Outdoor track next month?👀
don't get too excited, we've got a lot of indoor in store
A lifetime supply of Gatorade🐊
Though we’ve moved onto the track season, award season is just beginning for the 2022 cross country season. Last week, it was announced that Salina Central sophomore Katelyn Rupe was named the Kansas Girl’s Gatorade Player Runner of the Year, with St. Thomas Aquinas’ Colby King winning the award earlier this week.
Rupe is coming off a historic debut cross country season, and has the entirety of the state eager to see what she can produce on the track this spring. Last fall, the sophomore collected six wins to complete an undefeated in-state season, where she found herself under seventeen on five different occasions, one of those being a course record at Rim Rock Farm, where she clocked 17:13.84 to win her third overall 5A state title, and break state legend Molly Born’s previous record of 17:32.70. Rupe went on to run at the Nike Heartland Regional in November, where she finished 13th in a loaded field, running 17:43.80 along the way.
Just as we expected, King had arguably one of the greatest seasons in both state and program history. Opening up the season with a PR of 14:50.60, King went on to win four consecutive races, and carry that momentum into the Nike Heartland Regional. King won the KC XC Classic, followed by an EKL, regional, and 5A state title. King won his second overall 5A title in 15:16.59, putting thirty-two seconds between him and the field. In Sioux Falls, King finished 5th in 14:55.50, where he booked his ticket to Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, OR. King finished 23rd at the Glendoveer Golf Course, which was the highest individual male finish by a Kansan since Stuart Mcnutt placed 10th in 2014. King is continuing his career at Iowa State University this fall.
Little Apple🍎 → Down Under🇦🇺
It doesn’t get as much attention as it should, but two weeks ago in Richmond, VA, the 2023 USATF Cross Country Championships came and went as some of the best runners in the nation jockeyed for a free trip down under. What makes this one even more special for Kansas is that our very own Reid Buchanan will be donning the red, white and blue as he’ll represent the United States. Buchanan hails from the Little Apple, but ran collegiately for the University of Kansas, where he was a NCAA Cross Country qualifier. Since turning professional, Buchanan has opted for longer distances, sporting PR’s of 2:11.38 and 1:01.45 in the Marathon and Half-Marathon, per World Athletics. After being the first one off of the team in 2019, Buchanan was unfortunately set to be in the same boat in 2023, but Leonard Korir withdrew his name to focus on his marathon plans, which opened up a spot for a much deserving Buchanan! He’ll join Emmanuel Bor, Andrew Colley, Anthony Rotich, Sam Chelanga, and Dillon Maggard.
The weather outside is frightful❄️
But the times are so delightful. After just a month of indoor competition, some Kansas stars are already shining across the region. At this point I would assume you’re already familiar with Clay Shively’s January times, but if you aren’t, go check out The Lead Pack from last week for a summary (and interview)
Though he took a break last fall to focus on soccer, it seems he’s lost no sense of fitness and is ready to show out this spring. Blue Valley North Trenton Sandler dropped a 4:20.57 1600m at the NW Missouri Youth Open meet at Northwest Missouri State. For someone who hasn’t competed in a distance race since last May (at least I’m not aware of any racing), Sandler has established himself as a 6A contender, along with senior teammate Prabhav Pagadala (4:22.82). The two will continue to work with one another and hope to slip into under 4:20. Gardner-Edgerton junior Parker Walion has also proved he’s put in his miles this winter, after he ran a 4:21.91 mile in the first week of the new year in Pittsburg. All three boys have already made their mark and will each be a force to be reckoned with once they take on a 400m track.
While he hasn’t run a mile yet, three-time 6A champ Wyatt Haughton (Shawnee Mission East) dropped a 1:56.14 at the Jayhawk HS Classic, followed closely by Lansing’s Jackson Steger in 1:58.48. Wichita-Trinity’s Ian Carroll isn’t too shabby himself, with a 2:00.60 to his name as well.
Olathe West duo Charis Robinson and Bree Newport are starting to flex their track legs, with Robinson owning a state lead mile of 5:10.93, which would be a 5:09.13 1600m (PR). She and Newport are also the only two girls under 2:20 for the 800m, with the pair running 2:18.62 and 2:19.88 last month, which shows good signs for two pieces of the state record 4x800m.
Sunflower State Highlights🌻
Cailie Logue, a Girard alum and one of the greatest Kansas high school athletes of all time, ran 4:37.44 last week at the Razorback Invitational, just a second shy of the current Iowa State program record, one that has stood since 1992.
Topeka West senior and the 2022 5A state 4th place finisher Lenny Njoroge recently committed to the University of Kansas, joining Carter Stewart, Bethany Druse, and Maddie Carter as some of the other Kansas seniors that are taking their talents to Lawrence.
USC freshman and 2023 Blue Valley graduate William Jones is quickly making his mark on the West Coast. Last weekend, the Trojan 4x400m posted the second fastest time in the world this season, just one-thousandth of a second behind the University of Florida. If my sources are correct, Jones split a 46.04 as the third leg. He also posted an official 47.15 in the open 400m, which is a PR.
Rock Creek eighth grader and national phenom Aria Pearce has had a stellar indoor season so far, posting times of 7.48 and 24.45 in the 60m and 200m, along with a mark of 18-3 in the long jump. All three are state leads, along with the top marks amongst the nation’s middle schoolers.
Go big or go home I guess⏱
If you aren’t familiar with The Lap Count, it’s a weekly newsletter (and my inspiration for this one) written by former professional runner Kyle Merber. Every week he writes about anything and everything throughout the world of track and field. At one point, in his preparation for his marathon debut, Kyle was writing about his training and as you can imagine, his preparation for the new distance.
Like Kyle was, I’m currently in the point of my life where I’m transitioning from one chapter of running to the next. For him, he was transitioning from being a professional athlete competing for a spot on Team USA. Though I don’t sport PR’s of 1:47, 3:34 and I wasn’t a part of two world record relays, I, too, am in the process of change.
Though I didn’t come close to living up to my expectations and accomplishing the goals or running the times I had set out to do, I had a long(ish) and exciting running career from elementary school to college. I created a lot of memories and long lasting relationships with a lot of people, but by the end of my senior year of college, I was ready to be done, at least for a while. Long story short, I was burnt out. I kept seeing my friends get faster and faster and accomplish their goals, from winning conference titles to qualifying for nationals. There came a point where I was mentally drained and began putting in less enthusiastic work as the weeks went on, seemingly counting down the days until I was walking off of the track for the final time. Nearly eight months later, I regret it. I’m not sure if I regret not putting in extra work, but I regret giving up on myself and my aspirations, but like I said, I needed a break.
And that’s exactly what I got. A much needed and well-deserved break from training. After the last race of my collegiate career, I didn’t even cool down. I opted for a hot dog and a Dr Pepper instead and began my post-collegiate athlete life. I’ve run a total of twenty-five times since that day, and a lot of those runs were three miles or less. It seems that very inconsistent training and lack of exercise will lead to terrible fitness. It finally hit me that I needed something to motivate me, or at least something to pull me back into shape.
I had been thinking for a couple of weeks what I could and should do to get back into some kind of shape, mulling over the idea of signing up for a summer 5k or maybe a triathlon. But after weeks of watching Cody Trains, a youtuber I like who has been training for an Ironman, I thought to myself “why not me?” Don’t worry though! I’m not running an Ironman, that would be incredibly rash and a lofty goal.
So I settled for half of that.
This fall, I’ve committed myself to run an Ironman 70.3 to will myself back into shape and put myself way out of my comfort zone. It’s going to suck, and the road to proper fitness is going to kick my *expletive* . I thought this would be a unique and interesting way to incorporate new content into The Lead Pack, and hopefully entertain some of you with a story of a former mediocre NAIA runner to someone trying to finish 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of cycling and a half-marathon, all without stopping or any idea of what he’s doing. If you’re someone who could care less about this and is only here for the track & field content, I respect your honesty, but at least try giving it a read.
As of now, I’m into my first full week of training and I regret ever stopping running, cause this climb back to fitness is going to suck. From here until the fall, or whenever the date of my race is, I’ll be recapping the previous week of training and giving insight on different tools and methods that either helped or hurt me along the way. ‘Till next week.
Thank you for reading and supporting this! If you aren’t already, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and let any track & field fan know about this so they can stay up to date on Kansas athletics! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to reach out to us through our email ksxcountrytandf@gmail.com
Great read, track is back