Former Shocker track sprinter Paula Garcia picked by Spain to run in Paris Olympics

A former standout sprinter for the Wichita State track and field team will be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Paula Garcia, who competed for the Shockers from 2017-22, has been chosen to represent Spain as a member of the 400-meter relay team. The preliminaries are slated for 3:10 a.m. Central Time on Aug. 8, with the finals scheduled for sometime between noon and 3 p.m. Central on Aug. 9.

Garcia is the 11th former Shocker to be named an Olympian, joining Aliphine Tuliamuk (2020, United States), Ineta Radevica (2004 and 2008, Latvia), Randy Lewis (2008, Grenada), Viktors Lacis (2000, Latvia), Werner Botha (2000, South Africa), Einars Tupuritis (1996, Latvia), Iziaq Adeyanju (1984 and 1988, Nigeria), Preston Carrington (1972, United States), Harold Manning (1936, United States) and Jim Bausch (1932, United States).

It wasn’t a straightforward process for Garcia to make the Olympics.

The former Shocker recently made headlines when the 25-year-old won the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.46 seconds at the Spanish Championships on June 28.

Although she was victorious, Garcia’s career-best time of 11.34 did not meet the Olympic standards for the individual event. However, Spain’s 400 relay team — without Garcia — had secured one of the final spots in Paris.

That meant Garcia had some nervous days, waiting for the Spanish Olympic Committee to make their final decisions on which runners would be included in a six-runner pool for the four-runner relay. It was announced earlier this month that Garcia was selected for the pool. She will not learn whether she is running in the Olympics until the day before or the day of the preliminary race.

The Madrid native still holds the WSU indoor 200 record (23.61) and the outdoor 1600-meter relay (3:38.21), while she also still ranks top-six all-time in program history in the indoor 60, indoor 400, outdoor 100, outdoor 200 and outdoor 400 relay.

Olathe native named to USA’s World U20 national team

Olathe North graduate Josh Parrish, who just completed his freshman season at Wichita State, has been selected to represent the United States in the long jump at the 2024 World Athletics Under-20 Championships.

Parrish recently took third in the long jump at the USATF U20 Championships in June and has previously hit the long jump standard, which earned him one of two spots on the national team.

He is set to compete in Lima, Peru, on Aug. 29-30.

“I am so proud of Josh and extremely happy for him,” WSU track and field head coach Steve Rainbolt told GoShockers.com . “The opportunity to compete for Team USA will be a wonderful memory for him for a lifetime. This is a fabulous young athlete and I’m particularly excited about what a positive impact an experience like this will have on him going forward.”