Not much about K-State's indoor season has surprised Cliff Rovelto.
He said as much before the Wildcats stepped on to a track for their first meet in almost a year back in December.
After three track meets, a pentathlon and a team event at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular, K-State has showcased a squad with talent up and down the roster, along with some elite upside.
"I'm pleased that we've been able to get the meets in, because a lot of people haven't been able to do as much," Rovelto said. "I think we have a good team, quality athletes and I would expect nothing less than to perform the way they have."
Following K-State Track & Field means keeping tabs on more than just wins and losses.
Most meets aren't televised, and you can't exactly piece together an entire season by watching the highlights. Plus, the rhythms of the track & field calendar, already unique among college sports, have been even more impacted this season.
With the 2020 outdoor season wiped out due to COVID-19, some K-State athletes are competing unattached in the winter - their scores and event victories don't count towards the Wildcats - before putting the purple back on this spring for a second chance outdoors.
Add it all up and you get a K-State team that requires a little more investment to follow. With that in mind, here are some Wildcats to know as K-State Track & Field sets their sights on the Big 12 Indoor Championship in Lubbock, just one month away.
When the 'Cats are rolling like this, it's worth keeping an eye on this team.
Put in the work, like champions #KStateTF pic.twitter.com/S2rb6o5ibW
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) January 17, 2021
T.J. Shankar
Tejaswin Shankar introduced himself to the country with an NCAA Championship in the High Jump as a freshman. Almost three years after winning that national title, Shankar has left no doubt that he's still one of the nation's best in the event.
But his most impressive performances this season might actually be in everything else
Shankar kicked off the indoor season at the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon, breaking a school record and recording the fourth-highest score in NCAA history with 4,343 points.Oh, and that was also his first event in over nine months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few weeks later, Shankar kept building his mixed event prowess as the high scorer at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular. He won the High Jump, Triple Jump and Long Jump, while also scoring in the Shot Put and 60m Hurdles.
"I think doing multiple events really helps me come out of that bubble of over-analyzing," Shankar said. "With seven or eight things to do, you don't have time to analyze everything before practice the next day. You would be really tired."
Kassidy Johnson
Four different events and four victories for Kassidy Johnson this season, who's proven to be dangerous at any distance.
She kicked off the year running cross country for the Wildcats in the fall, before stepping into Ahearn Field House at the K-State Winter Invitational once the indoor track season began.
A victory in the 1000m helped Johnson ease back into running on a track, before she increased the degree of difficulty with wins in the mile run and the 800m.
She picked up win number four last weekend in Lawrence, running the 600 Yards for the first time this season and using a PR of 1:26.06 to grab the top spot at the Jayhawk Classic.
Johnson still has a month to go before she can defend her Big 12 title in the 1000m and right now, she's only getting faster.
🏃♀️ Strength & Speed 🏃#KStateTF pic.twitter.com/B3YWr6Zrz4
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) January 14, 2021
Kyle Gale
After competing unattached in 2019 and spending most of 2020 training back home in Barbados, Kyle Gale put on purple for the first time in December.
Luckily for the Wildcats, that coincided with the first three wins of his college career.
"This year in training, we've focused on building strength and speed a little more than last year," he said. "It's more about endurance."
Gale grabbed victories in the 600 Yards and 300m, before erupting for a meet record and PR of 47.42 seconds in the 400m at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular.
Vitoria Alves
No athlete spent longer waiting to return to Manhattan in 2020 than Vitoria Alves, who spent the fall semester back home in Brazil due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
In her hometown of Sao Paulo, she continued to train for her signature event, the 60m hurdles, and sent video to her coaches at K-State.
"Vitoria has done a good job," Rovelto said. "She was stuck in Brazil because of a travel ban. But she literally sent me every video of every workout she did. And other than the period where she missed some time, she did a really fine job of training. Under less-than-ideal conditions, she did a really fine job of training and it pays off."
Alves reintroduced herself with a blistering 8.22 second run in the 60m hurdles, the second-fastest time in school history.
Her victory at the Wildcat Invitational also earned Alves Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors. The weight of expectations didn't slow her down in her next meet, as Alves grabbed another win in the hurdles at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular.
Shaelyn Ward
She's been throwing for the K-State "bomb squad" since 2017, but Shaelyn Ward's steady progress in the weight throw has her racking up wins in 2021.
The senior won the event at both the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular and the Jayhawk Classic, chasing the 20.11m PR (about 65.98 feet) that helped her finish third at the Big 12 Indoor Championship in 2020.
"Training has been ramping up more and more," Ward stated. "Our indoor season has a lot of meets but it goes fast, so we are all preparing to throw as far as possible when Big 12's arrives, and hopefully at the NCAA's. I've been trusting my training and trying to improve each week."
Ward, Taylor Latimer and freshman Jasmine Greer helped the Wildcats sweep the top three spots in the weight throw at the Jayhawk Classic, as the K-State throwers continue a strong indoor season.
Ward said that rhythm and timing were the key to back-to-back wins in her signature event, two areas where she hopes to keep improving in 2021.
"The more we get into the season and the more competition throws I get to make, then the better things will progress for me," Ward said. "For me, remaining calm and confident in my throws has been the most important aspect."
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