Onward to 2023👋
leaving a historic 2022 behind us
The Top Ten (of many) of 2022
Could we have asked for a better year of cross country and track & field? Honestly, I don’t think so. Records fell both on the grass and on the track, and many athletes etched their names into the record books. Some did it in the ring, while some did it in lane one. Regardless, Kansas athletes showed up and showed out and exceeded any expectations. With so many historic performances and great PR’s, it was hard to condense them all down to a list of ten, but I tried my best. Also, you’ll figure out that this was a high school only list, simply because I was having a very tough time trying to condense everything down to one list.
April 12th was a windy day, which is bad if you’re a distance runner but great if you’re a thrower. A pair of now graduates, Casey Helm (Madison) and Brett Schwartz (Santa Fe Trail) shot up to the top of the national leaderboards in the discus. Helm was the first to compete of the pair, and threw 202-6.75 at the the Eureka Invitational. Schwartz followed that up later in the day with a heave of 204-2 which at the time was the second farthest throw in the nation, and the farthest throw in the state. Both men would improve even more in the coming weeks, with Helm throwing a nation leading 214-1 at the Madison Invitational, and Schwartz throwing 210-7 at the Shawnee Mission North Relays. The pair ended the 2022 season as the #1 and #2 discus throwers in the nation.
If you don’t know her name by now, then you must not get out much. Stanton County senior Chesney Peterson made history at the 2022 Kansas State Track & Field Championships, winning a quartet of individual state titles in the 400m, 800m, 1600m and 3200m. Peterson joined a VERY exclusive list that before had only one name on it. That name? Jackie Stiles. On Friday, the first day of the meet, Peterson ran 10:52.65 to win the 3200m, which was after her 400m prelim (59.1) which was just a few hours prior. The following day, Peterson won the 1600m, 400m, and 800m in that order, with times of 4:54.00, 1:00.15 and 2:18.70. Peterson and Stiles are the only two Kansas high schoolers to ever accomplish the feat. Just for fun, Peterson also hasn’t lost a race since May 01, 2021, and is 51-0 since. She’s also 76-5 since entering high school, and four of those losses came when she was a freshman during cross country. I know I mention these stats a lot, but it’s just too interesting to leave them out!
Photo: Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered If you would have told me last fall that Salina Central’s Katelyn Rupe would storm onto the distance running scene in 2022, I would have said “who?” Katelyn answered that question and then some during the track season, where she went 15-3 in the 1600m and 3200m, capping off her track debut with a pair of 5A state titles in the distance double. Winning two state titles in your first season of high school competition is a feat in itself, but when you look at the athletes she was able to beat in the process, it’s even more impressive. If that wasn’t enough, she went ahead and absolutely shattered the record books on the grass this fall. While simultaneously playing tennis (and going to state), Rupe won all six races in-state, and went under eighteen six different times. She also
brokeobliterated the Rim Rock course record from Oklahoma State All-American Molly Born (SMNW), running 17:13.84 and winning her third state title. Honestly, I have no idea what she’s going to do next, but I can promise you it’s probably going to be fast.Another name that burst onto the scene during the track season is a name we’re all familiar with now, Shawnee Mission East’s Wyatt Haughton. After finishing as the runner-up in cross country as a junior, Haughton shifted into a whole new gear, and made sure everybody knew his name in the process. Throughout the spring, he ran 9:17.83 in the 3200m, 4:12.78 in the 1600m (4:11.38 Mile) and 1:54.64 in the 800m. I probably shouldn’t swear in this, but shoot that’s quick. Haughton snagged both the 1600m and 800m 6A state titles in the process, and then decided to run quite possibly the greatest boys high school cross country season that we’ve ever seen. For starters, he broke the state record, running 14:46.80. Then, he ran under fifteen two more times, as he became the first high schooler to ever break fifteen at Rim Rock. I mean come on, that’s insane!
Photo: Olathe West XC The Olathe West Owls, you know the program. They made history in multiple ways this year, and it started on the track. Kate Miller, Bree Newport, Paige Baker and Charis Robinson ran the fastest 4x800m in state history, running 9:17.4 to take the top spot. They didn’t think that was enough, so they ran 9:17.01 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, with Kalyn Willingham instead of Miller. I’m convinced that they are just that deep and could run fast with any combination of their girls. In cross country, they won their third consecutive state title, which oddly enough wasn’t even their primary goal this year, but more of just another thing on their checklist. Their biggest goal was to make it out of the competitive NXR Heartland Regional, and that’s just what they did. The Owls would go on to place 16th at Nike Cross Nationals, which is the highest EVER team finish from a Kansas team at NXN, boys or girls. With track just around the corner, I’d get used to reading about them.
After a third place finish at the Wamego Country Club, the host of the 4A state championships, Topeka-Hayden senior Tanner Newkirk had a fire lit under him, and had, yes, a historic season. A trio of state titles in the span of two days is nice, but a trio of state titles along with two state records is really nice. First, the 3200m, No Kansan had gone sub-nine since Washington County’s Dylan Hodgson did so in 2015. Newkirk broke both the 4A meet record (9:25.19) and championship meet record (9:05.39), but he wasn’t done yet. He followed his Friday morning performance with a 4:12.25 1600m, beating the 4A meet record (4:16.34) for a second consecutive race. Finally, Newkirk ran 1:55.00 in the 800m to win his third title of the weekend, but was shy of the state meet record by two seconds. Not to mention, Newkirk also split a 1:56 in the 4x800m, helping the Wildcats to a 5th place finish.
Photo: Duane Wilkinson/Times-Gazette One of the most fun events I watched this year was the end of the 5A pole vault, as Andover Central senior Ashton Barkdull cleared 16-07.25 to break the ten-year old 5A state meet record. Watching the crowd focusing on him and clapping as he prepared to sprint down the runway to history was incredible. Another cool piece of the 5A pole vault was that Barkdull and his younger brother Bryce were the last two standing. Ashton capped off a fantastic season with his seven inch PR, and added in a third place finish in the 200m dash as the cherry on top.
Photo: Steve Adelson/Times-Gazette Another multi-event stud was Andover’s Tayton Klein, who simply did it all. Four events. Four medals. Three state titles. Klein didn’t have the luxury of much downtime the weekend of state, but that didn’t seem to bother him at all, as the Andover senior won the long jump, 110mH and the 300mH. He also took third in the 100m. For the first time ever in his career, Klein jumped his way into the 24’s, with a mark of 24-1.75, his best mark of his career (obviously). Klein ran 14.87w in the 100mH, which was a quarter second shy of his PR, but ran 38.23 in the 300mH, which was a .01 second PR from the prelims the previous day. In the 100m, he posted a 10.66w as the wind was to the field’s back, which is pretty quick if you ask me.
I know everybody has different opinions on Olathe Twilight, and that’s okay. Personally, for me, it was one of my favorite meets of the season, and not just because of the quick times we saw. The only downside of the meet was that I didn’t know how to adjust my camera to be able to shoot at night, primarily because I’m a fool. However, the atmosphere was electric, and the rain made it even more fun. Plus, we saw a state record (thanks Wyatt!) and four boys break fifteen minutes, with three of them being Kansans. Earlier that day, I was at the Wamego Invitational, where we took the bulk of the rain, and that was also a great experience for me, and I assume all of the athletes. Sure there were some lengthy delays, but at least Missouri took a pounding that afternoon in Manhattan, so it wasn’t all bad! Overall, this might be my favorite day of meets I went to this season, and I think it provided a great and memorable experience for the athletes and fans. If you have a differing opinion on the matter, take it up with HR.
So, I don’t have a clear #10 performance or moment, so instead, I’m going to put a lot of different ones in a shortened list!
Clay Shively’s 4:10 at Shawnee Mission North Relays
Alex Waldie’s 1:50 split also at Shawnee Mission North Relays
Colby King making it out of NXR Heartland with the highest finish at NXN by a Kansan since 2015
Eudora girls going back-to-back in 4A
Jordan Dale v. Kendrick Jones jump-off in 5A at state
This list could go on forever, and it honestly deserves to with how great every athlete competed this year. I also appreciate all of you who helped build my initial list by responding to the Instagram story we put up! It made this process much much easier.
If any of you are for some reason reading this on New Year’s Eve, I appreciate it! To those of you who are reading this on a different day, thank you for all of the support that you have given us this year, because without all of you, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We are hoping 2023 is going to be a big year, because we definitely have some things we’d like to see happen this next year, and we can’t wait to bring them all into fruition. Have a happy new year and we’ll see you on the track!