Kansas native becomes 30th Shocker to earn Outdoor All-American honors

Entering his junior season on the Wichita State track and field team, Aaron True had two goals: break the school record and be a first team All-American.

The native from LeRoy, Kan., accomplished both. After his javelin throw of 254 feet, 3 inches broke the school record earlier this season, True threw 230-6 on Wednesday to finish eighth in the event to earn All-American status at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

True becomes the 30th Shocker to earn All-American honors at the Outdoor Championships.

"Thankfully, I was able to achieve both of those goals," True told GoShockers.com. "I knew coming into nationals I had a good chance of placing in the top five, but sometimes you can't put it all together for a big throw. Overall, I am happy with making first team All-American."

True, who also won the American Athletic Conference championship, will continue his throwing season on June 23 when he competes at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif. His throw of 254-3 is currently the top mark for an American male in 2018.

Joining True at the NCAA Championships was senior Damien Odle, also competing in the javelin, who finished 20th overall with a throw of 208-3. Odle was a second team All-American in 2016 and a 2016 Olympic Trials qualifier — his personal-best throw of 240-8 is third all-time at WSU.

Senior Hunter Veith entered with the second-best decathlon score this season but had to withdraw from competition due to injury. The Cheney native finished his career as a four-time All-American, including a runner-up finish in the heptathlon earlier this year during indoor season.

He owns five all-time top-10 marks in WSU history, including the school record for heptathlon (5,090 points) and decathlon (8,046).

This story was originally published June 7, 2018 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Kansas native becomes 30th Shocker to earn Outdoor All-American honors."