Wichita State News: Campus Recreation

Members of WSU rowing team help Moore, Okla., cleanup

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:54:00 CST

Five members of the Shocker Rowing Team volunteered to help with the clean-up from the tornado that devastated Moore, Okla.

The Wichita State University students spent June 5 going door-to-door in one of the afffected zones, asking if they needed any help cleaning up, or basic living supplies that may have been lost in the tornado.

The student volunteers talked with some families and submitted their information to headquarters to come later in the day to help elsewhere.

The WSU rowing team members joined a group of about 15 people and grabbed shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, etc., and got on a bus to go to the neighborhood to clean up debris.

They did their part to help pick up broken glass shards, roof shingles, branches and general trash.

WSU rowing medals in 12 events at Frostbite Regatta

Mon, 5 Nov 2012 12:35:00 CST

The Wichita State University rowing team medaled in 12 events on Sunday, Nov. 4, at the Wichita Rowing Association's 21st Annual Frostbite Regatta. The 2,500-meter races were held on the Little Arkansas River in Wichita.

The women's novice eight team placed first in its event for the second year in a row. Other gold medal winners were sophomores Bethany Hesse and Logan Vincent, who won the women's open double event.

In the men's novice four event, two WSU teams finished third and fourth. WSU also entered three crews in the men's novice eight race, which placed second, fourth and sixth.

The women's varsity eight team placed third in its event; the men's varsity eight finished second.

Two WSU crews raced in the men's open pair event and placed second and fourth. In the men's open double race, the WSU crew took second.

For more results from the Frostbite Regatta, go to www.regattacentral.com/results.

WSU rowing to compete at Frostbite Regatta

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:00:00 CST

The Wichita State rowing team will compete in the 21st annual Frostbite Regatta Sunday, Nov. 4, on the Little Arkansas River in Wichita. Boats will launch near the Ralph Wulz Riverside Tennis Center at 551 N. Nims St. The regatta is the team's last race of the fall season.

The Wichita Rowing Association is hosting the 1.7-mile head race and expects about 13 crews from around the United States to compete.

A unique event at this year's regatta is the mixed open eight race, in which both men and women can row in the same boat.

To learn more about the Frostbite Regatta, go to www.wichitarowing.org.

Last year, the WSU women's novice eight team placed first in its event. Other notable WSU crew finishes were the women's open four and open eight, which each placed second, and the men's open four, which placed third.

WSU wrestling: From beginners to champions in one year

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:24:00 CST

No one really could have foreseen how successful the new Wichita State wrestling club would be in its first season.

After a few previous false starts by others, two eager junior wrestlers – Nick Thomas and Dusty Greer – decided to try their hand at assembling, and keeping, a full wrestling team.

"In the spring of 2011, Dusty and I began to joke about starting a wrestling team at Wichita State," Thomas said. "Before we knew it, our jokes became serious, and Dusty and I had fully committed to doing everything in our power to build this team."

So in the fall of 2011, Shocker wrestling was born. It has taken a lot of hard work, and both Thomas and Greer had to quit wrestling so they can dedicate themselves to keeping the team intact and successful after their graduation next spring.

Paul Myers

They brought in volunteer coach Paul Myers, who Thomas said was the "glue" keeping the team together that first season.

Everyone's hard work paid off as Wichita State wrestling quickly made a name for itself.

The team won the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Division II Team Title; crowned two All-Americans and five Academic All-Americans; and Myers was named the NCWA Coach of the Year. They were also the only Division II team to be invited to NCWA National Duals.

Exceeding expectations

The most recent attempt at a wrestling team at Wichita State was in fall 2009. Coach Mark Stovall started the program with a full team, but it slowly dwindled throughout the season. Thomas said practice time was at 6 a.m., and it was too difficult for many of the student athletes to maintain that schedule.

What was left of the team did enjoy some success, though. Stovall took three people to nationals, and Aaron Hynick was crowned as WSU's first ever national wrestling champion. At the end of the season, Stovall left to pursue other endeavors.

Once Thomas and Greer started up the program again two years later, they knew the biggest challenge would be keeping people on the team.

"We used our experiences with the previous team to guide us into building a culture of welcoming student athletes and keeping them in the practice room as much as we possibly could without interfering with their school or work schedules," Thomas said.

As is often the case, funding was another key issue for the team. Campus Recreation gave them a budget of about $10,000, Thomas said, but that left the team a bit short.

So, they got creative.

"We knew that in order to keep student athletes involved, we could not ask them to pay any dues, so Dusty and I managed to raise money by selling T-shirts, running youth camps and seeking donors," Thomas said.

They also used Facebook as a recruiting tool. Their goal was a team of five wrestlers, but as word got around in the wrestling community, they ended up with 15 at the beginning of the 2011-2012 season.

It soon became clear that this was a good group of wrestlers.

"Once the season started, we knew that we had the potential to be a very competitive team in our division," Thomas said. "By the end of the season, our goals had evolved into winning a national championship. But if you would have mentioned such a thing to Dusty and I in the spring of 2011, we would have thought you were crazy."

Looking ahead

As they prepare for the start of the season, Thomas, Greer and Myers are looking ahead with bigger goals.

There are 16 wrestlers, including seven freshmen, on the team. Just surviving is no longer the only goal. Shocker wrestling has moved up to Division I, and Thomas thinks the team has a shot at soon being competitive with the best of those teams.

Thomas said he and Greer are working hard this semester to present a budget to the SGA and will propose funding through student fees. They also hope to be able to pay the volunteer coaching staff.

"Dusty and I will both be graduating soon, and we want to make sure that the team is stable and is able to run itself after we leave this university," he said. "We want the Wichita State wrestling team to be as popular and as stable as the well-known WSU bowling team."

The wrestling team will kick off its season Nov. 10 at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan. It also will host the conference championship tournament March 2.

For more information on Shocker wrestling, go to www.wichita.edu/wrestling.

Junior rowing crew wins annual WSU Class Races

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:50:00 CST

Wichita State University rowing held its annual Class Races on Saturday, Oct. 20, on the Little Arkansas River in Wichita. The junior crew won the Class Races and sprint races, beating the senior crew by seconds in each event.

The 2,800-meter Class Races were raced between freshman, sophomore, junior and senior rowing members, with eight members from a class in a rowing shell. There were a total of eight boats in the races.

Following the Class Races, members participated in 375-meter sprint races. The crews raced in a double-elimination style bracket, with seeding determined by finishing times from the Class Races.

"It was fun," said senior William Calderwood. "The seniors rowed better than expected, and it was an all-around fun day."

Following the event, family and friends of the rowing team participated in the Family/Friends Fun Row and received an instructional row in a racing shell from an experienced coxswain and four team members.