Wichita, KS - Wichita State University (WSU) in Wichita, Kansas, is a member of the NCAA Division I and primarily competes in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Their athletic teams are called the Shockers, a name that came about in the early 1900s when students would earn money by “shocking” or harvesting the wheat in nearby fields. One of their teams, the WSU Women’s Softball team is the reigning American Athletic Conference Champions.

As a result of the softball program and its success, WSU embarked on a $7.3 million Phase 1 renovation of Wilkins Stadium, home of WSU Shocker Softball, which includes everything from new lights, batting cages, and a synthetic grass surface. In addition to the outfield, the artificial turf installation included the foul territory, warning track, and apron areas at Wilkins Stadium. With all this, the grounds team came to COVERMASTER® to replace their field cover.

It was no ‘shock’ that WSU purchased a 120 by 120-foot RAINCOVER ULTRA™ along with a branded storage cover and sandbags. RAINCOVER ULTRA™ is the industry’s strongest softball field cover and can be easily used to move hundreds of pounds of water from the raincover’s surface. “We went with COVERMASTER® for our field tarp because Ben Hartman of the grounds team for the Wichita Wind Surge Minor League Baseball team recommended you. Also, we are moving to an artificial turf outfield next season in the stadium. The COVERMASTER® exclusive Shield-Tek™ coating pulls less conditioner with the tarp when it is pulled. That was a big plus for us.”

Posted November, 2023