WSU Posts No. 25 Recruiting Class
Wichita State’s recruiting class has been ranked No. 25 by Baseball America. This is the second-straight top-25 Baseball America ranking for the Shockers.
Last year’s class came in at No. 21.
Two of the recruits were drafted in 2015: outfielder Dayton Dugas (29th round) and right-handed pitcher Connor Lungwitz (35th round). Right-handed pitcher Zach Lewis was drafted in 2014 (33rd round).
Wichita State baseball fans and coaches (including head coach Todd Butler, third from right in the photo above) welcome 15 newcomers, 11 freshmen and four junior college transfers, to this year’s team.
The Shockers have won one national championship, 20 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championships, 17 MVC Tournament championships, made seven College World Series appearances, 27 NCAA Tournament appearances, and produced 55 All-Americans.
An Ace of a Season
Highlighted by individual singles titles from Tanaporn Thongsing, Abby Stevens and Luca Pump (from left to right in the photo), the
Wichita State women’s tennis team posted top three finishes in all seven singles flights at the MVC individual championships held Oct. 2-4 in Springfield, Ill.
Stevens won the first flight, becoming just the sixth player in MVC/Gateway Conference
history to repeat as champion in the top draw.
A WSU player has now won the first flight in each of the last three years and in six of the past seven overall. Stevens swept all three of her tournament matches in straight-sets, closing out Illinois State’s Marcia Tere-Apisah for the title, 6-4, 6-2.
Thongsing made a strong impression in her second collegiate tournament. The sophomore dropped just seven total games in six sets and claimed the third flight crown with a 6-1, 6-1 sweep of Drake’s Summer Brills. In the fourth flight, Pump won the second MVC individual title of her career with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Chanel Scudiero of Illinois State.
Additionally, Giulia Guidetti (second flight) and Whitley Quan (sixth flight) earned second place finishes, while Summer Schlotterback (fifth flight) and Amber Zimmerman (seventh flight) each finished in third place.
— WSU Sports Information
Cross Country Honors
The Wichita State women’s team claimed second place at the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference cross country championship in Evansville, Ind., on Oct. 31 with a strong finish in the 5K race. The Shocker men ran well in the 8K race, which earned a third place finish for the team.
The women’s team was led by Sidney Hirsch, who finished seventh in the 5K race with a time of 17:18.79. Close behind her was Rebekah Topham, who posted a time of 17:18.87 to finish eighth. Both earned First Team All-Conference honors, and Topham was named MVC Freshman of the Year. The men were led by Brady Johnson’s 11th place finish in 24:25.72, while Ugis Jocis was 12th with a time of 24:32.98. Both were named MVC All-Conference honorable mention.
The Shockers followed up their strong MVC showing with top 10 finishes at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship on Nov. 13. The women’s and men’s teams were eighth and 10th, respectively, and Hirsch, who finished 20th in the 6K race with a time of 20:54.5, earned All-Region honors.
— WSU Sports Information
Young Wins Medals
Deja Young, a sophomore sprinter on WSU’s track and field team, medaled this October at the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar — bringing home gold and silver.
Representing the United States, she won a gold medal in the 100 meters T47 division with a time of 12.69 and a silver medal in the 200 meters T47 division with a time of 25.08. Young, who was born with brachial plexus or shoulder dystocia, a deformity in her right shoulder, competes in the T47
division for athletes with a hand or arm impairment. As a Shocker, Young earned second-team All-American honors as a member of the 4x100 meter relay team that finished 16th at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in June.
— WSU Sports Information
