On the cusp of indoor🥳
it's so close!
Before I begin with The Lead Pack content that I have planned for this week, I think I should let you all know that reigning 3A state cross country champion Clay Shively just ran a 4:04.95 mile this afternoon at the Arkansas Invitational. If my sources are correct, he is now the second fastest Kansas high schooler in history, only behind the legendary Jim Ryun. We’ll cover this a lot more in depth next week!
Prentice Gudgen Invitational🦍
Just a few months after winning his first state title, Wichita-Trinity frontrunner Clay Shively opened up his indoor season with the 3000m at the Prentice Gudgen HS Invitational at Pittsburg State University. Last spring, Shively erupted onto the scene, posting times of 1:55.17, 4:10.08 and 9:15.99 in the 800m, 1600m and 3200m, as a junior! On the grass, he backed up his success with a 14:47.40 5000m, and four additional sub-sixteen performances, all while leading the Knights to their second consecutive 3A state title. Last weekend, Shively put not only 3A, but the nation on notice with an 8:30.64 3k. He currently sits 4th in the nation, just five seconds out of the top time of the high school indoor season. If you’re curious, recent Topeka-Hayden graduate Tanner Newkirk ran 8:32.33 last March at the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet, and then went on to run 1:55.00, 4:10.88 and 8:58.88 in the 800m, 1600m and 3200m, also winning all three state titles along the way. With Shively’s performance in January, I’d say we can expect him to have an incredible season, possibly one of the best we’ve seen in recent memory.
Another name to watch this outdoor season is a familiar one, and that’s Parker Walion of Gardner-Edgerton. In Pittsburg, Walion opted for his favorite distance, the mile, and it goes without saying, but he is also in tremendous shape, and it’s only January. In a deep field, consisting of state champs, DI commits and the region’s top talent, Walion finished as the runner-up in 4:21.91, just three seconds back of his 1600m PR of 4:18.80. To be only three seconds back and running an extra nine meters (not much but it’s something) is pretty dang impressive, and also shows that the second fastest 6A returner is ready to make some noise this spring.
Here are a few other notable marks from Prentice Gudgen that put athletes towards the top in the national rankings.
Isaiah Bates (Pleasanton) — 6.94 60m
Charis Robinson (Olathe West) — 2:19.88/800m
Charis Robinson (Olathe West) — 5:10.93/Mile
Marión Ryan (Parsons) — 6-4/High Jump
Josh Parrish (Olathe North) — 22-11.5/Long Jump
Josh Parrish (Olathe North) — 8.16/60mH
Andrew Kirby (Olathe East) — 15-6/Pole Vault
Bryce Barkdull (Andover Central) — 15-0/Pole Vault
Lily Brown (Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan) — 5-4/High Jump
Friends University First Chance Qualifier🦅
At the Wichita State-Heskett Center, collegians from across the state came for their first shot at achieving a qualifying mark for their respective national championships. There was a good number of in-state athletes that hit the needed marks, as six of them punched their ticket to nationals. Starting with the junior college qualifiers, Butler Community College’s Star Mpama is the lone women’s qualifier as of today (01/13), as she is the only woman in JUCO to hit the marks for the 400m and 600m. Last weekend, she ran a converted 57.35 400m along with a converted 1:38.35 600m. Her teammates Nazzio John, Shawn Brown and Eddy Vu all punched their tickets in the 60m dash, running 6.67, 6.76 and 6.84, as the trio are three of the five men to have the standard of 6.85. In the 1000m, it was more Butler CC as both Wail Bourahli and Clearwater graduate Zach Trotter ran a converted 2:26.20 and 2:30.26, as both men are well under the standard of 2:33.37.
However, these athletes are not the only Kansans to have hit their standards already, as a few of them did so at the beginning of January, in the first edition of this season’s indoor competition. For the NAIA qualifiers, a lot of you may know that there is an ‘A Standard’ and a ‘B Standard’. An ‘A Standard’ means that an athlete or relay earns an automatic spot in the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships. The ‘B Standard’ means that that athlete is eligible for the NAIA Indoor Championships, but each program is only allowed a maximum of three ‘B Standard’ athletes per gender, meaning at most, three women and three men can represent their program at the national championships if they did not hit the ‘A Standard’ during the season.
NAIA Qualifiers (A Standard🔴 & B Standard🔵)
Alison Ambuul (Benedictine) — 400m🔵, 600m🔴
Alyssa Armendariz (St. Mary) — 1000m🔴, 5000m🔴
Carlie Gregg (St. Mary) — 1000m🔵
Riley Hiebert (St. Mary) — 1000m🔵, 5000m🔴
Caroline Cobo (Benedictine) — 3000m🔵
Reagan Hiebert (St. Mary) — 5000m🔵
Tajanique Bell (Baker) — 60mH🔴
Keiana Newman (Friends) — 60mH🔴
Victoria Lotz (MidAmerica Nazarene) — Shot Put🔵
Madison Sutton (Benedictine) — Weight Throw🔴
Carly Lindenmeyer (MidAmerica Nazarene) — Pentathlon🔴
Jocelyn Jenkins (MidAmerica Nazarene) — Pentathlon🔴
Jaylan Washington (Ottawa) — 60m🔴
Tavius Woodall (Baker) — 60m🔵
Mark Benjamin (Kansas Wesleyan) — 60m🔵
Luis Perez (St. Mary) — 1000m🔵
Jadon Davis (Friends) — 3000m Racewalk🔴
Gage Carr (Friends) — 3000m Racewalk🔴
Pablo Sanz-Rillo (Friends) — 3000m Racewalk🔴
Eryk Kyser (Kansas Wesleyan) — Long Jump🔵
Jack Donel (St. Mary) — Triple Jump🔴
Zach Johnson (Tabor) — Weight Throw🔵
NCAA Division II Qualifiers
Isabella Hohl (Washburn) — 60m, 200m, 400m
Lyric Holman (Fort Hays State) — 60m
Taniya Looney (Pittsburg State) — 60m
Audreanae Hagan (Pittsburg State) — 60m
Lara Murdock (Pittsburg State) — 5000m
Regan Hodsden (Fort Hays State) — 5000m
Nakiya Marshall (Pittsburg State) — 60mH
Madelyn Marquez (Pittsburg State) — 60mH
Mattie Rossi (Fort Hays State) — 60mH
Erica Schamel (Pittsburg State) — High Jump
Allary Liberatore (Pittsburg State) — High Jump
Kyla Davis (Pittsburg State) — Pole Vault
Rachael Mayberry (Washburn) — Pole Vault
Megan McManis (Emporia State) — Pole Vault
Mattie Flanagan (Pittsburg State) — Long Jump, Triple Jump
Makayla Watson (Pittsburg State) — Long Jump
Makayla Pavelka (Pittsburg State) — Long Jump
Auna Childress (Pittsburg State) — Triple Jump
Nakiya Marshall (Pittsburg State) — Triple Jump
Taylor Savolt (Fort Hays State) — Triple Jump, Pentathlon
Abigael Reid (Emporia State) — Pentathlon
Chloe Stanley (Fort Hays State) — Pentathlon
Xavier Carmichael (Pittsburg State) — 60m
Phillip Landrum (Fort Hays State) — 60m
Ethan Lang (Fort Hays State) — 800m
Diego Contreras (Pittsburg State — 5000m
TJ Caldwell (Pittsburg State) — 60mH
Daylin Williams (Pittsburg State) — 60mH
Stone, Tudor, Alarahshun, Sanders (Pittsburg State) — 4x400m
Ramos, Watson, Merz, Goodpaster (Emporia State) — 4x400m
Hunter Jones (Pittsburg State) — High Jump, Heptathlon
Alessandro Di Gregorio (Washburn) — High Jump
Gabe Muia (Pittsburg State) — High Jump
Ryan Stanley (Fort Hays State) — Pole Vault
Jacob Clark (Fort Hays State) — Pole Vault
Connor Last (Washburn) — Long Jump
Josh Hopkins (Washburn) — Long Jump
Konner Swenson (Pittsburg State) — Shot Put, Weight Throw
Nolan Churchman (Fort Hays State) — Heptathlon
Doug Brown (Pittsburg State) — Heptathlon
Brandon Wilkes (Emporia State) — Heptathlon
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the current DI athletes who currently sit in the top twenty spots in the country.
Gabrielle Gibson (Kansas) — 200m/9th
Vitoria Alves (Kansas State) — 60mH/17th
Rylee Anderson (Kansas) — High Jump/1st
Monique Hardy (Kansas State) — Weight Throw/8th
Emma Robbins (Kansas State) — Weight Throw/9th
Urte Bacianskaite (Kansas State) — Pentathlon/9th
Wilmington, Fogle, Freeman Jr, Colbert (Kansas) — 4x400m/7th
Devin Loudermilk (Kansas) — High Jump/3rd
Kamryen Garrett (Kansas State) — High Jump/4th
Devon Richardson (Kansas State) — High Jump/4th
Clayton Simms (Kansas) — Pole Vault/10th
Jaden Patterson (Kansas) — Triple Jump/9th
Patrick Larrison (Kansas) — Shot Put/7th
Kade McCall (Kansas State) — Weight Throw/3rd
Hudson Bailey (Wichita State) — Heptathlon
Kolby Caster (Wichita State) — Heptathlon
Wyatt Leutzinger (Wichita State) — Heptathlon
Not too much has happened in this first two weeks of the new year, but luckily for us, this weekend kicks off a strong stretch of track & field that will last for a while! I for one am very excited and am super pumped to see what kind of times and marks athletes throw down in the coming weeks. This should be the start of The Lead Pack consistently hitting your inboxes every week, and hopefully some more content on its way! How would you feel about a podcast?🤔
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