Directions 

WICHITA, Kan.  --  Wichita State's cross country teams get the 2015 season underway Saturday morning at the 67th Annual J.K. Gold Classic at the R.A.F.T Course, 13218 SW Tawakoni Road, near Augusta.

The Shockers will face Division I competition from Kansas State and Oral Roberts, while junior college and small college teams scheduled to run are: Barton County CC, Bethel, Cutler CC, Cloud County CC, Cowley County CC, Friends, Hutchinson CC, Newman, Oklahoma Wesleyan, Pratt CC, Southwestern [Kan.], Tabor and a handful of unattached runners.

The University/College men run a 6K, while the University/College women run a 4K at 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., respectively.

The Shockers' top runners at the 2014 J.K. Gold Classic return in Paul Raymond, who won the men's side, and Sidney Hirsch, who finished third on the women's side.  Hirsch is a returning All-Valley performer who finished sixth in the 2014 Valley Championship.

Brady Johnson and Gage Garcia redshirted a year ago and will run for the Shockers on Saturday, while Ugis Jocis returns after a fifth-place finish at the J.K. Gold a year ago. Kyle Larkin also runs on Saturday after finishing seventh in 2015 at the Classic.

Several Shockers are scheduled to run unattached on Saturday for WSU including Caden Callaway, Joe Harter, Brandon Lewis, Paul Raymond and Connor Stine. On the women's side, Tiffany Christensen, Sidney Hirsch, Kelsy Lathrop Savannah Wright and Suzie Wright are slated to run unattached on Saturday.

On the women's side, Kayla Deighan returns with the second-best Shocker time at the event a year ago (14:04.35) with a sixth place finish while Tiffany Christensen finished eighth with a time of 14:07.44.

The Valley's coaches picked the Shockers third in both the men's and women's 2015 preseason polls.

High Schools slated to compete are: Andover, Andover Central, El Dorado, Gardner-Edgerton, Maize South, OP-Blue Valley West, Wichita East, Haysville-Campus, Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, Wichita-Southeast and Trinity.

The R.A.F.T. Course is located on Tawakoni Road south of Kellogg (HWY 54). The meet is named for former long-time Shocker Cross Country and Track and Field Coach John Kornelson who is also a member of WSU's Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame.

The morning's schedule is as follows, including the high school races:

8:00 a.m., Varsity Girls 5000m, (Medals to top 10 finishers)
8:30 a.m., University/College Men 6000m, (T-Shirts to top 15 finishers)
9:00 a.m., University/College Women 4000m, (T-Shirts to top 15 finishers)
9:30 a.m., Varsity Boys 5000m, (Medals to top 10 finishers)
10:00 a.m., Junior Varsity Girls 5000m, (Medals to top 10 finishers)
10:30 a.m., Junior Varsity Boys 5000m, (Medals to top 10 finishers)
11:15 a.m. - Awards Ceremony - All Divisions           

Cost for the event is $3 a person at the entrance to the course. This year, vehicles will break into three lanes once in the gate to help congestion along Tawakoni Road.

A year ago, Wichita State's men and women won the 6K and 4K Runs, respectively. Paul Raymond was the top Shocker and University finisher in the 6K with a time of 18:35.83, while Sidney Hirsch ran the women's 4K in 13:55.58 as the top Shocker women's finisher. Hirsch finished third in the University race behind two Kansas State runners.

The University races were scored as duals with Wichita State's men out-scoring Kansas State 15-50, and Oral Roberts, 15-50. Kansas State out-scored ORU, 22-39.

On the women's side, WSU out-scored Kansas State, 28-29, and ORU, 15-50. KSU defeated the Golden Eagles, 16-47.

The overall women's 4K winner was Kansas State's Morgan Wedekind, who ran the course in 13:44.00, while the men's overall winner was Wichita State's unattached Chris Burnett, who ran the 6K in 18:05.74.