m (57-2) in the men's shot put at the WU Open to rank 16th nationally and become just the third Hornet to go over 57 feet in the event.
The men's 4x400m relay team of Guy Ramos, Jack Watson, Brock Merz and Hayden Goodpaster ran 3:14.94 at the Crimson & Gold Invitational to rank 31st in the nation. Carter Cox took Ramos's spot at the Wendy's PSU Invite and the Hornets ran 3:16.48 to rank 46th nationally.
Abigael Reid is ranked 29th nationally in the women's pentathlon after scoring 3,423 points at the WU Open & Multis.
Brandon Wilkes scored 4,818 points at the Boo Rogers Multis to rank 33rd in the nation in the men's heptathlon.

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has six men's teams and four women's teams ranked in the latest USTFCCCA D-II Indoor National Top 25 Rankings based on competition through February 19. The USTFCCCA National Rankings are based on qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships and nine of 11 MIAA teams are in the men's rankings while ten of 12 women's teams are ranked. The Emporia State women are ranked #62 out of 110 teams ranked and the men are #74 our of 103 teams thar are ranked nationally. In the Central Region rankings seven of the top ten women's and men's teams are from the MIAA.  There are 35 women's teams and 28 men's teams ranked in the Central Region.  Emporia State is ranked #16 on the men's side while the women are #24.

UP NEXT
The Hornets that qualify will head to the NCAA Division II IndoorTrack & Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Va. on March 10-11. The selections will be announced on Tuesday, February 28 by 6:00 p.m.