WSU fall notes: Women’s cross country team finds its 1-2 punch

Winny Koskei is still running near the front of races, and now Rebekah Topham, back from a redshirt season, has joined her to form a one-two punch for the Wichita State women’s cross country team.

The result has been a resurgence for the women’s team, evident by a second-place finish — only behind No. 9 Arkansas — in a field of more than 50 teams at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Arkansas last weekend.

Koskei finished third overall in 16 minutes, 36 seconds, just 12 seconds off the school-record time in the 5-kilometer, while Topham followed in fifth place in 17:00. Koskei was later named the American Athletic Conference Runner of the Week, the first such honor in program history.

“Those two are going to be big for us,” WSU coach Kirk Hunter said. “I thought Winny looked great, and she would have ran the school record if it would have been a normal course, but it was a little soggy and slower than normal. Although Rebekah probably wanted to be up there with Winny, it worked out team-wise because we had two in the top five, and that’s what we’re shooting for.”

The WSU women will rely on low-scoring performances from Koskei and Topham, then do its best to pack up after them. The Shockers did well in Arkansas, as Hutchinson’s Yazmine Wright (18:03) and Bennington’s Halle Johnson (18:32) set personal-bests and Winnie Kibet (18:18) also helped the team score.

For the men’s team, it will employ the opposite strategy of relying heavily on a pack mentality.

Zack Penrod led the way in the 8k race, finishing 20th in 25:03. Clayton Duchatschek (25:28) and Ben Flowers (25:31) ran well, but Hunter wants to see that gap close between those two and Penrod and, more importantly, the gap between the No. 3 and the rest of the pack that finished 24 seconds behind.

“We know (Duchatschek and Flowers) are capable of running with Zack, they just got separated in the race, and Zack got out really well and kept rolling. We need those guys behind them to close the gap now. They’re capable of it. We have good, talented runners. If we can get them to bunch together, then they’ll be a team to watch in the end.”

WSU remained in the same positions in the USTFCCCA Regional rankings, as the men are slotted No. 14 in the Midwest region and the women are ranked No. 15. The Shockers are off until Oct. 13 when they will split their team, sending their best runners to Pre-Nationals in Madison, Wis., and the rest to the Fort Hays State meet in Victoria.

Men’s golf senior logs another top-10 finish: The 2017 Missouri Valley Player of the Year, Yannik Emmert, started his senior season with his seventh career top-10 finish last week at the Ram Masters Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo.

WSU finished seventh place as a team with Emmert leading the way with a 54-hole total of 210 strokes to finish sixth overall. Zac Owens (215), Adrien Michellod (219), Brock Polhill (220) and Dawson Lewis (225) rounded out the scores for the Shockers.

The women’s team was also in action earlier this week, as the Shockers took 17th place at the Coeur D’Alene Invitational in Idaho. The 54-hole tournament was highlighted by a pair of top-50 finishes by seniors Laine Evans (40th, 222) and Gavrilla Arya (48th, 224).

Both teams play in another 54-hole tournament early this week, as the men’s team plays Sunday-Tuesday at the Jackrabbit Invitational in Valentine, Neb., and the women’s team plays Monday-Wednesday at the Johnie Imes Invitational in Columbia, Mo.

Women’s tennis player starts with high ranking: Fatima Bizhukova enters her junior season ranked 36th in the country in singles, the highest ranking by a Shocker since the 2009-10 season.

Bizhukova kicked off the fall slate last week at the prestigious ITA Masters in Malibu, Calif., where she won a mixed doubles match with Tulsa’s Majed Kilani before losing to the No. 1 overall seed and lost her lone match in singles play in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, to Pepperdine’s Adrijana Lekaj.

“She’s really self-aware and knows where she needs to improve,” WSU coach Colin Foster told GoShockers.com. “Her serve is something that helped her take that next step.”

Bizhukova, originally from Russia, ended last season with a 19-14 record, a No. 57 national ranking with five wins over nationally-ranked opponents, and a berth in the NCAA individual championships.

The women’s team opened its fall season two week ago at the Missouri Invitational, where senior Sandra Honigova won the singles title in the top flight and Bizhukova and Marta Bellucco, ranked No. 14 nationally, won the doubles title in the top flight.

The men’s team will make its fall debut this weekend at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa. The Shockers return 77 percent of their victories from last season when they finished 14-10 in duals and in fourth place in the AAC.

Junior Marius Frosa, who became just the second Shocker since 1994 to reach the tournament’s main draw, will be joined by senior Haru Inoue in the qualifying rounds that begin Monday. Four more Shockers — Murkel Dellien, Eddie Stoica, Andrea Caligiana and Orel Ovil — will play in pre-qualifying this weekend that features 256 entrants vying for 16 spots.

“All-Americans is always an event our guys look forward to,” WSU coach Danny Bryan told GoShockers.com. “It’s one of the biggest events of the fall season and most of the top teams are there. We have put a lot of work in over the last month on the court and in the weight room, and I am excited to see the guys compete.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 9:15 PM.