April 18, 2016

the

SUN FLOWER MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

VOLUME 120, ISSUE 59

One last goodbye to 2015-16 basketball season | PAGE 3

THESUNFLOWER.COM

Shockerthon breaks record

Photo by Manny De Los Santos

Barb Myers, tour guide and graduate student in local and community history, talks about a unique tombstone Saturday afternoon at the Highland cemetery on Hillside. The tour consisted of stories about early settlers in Wichita history, and was hosted by the WSU’s Historic Society.

Student enlightens public about Wichita history with cemetery tour ALEx PERRY

REPORTER

@sunflowerap

Photo by Manny De Los Santos

Particpants give high-fives to children impacted by the Children’s Miracle Network on Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena. Shockerthon is a 12-hour event in which participants stand the entire time and collect money for the program which aids children with disabilities.

Community members ‘stand for kids who can’t’

N

MADELINE DEABLER

REPORTER

@sunflowernews

ot one chair was on site Saturday at Charles Koch Arena.

For 12 hours straight, hundreds of students stood in the arena for Shockerthon.

“It’s basically a year-long fundraising awareness campaign for the Children’s Miracle Network, and every year we all get together at a location and stand for kids who can’t,” Shockerthon Executive Director Shelby Grosch said.

Since 2011, the event was held at Kansas Star Arena, but this year it made a return to the WSU campus — at Charles Koch Arena.

Grosch said Shockerthon originally started as a dance-athon to raise money for kids in need, but has since evolved to a bigger event with more activities and games for students to play.

Students were not the only ones attending the event.

Families associated with the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) also attended the event; some came up on stage to tell their story.

After which, students would have a couple of hours to collect money for the family that just spoke.

Many students and families had returned to Shockerthon this year after attending previous ones in the past.

“They helped pay for free hearing aids for my two kids, and each hearing aid costs about $3,000,” Haley Buch said.

“Their hearing is their only disability, but we still come here to give back to them and stand for the people who can’t.”

From bouncy castles to water-pong, there was a variety of games to keep students and families entertained throughout the 12 hours.

“I think that Shockerthon gives students a great opportunity to start their passion of helping kids and the community, and what better way for them to do that then participate in this event?” said Kara Warkentine, head of CMN hospitals at Via Christi. “We also wouldn’t be able to have this event if it weren’t for all of the student sponsorships.”

Toward the end of the night, after the rave with DJ Tight Pants, the remainder of the

students could barely feel their legs.

But later, the closing ceremony began, and the opportunity to finally see how much money they had raised over the 12 hours was just minutes away.

When the time finally came, Shockerthon staff walked onto the stage, eight of them carrying big white boards that they hid from the audience.

With eager anticipation, students began counting down from 10 for the big reveal.

After each number, students shouted louder and faster, until finally reaching 1.

With that, the eight members lifted the boards above their heads, revealing $100,236.37.

All at once, the gym erupted into whoops and cheers, shirts were thrown up in the air and all the members were jumping up and down and screaming in disbelief, despite all having sore legs.

After standing for 12 hours, students and members had broken the record of what had been raised in previous years, and for Grosch, the feeling was bittersweet.

SEE STAND • PAGE 4

On a slightly gloomy, overcast Saturday with the omnipresent threat of rain, the last place most people might want to be is a cemetery.

But Barb Myers, a Wichita State graduate student in the local and community history program, would not want to be anywhere else.

Myers was at Highland Cemetery — just down the road from WSU’s main campus on Hillside — over the weekend to educate a crowd of about 100 people about the early history of the city she calls home. The cemetery dates back to 1868, two years before Wichita was designated a city.

Myers said her two favorite things are researching and teaching, so cemetery tours give her an opportunity to do both.

This was her fifth tour, the next one scheduled for the fall. Tours are free and open to the public, but donations are accepted.

Highland is no longer an active cemetery, as lots have not been sold since the city assumed control of the land in 1982.

Families who purchased plots before then still bury their kin there on occasion, but the cemetery’s status made Myers’s job more difficult.

“There wasn’t a lot of paperwork out there,” Myers said. “So finding the information was just sort of piecemeal here and there.”

Familiar names like Mead and Murdock show up at Highland, but some of the lesser-known names are just as notable. The cemetery’s first recorded burial, 5-year-old Albert Lewellen, was the son of Doc Lewellen,

Wichita’s first shop owner.

Another standout headstone is that of Frank H. Allen, whose unique epitaph (“First white child born in Wichita”) is perhaps a sign of the times.

Allen was born and died in 1870, at the age of two months.

Visitors can also find the grave of Hattie Vigus, Wichita’s first female resident. It is also the final resting place of Sidney Toler, who famously played the popular character Charlie Chan in 22 movies from 1938-46.

Myers said she believes the early history of Wichita is not discussed enough in depth, and that a lot can be learned from those days.

“To know how diverse we really, really were, we were founded by Germans, we were founded by African-Americans, we were founded by English and Germans and Scandinavians,” Myers said. “There is so much to learn from our founding that I think we could benefit from today.”

WSU history professor Jay Price also attended. He said he sees activities like cemetery tours as an accessible way for Wichita residents to learn about their city outside an academic context.

“The academic world and the larger community sort of work in parallel, they work in their own circles,” Price said. “A lot of academic history writing tends to be written for other academics.”

Many of the people highlighted in Myers’s tour were ordinary citizens. They were shopkeepers, attorneys and other kinds of people who do not usually make it into history textbooks.

SEE CEMETERY • PAGE 2

Walk brings mourners, supporters together for suicide awareness ANDREW LINNABARY

REPORTER

@linnabary

Karen Powell’s Valentine’s Days are not days of joy.

They are days of remembrance.

Powell’s son Colby committed suicide on Valentine’s Day in 2014. He was a 23-year-old student at Wichita State.

On Saturday morning, Powell and more than 200 others affected by suicide gathered outside Ablah Library at the Plaza of Heroines at WSU for the third annual Out of Darkness Walk to spread suicide awareness and prevention.

The walk was coordinated through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

“I’m here to honor his memory and hopefully create awareness for suicide issues,” Powell said. “Maybe someone will be deterred away from suicide because of this. I definitely think there needs to be more awareness. If someone hints at suicide, there may be more beyond that subtle hint.”

Bailey Blair, a WSU behavioral health systems specialist and member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said it’s especially important on campus to begin opening up and having these conversations. Blair coordinates all walks in the Wichita area.

“I used to be a high school teacher. About the second time I had to sit at my desk and explain to my class that their friend wouldn’t be coming back was when I realized I had a different calling,” Blair said.

This year, donations exceeded $12,000. Blair said 50 percent of all proceeds stay with WSU. Two WSU students, Thao Le and Devante Garcia, spoke to the crowd before the walk began. Both are part of Mind Matters, a WSU organization that raises awareness about mental health problems, and have struggled with suicide and depression.

“I felt, for a lot of my life, ashamed, embarrassed and afraid because of the stigma attached to mental health,” said

“

Maybe someone will be deterred away from suicide because of this.

I definitely think there needs to be more awareness.”

KAREN POWELL Walk participant

Garcia, a sophomore studying criminal justice.

Le, a junior studying pre-nursing, is vice president of Mind Matters and a member of Sigma Psi Zeta sorority. She said her struggles with depression reached a peak a year ago.

“I was in a very toxic relationship,” Le said. “My self-worth was at an all-time low. Some nights I slept for more than 12 hours and some days I couldn’t get out of bed. I stopped attending class, to which I failed two classes, and was fired from my job. I would drink past the point of blacking out.”

Le said this lasted nearly a year.

SEE WALK • PAGE 4

Photo by Jessica Green

Richard Powell, an attendee at the Out of the Darkness event, hangs a picture of a loved one lost to suicide before the Out of Darkness walk Saturday. Powell and his wife, Karen, have participated for two years. The third annual walk was organized through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

MONDAY, APRIL 18

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EDITORIAL

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Why I love my Apple iPhone In the technologically advanced and obsessive world we live COLUMN BY in, there are VICTORIA many choices HENDRICKS of devices to buy from various companies.

Apple is one option and arguably the biggest and most successful of them all.

I had a flip phone for a long time, and when I finally joined the rest of the world some time later, I joined the Android team.

It was fun. I liked that it was customizable and I adored the swipe text feature. My android felt unique and perfectly accustomed and attuned to me and my wants and needs; it was one-of-akind. I could customize it and tweak it in so many ways that reflected my likes and personality, and as a horrendous typer, I loved the ease of being able to swipe and have less autocorrect fails.

Then my boyfriend and sister convinced me to switch to Apple, and I am never going back, despite the two really amazing things I mentioned above that, unfortunately, Apple lacks.

Yet what it lacks, it makes up for with the rest of these things.

Apple’s hardware and software are made for each other, versus android phones are made for any phone that can support its platform. For instance, Apple’s camera has a flash that can vary its tone of light to over 1,000

@sunflowernews

LETTER to the EDITOR

Repairing the relationship between law enforcement and minority communities will not be easy. The controversial deaths of African-Americans after contact with law enforcement officers (LEO) such as Mike Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri, and John Paul Quintero in Wichita, damaged the way police are perceived by racial minorities, and vice versa. The first step of restoring trust between these two groups is measuring the scope of the issue.

Senate Bill 146 and House Bill 2217 would require law enforcement agencies to collect data in an effort to discover whether or not law enforcement officers practice racial profiling. The bills require all police contact with the public during traffic and pedestrian stops, as well as searches, be entered in a statewide database.

Data collected will include information about the racial and ethnic background of the person stopped, the reason for the stop, and the result of the stop. If a pattern of behavior is discovered, such as use of excessive force by the police against minorities, then data will suggest that changes in cultural competency training provided to LEO should be changed to better meet current

needs. If no patterns of misconduct are identified, then the police department can just continue with their current practices.

Why are Senate Bill 146 and House Bill 2217 important to our community? Three reasons — first, numbers do not lie. Data will allow us to confirm or deny if the police in our community have an overall unconscious bias toward particular racial groups.

Secondly, it promotes transparency. The results from the data will be available on the attorney general’s website, where it can be viewed by the public. Data will give us an idea of what exactly police are doing when we are stopped, and hold both LEO and civilians accountable for their actions.

Third, it is empowering for law enforcement. Transparency leads to improved trust between officers and the communities that they serve, which will ultimately strengthen the relationship between the community and law enforcement.

Contact your legislator — send them a letter, call or email to let them know what your thoughts are on Senate Bill 146 and House Bill 2217.

— Simone Cosper, WSU graduate student

Keeping fit: Make room for the weights I live a life where the words creatine, whey and amino acids are part of the COLUMN BY daily JOHN SMITH vernacular.

I’m a lifter — or at least, like to think of myself as such. Call me a bro-lifter — a type of “science” that involves hitting the gym as hard as possible, and then following it up with a big greasy cheeseburger. Chalk it up to a metabolism the speed of a Formula One racecar.

Other than my inability to say “no” to a nice slice of pizza, I consider myself pretty dedicated to the gym. Upon my arrival at Wichita State in fall 2014, the first thing I did was ask, “So what’s the gym look like?”

Now, full disclosure — I am by

no means “huge.” Beyond that, the last time I saw a solid six-pack was at the local grocery store.

Still, I take my gym seriously, so I was a little underwhelmed by the recent renovations made to the weight room. Any and all types of fitness for on-campus Shockers reside inside the Heskett Center, located in the northeast region of the main campus. This building seems quite large from the outside, and that holds true on the inside.

The Heskett Center is filled with rooms designed for dance, racquetball, Zumba and so much more. It even includes an indoor, fully functional track with three basketball courts in the center. Yet, the weight room is relegated to one small portion of this sprawling complex.

To be honest, I have seen hotels with larger weight rooms than what the Heskett Center offers. My

community college in Texas offered just as much space with a lot smaller enrollment to deal with.

This already makes this gym crowded, but tack on classes in the weight room, that limits the times the non-class-goer can work out, and you find yourself in a proverbial sardine can.

According to the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association, there has been a significant increase in gym memberships in the past decade, with 50.2 million people having a membership in 2012 compared to 41.3 million in 2005. The fitness industry is booming, and while I want to restate that I know there are multiple ways to get fit, weights are a big part of that for me.

In recent months, I found myself going to the nearest YMCA to get my fitness kick. There, I find more space, more weights and thus more

focus on the task at hand. I cannot imagine I am the only one.

But I should not have to search around for a gym that works, not while I’m in college, not while this “free” facility is being paid for through my tuition. The gym should be able to accommodate all and do it well.

Changes need to be made, and the lasting effects from them could benefit the university in other areas. For example, if the Heskett Center is made more appealing and accessible to lovers of working out such as myself, they may find themselves spending more time on campus and taking advantage of other things the university has to offer.

Fitness is a booming industry in America, and its trajectory is only heading upwards. WSU should continue to make moves to accommodate that momentum.

Understanding Kander and Ebb, composer and lyricist of ‘Chicago’ I was always curious about John Kander and Fred Ebb, the composer and lyricist of COLUMN BY “Chicago,” ROBERT HITE playing this week at Wichita State. Each have long careers as writers of Broadway musicals.

I knew they had some hits like “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” I also knew they had some flops.

James Leve’s 2009 book “Kander and Ebb”, part of the Yale Broadway Masters Series, answered some questions.

“Chicago” has an interesting history.

The original cast starred Chita Rivera, Jerry Orbach and Gwen Verdon, and almost never started because choreographer Bob Fosse

CEMETERY FROM PAGE 1

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different shades depending on the settings, and then has the software to control the camera and the flash to optimize that feature, while Android does not have that type of flash (from my experience).

Apple also has a thumbprint reader that works smoothly and seamlessly across all its apps, doubly providing top-notch security. Android’s passcode or puzzles, on the other hand, are less secure. Thumbprints are hard to duplicate, a series of numbers are not as much.

Apple also has greater connectivity over all of its devices. For example, when you put in an entry in your calendar, it also syncs to your Apple laptop, TV, iPad, etc. It’s a clean, seamless feature that is hassle-free.

I also love being able to text over Wi-Fi. My boyfriend, on school breaks, goes back home to California and lives in the middle of the woods in Napa, where cell service ceases to exist. Yet, he does have Internet, and thus, when he goes back to his forest home, I can always keep in touch with him. FaceTime is also one of the company best and most successful features, which also come in handy for my beau and me in those long-distance periods.

The one problem aspect I’ve had with my Apple (which is a 6) is (along with among many other people) the software updates.

But it’s worth it. The phone is also, simply, just a gorgeous beaut of a phone.

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That aspect of the tour (and history itself) is appealing to Price.

It’s a way for the average resident to learn about people who are not notable.

“We talk about history as if it’s about great, important people or interpersonal processes,” Price said.

“But in fact, history is about ordinary people making ordinary decisions.”

On the same note about historical marginalization, cemeteries are a way to teach about people of color who made their mark. For example, in Maple Grove Cemetery (across the street from Highland), there is a special section devoted to members of the United States Colored Troops, black soldiers who fought in the Civil War. “There’s all these layers that we

suffered a heart attack after rehearsals started, and reviews were devastating.

Leve did give details about the musical/drama technique of using vaudeville (a satirical musical style from the 1880s to the 1930s) to serve as a metaphor for the American justice system in which performance persuades the media and the jury.

Kander used minor musical chords which “implicit ethnic associations, which lie just beneath the surface of the story.” It first reached Broadway in 1975 and ran a couple years.

Leve did not describe much about how the revival of Chicago came about in 1996 except to say that it did and has been a great success. I wish he would have noted the musical business, which is as important as the music, lyrics, choreography, staging, lights and other elements of theater. However, that may not be the intent of the Yale Broadway are just starting to get ahold of and understand,” Price said. “There are so many people and populations in Wichita that are hidden in plain sight, and it’s worth talking about them a lot more.”

Wichita resident Evelyn Neier said she enjoyed seeing the unique, ornate tombstones belonging to many of those at Highland. She also found the stories of Wichita’s early citizens inspiring.

“I think it tends to put things in perspective and it tells of people that, really, were leaders in the community, that stepped out and helped found the city,” Neier said.

“That should encourage all the rest of us to be a little more progressive, start new businesses and start new enterprises.”

Those who are interested in following Myers’s research can join her public Facebook group “Wichita history from my perspective.”

series. The show continues to be performed in New York City and has become the secondlongest running musical in Broadway history.

Cabaret did not run long after opening in 1965, either, but it also had two revivals, one in 1987 and another in 1998. Leve said it was Kander’s (born 1927) and Ebb’s (born 1932; died 2004) first musical in which they began to find their unique voice that was a risk for two young writers without a hit. The plot is based on “The Berlin Stories” by Christopher Isherwood. It was published in 1945 and explores the rise of Nazi attitudes during Adolph Hitler’s assent to power.

Kander and Ebb use the cabaret as a metaphor to demonstrate a place where Germans could escape the daily life while the entertainment developed from innocence to Nazi propaganda.

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” is one musical that Leve does comment about the business aspect of a developing musical. This show became an award-winning musical for music, book and score after facing a “bumpy road” premiering at Purchase College in Purchase, New York. They rewrote and rewrote for a couple years before it made it to New York City in 1993.

The progress of these three musicals makes this book worth reading if you are interested in Kander and Ebb. All three tackle different topics, as do the flops they wrote.

Overall, Leve tells the story of two people working together monogamously for more than 40 years through success and failure. It took persistence, such as writing a number of songs for a musical that in end probably only needed about 15.

Photo by Manny De Los Santos

Barb Myers, tour guide and graduate student in local and community history talks about a unique tombstone Saturday afternoon at the Highland cemetery.

The tour consisted of interesting stories about early settlers in Wichita, and was hosted by WSU’s Historic Society.

MONDAY, APRIL 18

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PAGE 3 | SPORTS

Photos by Manny De Los Santos

(LEFT) Trophies are displayed during the end-of-year celebration Thursday evening at Charles Koch Arena. Awards were handed out to players for academic and athletic achievements. (RIGHT) Head coach Gregg Marshall looks up at the scoreboard to relive highlights from the season during the end-of-year celebration Thursday.

Players receive postseason awards in farewell ceremony EVAN PFLUGRADT

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

@evpflu

In the final season of the four- and five-year basketball careers of Wichita State seniors Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet, there were numerous times to say goodbye — once for the final game in Charles Koch Arena, once for the final game in the Missouri Valley Tournament, once again in the exit of the NCAA Tournament with signs, chants, cameras and tears awaiting a bus drop-off later that evening, and for a final time in lengthy autograph lines at sponsored events.

Yet, for some WSU fans, each time didn’t seem like quite

enough.

On Thursday, spectators were able to relive the 2015-16 season seated in Charles Koch Arena with highlight film packages and postseason award recognitions in an end-of-the-year celebration.

About 2,000 fans gathered to watch the ceremony led by play-by-play commentator Mike Kennedy, who announced postseason awards and told stories about the season from November through March.

Fourteen players and three assistant coaches sat alongside WSU head coach Gregg Marshall.

Baker and VanVleet departed from Wichita earlier in the week; Baker to Los Angeles and VanVleet to

Indianapolis, Indiana. Anton Grady also left Wichita to begin his training for the NBA Combine in mid-May. Evan Wessel stayed at home after being diagnosed with strep throat earlier Thursday morning.

Baker and VanVleet, in their final days of training, prepared a 60-second goodbye video thanking fans for four and five years of commitment to the program.

“I want to thank you for being loyal fans, supporting my family, giving them hope when I arrived here,” Baker said in the video.

VanVleet followed, stating his regret for not being to be able to say a farewell with fans for a final time, but also said the fans would

continue to support him and other seniors in their post-collegiate careers.

“It’s been an unbelievable ride, through it all, I hope we’ve been able to pay that back with our hard play on the floor. Thank you,” VanVleet said in the video.

Wessel wrote a letter to be read on his behalf.

“Thank you to all the fans, Shocker Nation, the best fans in the country,” Wessel said in the letter. “I cherished this journey. At [Wichita State] I was able to fulfill my dreams.”

Kennedy also spoke on behalf of Grady, who thanked the program for support throughout the ups and downs of the season,

and positivity during a spinal concussion he suffered in the last week of November.

“I also want to thank this program for giving me the gift I always wanted, an NCAA Tournament,” Grady said in the letter.

Baker and VanVleet were announced as co-winners of the Wichita Eagle’s Most Valuable Player award. Baker was awarded the Shocker Radio Most Outstanding Defensive Player award.

Wessel was awarded both the Shafer Dart Most Inspirational Player award and the Shelley Cox Leadership award. Redshirt sophomore Shaq Morris received the Cleo Littleton Most Improved Player award.

Photos by Manny De Los Santos

(UPPER LEFT) Senior Krista Whittemore gets emotional after watching highlights on the scoreboard during the end-of-year celebration. (LOWER LEFT) Freshman Markis McDuffie receives an award from Gregg Marshall. (ABOVE) Shocker players watch highlights from the season on the scoreboard during the end-of-year celebration Thursday evening at Charles Koch Arena.

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PAGE 4 | SPORTS

MONDAY, APRIL 18

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Shockers pull off back-to-back comebacks, sweep Bradley GRANT COHEN

REPORTER

@gforce4preach

File Photo by Jessica Green

Freshman Alec Bohm attempts a hit against the University of Oklahoma on April 12. Bohm scored two runs and had two hits in three at-bats in the second game of Saturday’s double-header.

Shockers win two against No. 15 Missouri State NICK BEACH

REPORTER

@nickbeach1

In his third start — and first against a ranked opponent in No. 15 Missouri State — redshirt sophomore pitcher Cody Tyler cleared three innings without the Bears tallying a single run.

The top of the first ended with back-to-back-to-back strikeouts, leaving two runners on base. It was a similar story in the second inning; after two hits, three outs followed.

An inning later, Tyler led a one, two, three out inning.

Tyler pitched a complete game, striking out five batters, allowing 11 hits on 117 pitches. He earned his first win of the season in three starts.

Wichita State claimed two victories in the three-game conference series.

Game 1 The left-handed starting pitcher, Tyler, earned the start after redshirt junior Willie Schwanke was pulled for concerns of a tender arm.

Tyler pitched a complete game, allowing two runs. He walked no batters. WSU held off the Bears 9-2.

Senior centerfielder Mikel Mucha led with three RBIs and in two hits, each hit coming in the later innings.

Mucha singled into right field with two batters on base in the sixth inning. Freshman right fielder Dayton Dugas and senior Tanner Kirk rounded the bases to add two runs, giving WSU a six-run lead.

Again at the top of the rotation, Mucha tripled down the right field baseline, and sophomore Trey Vickers scored for the ninth and final WSU run of the game.

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“This year was extremely difficult, sponsorships have always been a huge source of funds for us in the past and this year they were again, but we had a couple of major businesses drop in the weeks leading up to the

Dugas scored three RBIs; he also scored two runs in two hits.

Game 2 Injuries to two of the three starting pitchers in WSU’s rotation pulled redshirt senior Chase Williams out of relief duty, to take the mound for Saturday’s first game of a double-header.

Williams allowed three earned runs in a little more than three innings pitched. The Bears scored the first run of the game with a single into center field with two batters on.

Mucha scored the lone Shocker run with a single through the second base gap in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game 1-1 — the last time the game would be even before MSU ran away with the victory, scoring runs in the fourth, seventh and eighth innings, winning 6-1.

Junior Reagan Biechler entered in the third inning for relieving duties.

Biechler allowed four hits in three innings. He struck out three batters, highlighting the pitching rotation for WSU. Freshman pitcher Clayton McGinness finished the relieving effort. He, in addition to the two on the mound before him, allowed more than one run.

The Shockers were limited to three hits, freshman Luke Ritter was the only Shocker to reach extra bases.

Game 3 Sunday’s game was moved to Saturday for a double-header in preparation for inclement weather to end the weekend.

WSU captured the victory and the series with an 11-1 victory over the Bears. The game ended in a

mercy-rule; WSU held a 10-run advantage in the seventh inning.

Redshirt freshman left fielder Josh Debacker advanced to second on a wild pitch. After the next batter he advanced to third on another wild pitch, and a batter later he rounded the bases, scoring on another wild pitch. The Shockers scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a quick lead.

Dugas singled to center field in the third inning, scoring Debacker again for his second run of the game. WSU increased their lead to six runs.

Dugas continued his efforts at the plate, driving in two more RBIs in the fifth inning with a single into center field.

Junior pitcher Zach Lewis threw for his first win of the season in seven starts. He pitched a little more than six innings, throwing five strikeouts while allowing three hits and one run.

Redshirt senior John Hayes completed the seventh inning, throwing two strikeouts to finish the Bears.

Mucha, Dugas, sophomore Gunnar Troutwine and freshman Alec Bohm each reached base multiple times during the game.

Dugas had three hits in all three of his at-bats. He drove in three RBIs while claiming one run for himself.

WSU (13-23) next faces in-state rival Kansas at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence. The Shockers are in search of their third road victory of the season before returning home to host Bradley in a three-game conference series starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Eck Stadium.

event and another one actually a couple of days before,” Grosch said. “This put a lot of pressure on us to grow where we have always struggled in the past, and that was personal fundraising.”

Despite the struggles Shockerthon members had with getting sponsorships, Grosch said there was one thing that helped them conquer it.

“We overcame it by making

sure that when we were doing fundraising campaigns during he event we tied them back to the cause and that is CMN,” he said.

“Every minute 62 kids are admitted to a CMN hospital nationally, so we challenged dancers to go raise $62 for those kids. Overall, personal fundraising ended up doubling from last year, which is a huge accomplishment.”

Wichita State was in a similar situation they had been in the last four games, which was playing “catch up” with their opponents. The Shockers, however, were not able to grab a lead at the end of those games, having lost the last four at Evansville and Missouri heading into the weekend series against Bradley.

Down 7-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning in game one, the Shockers managed to respond by scoring four runs that set up a walk off single by senior Liz Broyles to end the losing streak with an 8-7 victory.

The Shockers came back down 7-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning in game two, scoring nine runs in the fourth inning to take the game and the sweep against Bradley 11-10. Game three was cancelled due to inclement weather on Sunday.

“With Bradley, you knew that they were a team that swings the bats really well,” WSU head coach Kristi Bredbenner said.

“We talked this week about taking advantage of taking opportunities to score as many runs as possible.”

Junior Paige Luellen gave the Shockers a 1-0 lead off of a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. Bradley responded in the top of the fifth inning with a solo home run, but a wild pitch by the Braves and a single by sophomore Mackenzie Wright gave the Shockers a 3-1 lead.

A grand slam home run by Bradley’s Maria Schroeder and a solo shot by Katie Habryle gave the Braves the lead in the top of the sixth inning 7-3. The Shockers cut the lead 7-6 in the bottom half-inning thanks to a bases loaded double by WSU junior Ashley Johnson. After a bunt single by junior Kelli Spring, the Shockers tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center field hit by Brittany Fortner.

“I see some better pitches [at the plate],” Johnson said.

“Opponents look past my size sometimes and play me in and gives me an advantage to score runs.”

A leadoff double and walk for Bradley put runners on first and second base with no outs in the top of the seventh inning, but junior Jenni Brooks finished her complete game by forcing three straight outs without allowing allowing a run. Brooks struck out four Braves batters while only allowing one walk in game one.

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After a walk and a single by Luellen, Broyles hit a single to deep left center field to give the Shockers the victory 8-7.

“As soon as Cacy walked, my team and I knew I could do this,” Broyles said. “I waited on [the ball] and hit it right up the middle. It felt amazing.”

Bradley started off game two with a three-run home run in the first inning along with hitting two singles gave the Braves an early 4-0 lead. An RBI single by senior Cacy Wiliams in the bottom of the first inning and a groundout by junior Macklin Hitz to score Fortner from third base, who became the university’s all-time leader for hitting doubles with 54, in the bottom of the third inning cut the Wichita State deficit 4-2.

Another three-run home run for Bradley extended the Braves lead 7-2 in the top of the fourth inning. Wright and Hitz responded for the Shockers by driving in three runs to cut the deficit 7-5 in the bottom half of the fourth inning.

A bases loaded single by Broyles cut the Braves lead to one and Johnson gave the Shockers the lead with a two run double. Freshman Laurie Ann Derrico brought in the three final Shocker runs with a home run to left field to give the Shockers an 11-7 lead after four innings.

“We just have the confidence we could score off of Bradley’s pitchers,” Johnson said. “We knew that our offense would come through and would back up our pitchers.”

Senior Ashlynne Neil and Brooks protected the Shocker’s lead, pitching the last 6.1 innings in game two. Neil struck out three Bradley batters while Brooks only allowed one earned run, as the Shockers got the sweep with a game two victory 11-10.

“The bottom line is our pitching has to continue to get better,” Bredbenner said. “We are getting everything we can out of Jenni, who is not 100 percent.

Neil did a great job of coming in and giving us some quality innings. We are a much better pitching team when we manage walks and home runs.”

Wichita State (23-18, 9-5) moved up to second place in the Missouri Valley Conference, three games behind the first place Drake Bulldogs. The Shockers travel to Springfield, Missouri on Wednesday for a two-game series against Missouri State.

Attendees for the Out of the Darkness walk took a walk around campus to raise awareness for suicide prevention and mental health.

“That’s when I thought about ending it,” Le said. “Fortunately for me, I couldn’t bring myself to follow through. Choosing to live became the bravest thing I’ve ever done.”

The walk started outside the library and went around campus, spanning about a mile and a half.

About 50 people wore shirts reading, “We walk for Matt.” Matt Polk, who at the time was general manager of Wasabi, took his life Oct. 21, 2015.

Bob Polk said his son had reached out several times for help, but didn’t tell anyone in his family.

Polk said the public’s awareness about suicide awareness should be greater.

“The most taboo word in the English language to stop a conversation is ‘suicide,’” Polk said.

“People change the subject right away. They don’t want to be involved.”

After the walk, attendants shared memories. Powell said she finds strength in being with fellow support group members.

“I’m making it through each day,” Powell said. “I seem to be able to maintain. I do still grieve and I do find it very hard sometimes, but I’m taking it one step at a time.”