WICHITA, Kan.- The Wichita State women's track & field team won the Varsity Apartments Invitational, on the strength of seven first place finishes.

With a team score of 156.16, the Shocker Women beat the second place team, UT-Arlington, by over 80 points.

On the men's side, first place at the meet came down to the final race, but The Shockers narrowly lost to Sam Houston State, 126-114.50.

Entering the final day of competition, Austin Bahner held the lead in the Heptahlon.

However, Matthew Johnson (5509) of Sam Houston State dethroned Bahner to win the Heptathlon with top marks in the 60m hurdles and the pole vault.

Bahner finished second with a score of 5473. Tobias Boese (5338) placed third and matched Johnson for the top pole vault mark among the heptathletes.

Chris Dubree threw a personal best of 56-6 in the shot put. This earned him second place in the event and ranks him third in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. Adam Esau placed fifth in the event.

In the women's high jump, J'Lynn Ledesma cleared the bear at 5-10 to win the event. This performance matched Ledesma's season and career best. She ranks second in the MVC high jump standings this season.

In her final race at the Heskett Center, Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton shattered her PR in the mile with a time of 4:47.96. She eclipsed her previous best in the mile by over five seconds and posted the Valley's best time this season.

Courtney Reinke also claimed victory in her last home indoor meet. Reinke won the women's triple jump with a leap of 39-7, her best mark of 2013.

Seniors, Jake Wike (1:52.87) and Tomas Cotter (1:53.58) earned the top two spots in the men's 800m run. Wike's time is the best in the Valley this season.

The Shockers swept the medal spots in the women's 60m hurdles. Shanice Andrews improved her personal best with the winning time of 8.59.

Natalie Morerod (8.60) placed second in the event. Tanya Friesen (8.68) finished her weekend with third place. Friesen scored 28.33 points for the Shocker women at the meet.

Morerod returned to win the women's 400m dash.  Trailing three other competitors entering the final lap, Morerod unleashed a kick and chased down her foes. She broke a meet record with the 55.63 sprint.

Kaitlyn McLeod improved her personal best in the 3000m for the second time this season as she scored first place points for the Shockers. McLeod edged out another runner by .02 seconds. to get her third PR of 2013. Marcos Bailon (8:36.50) placed second in the men's 3,000m race.

Other notable day two performances include Ethan Pearson's second place finish in the pole vault by clearing the bar at 15-11.

Also, Brandon Childs scored points for the men's team for the second time in the meet with a fifth place finish in the long jump. He took fifth in the high jump on day one.

Emily Cook (41-10 ¾ ) added to the women's team score with a third place finish in the shot put to help the Shockers to the championship.

Over the span of two days, 2,059 people attended the Varsity Apartments Invitational. This number shattered the indoor attendance record for a Shocker home meet. The crowd of 1,206 on day two is also a single meet day record. 

Wichita State Track & Field will compete at Air Force next with the exception of the distance athletes, who will travel to a meet at Iowa State. The Shockers will travel to Northern Iowa for the MVC Championships, Feb.22-23.

Watch the above video for exclusive interviews with some of the Wichita State Track & Field team

-Wichita State-