WICHITA -- Tanner Newkirk didn't need a victory in the Class 4A 800 to cement his performance at this year's State Outdoor Track and Field Championships as one of the best ever by a distance runner in state history.

In fact, the Hayden standout wasn't even sure he had enough stamina left to make a serious challenge for the title in his final event of his high school career. At the same time ...

"You've got one more race left," Newkirk said, "And there's really nothing to lose."

So Newkirk went for broke. And when he crossed the finish line with his third gold medal of the state meet, it was merely a unexpected and highly satisfying finish to his career. Newkirk swept the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 4A titles, setting meet records in two of his three victories.

"I was definitely tired," Newkirk said of his physical, and mental, state going into the 800. "But when you get out there, the adrenaline kicks in. I knew the distance combo was going to be a really special thing that added to my legacy. I really wanted to go get it. ... Last race, give it all you've got. You always want to end it on a win, not a loss."

Newkirk's legacy at the state track meet prior to this weekend's performance was one of mixed results. After a strong showing as a freshman in 2019 when he finished runner-up in the 4A 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600, his sophomore and junior seasons were lost ones -- the 2020 season canceled for COVID and last year's meet wiped out by a hip injury after he had qualified in the three distance events.

Finally healthy as a senior, Newkirk has spent his senior season re-writing Hayden's record book and moving his way up the state's all-time list.. He turned in a time of 9 minutes, 9.76 seconds in the 3,200 early in the season that ranked 18th all-time in state history and came back later in the season with a 4:10.88 in the 1,600 that ranks No. 16 all-time.

But to make his season, and career, complete, Newkirk went to Wichita feeling he still had something to prove.

"In my career before this year, there was just something missing," he said. "Just one state title (in cross country), no track titles. I just wanted to come out here and show people what I'm made up. I've been on a really good roll this year and I wanted to end this track season with a bang."

That he did.

Newkirk started things off with arguably the biggest bang he possibly could come up with in Friday's 3,200 race. He quickly separated himself from a strong field that included defending 4A champion Sawyer Schmidt of Augusta and standout Tanner Lindahl of Buhler.

Not only did Newkirk get his first state track title with an impressive 34-plus second win, his time of 8:58.88 was the fastest ever run at the state meet, obliterating the 4A meet record of 9:25.19 set by Spring Hill's Dylan Brenneman in 2016 and besting the overall state-meet mark of 9:05.39 set by St. Thomas Aquinas' Thomas Hazen last season.

Only four other runners in state history -- Shawnee Mission South's Brett Steiner (8:43.59), Wichita East's Randy Smith (8:54.4), Washington County's Dylan Hodgson (8:56.34) and SM South's Reed Eichner (8:57.6) -- have ever gone faster.

"Sub-nine was the goal, 100%," Newkirk said. "I wasn't worried about the competition because I knew if I could get that, I was going to win. It was perfect weather, no better opportunity. I was feeling great so I just went out and ran hard. This is my race, and this year I haven't been contested in it. But I wanted to be in the sub-9 club so badly."
 

After Friday's opener, the question was, what did Newkirk have for an encore. Well, he answered that right away.

Facing the same cast of top challengers in the 1,600, Newkirk once again left them far in his wake. While he didn't quite match his season-best 4:10, his 4:12.25 was more than enough to deliver him his second title and second state record. He topped Schmidt, the defending champ in that event as well, by more than 13 seconds and smashed the previous 4A meet record of 4:16.34 set by De Soto's Travis Hodge in 2016.

"I'm happy I got it, but until about the last 50 meters I wasn't really thinking about it," Newkirk said of the record. "I thought I was on a 4:20 pace."

At that point, Newkirk wasn't sure how much he had left in the tank for his 800 battle with Schmidt -- his future teammate at the University of Kansas -- and Newkirk was content in just seeing how the race played out, win or lose. But after a relatively mild pace on the first lap had him just ahead of Schmidt, the juices kicked in and so did he.

Newkirk steadily pulled away over a quick final 400 and won by nearly four seconds in a season-best 1:55.00, about 2 seconds off Hodge's state meet record of 1:53.06.

"I kind of wanted the 1:54.99, but I'll take it," he said. "It was a really fast second lap and I was happy I could come away with (the win). I'm more relieved than anything."

One of two runners to sweep the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 titles this season along with Southeast of Saline's Dylan Sprecker, Newkirk's legacy is firmly in tact and no longer missing anything.
 

ANDOVER'S KLEIN STRIKES TRIPLE GOLD IN 5A

A multi-sport standout throughout his career at Andover, Tayton Klein's athletic versatility is obvious.

When it comes to track and field, that versatility made Klein a high-level recruit as a future decathlete -- that future happening at the University of Kansas. His multi-event future made deciding what events to concentrate on as a senior a bit of a challenge with plenty of possibilities.

Safe to say, Klein picked the right ones.

After posting three top-six finishes at the state meet as a junior, Klein walked away from the 2022 meet with three gold medals, winning the Class 5A long jump, 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. He also posted a third-place finish in the 100.

"I met all my goals, did exactly what I wanted to do," Klein said. "I knew I had what it took to win three events."

The one given for Klein coming into this season is that he would defend his 2021 state championship in the long jump. He entered the state meet with the top mark in the state this season at 23 feet, 10 inches, but also faced one of the deepest fields of arguably any event in Wichita with eight of the state's top 15 jumpers in 5A this year.

Klein was up to the challenge, however. He opened with a jump of 22-10 that turned out to be good enough to win the title, but spent the rest of the competition improving on that mark, topping out at 24 feet, 1.75 inches on his final attempt to beat St. Thomas Aquinas' Preston May by nearly three feet for the title.

"I was excited to have some competition because I've been competing against the same guys all the time around this area and I didn't have much competition around here," Klein said. "My goal for the season was to break 24 in the long jump and I accomplished that right when it mattered. I've been right there, but those two inches just felt amazing. Having them push me even further helped me achieve that."



The sweep of the hurdles titles, however, was perhaps a bit unforeseen going into the season. Even though he's run them throughout his career, Klein didn't really start focusing on them until midway through the season. His state races were just the fifth time he'd run the 110 hurdles this spring and only the third time he'd run the 300 hurdles.

Klein performed like a seasoned vet at state. He was the only 5A runner to go under 15 seconds in the 110s, winning in 14.87 seconds, .18 ahead of Spring Hill's Collin Rooney. He came back to top Rooney again for the crown in the 300s, winning by a second and a half in 38.23 seconds.

"I wasn't neccesarily confident I would win, but I was confident in my ability and my athleticism that I knew I could take care of it," he said. "Having the speed from the sprints, like the 100 and 200 I've been running, being able to apply that into the hurdles just set me apart.

In between his hurdles titles, Klein finished third in the 100. His time of 10.66 was a personal best and was just .09 seconds behind champion and rival Bryce Cohoon of Maize (10.57) with Klein just edged by Piper's Divante Herrig-Brittian in a photo finish for second (10.657 to 10.659).
 

CHANUTE'S CHARD FIGHTS THROUGH INJURY SCARE FOR FOUR 4A GOLDS

A triple-gold winner in Class 4A at the 2021 state meet, Chanute's Rawley Chard has had designs all season on turning the lone silver he won a year ago into a gold this season.

And with the top times in 4A in two of his three invidual events as well as with the Blue Comets' 400 relay, the prospects for Chard accomplishing that looked pretty darn good.

Then with the postseason drawing near, Chard tweaked his left hamstring, forcing him to miss the Southeast Kansas League meet.

"I was concerned for sure," Chard said. "But I thought I could power through it and get it done."

Even though it came in somewhat unconventional styles, Chard delivered on that belief. After saving himself a bit during Friday's preliminary rounds, Chard flashed his best stuff on Saturday, sweeping the 4A sprint titles with individual wins in the 100, 200 and 400 and anchoring the Blue Comet 400 relay to gold.

"I knew I was capable of doing it, but I think I did surprise myself that I actually pulled through and did it," Chard said. "I was really pushing for those four golds this year."

A state champion in the 200 and on Chanute's 400 and 1,600 relays, Chard opted not to push his hamstring too much during preliminaries, at the same time doing enough to ensure a spot in the finals. He qualified sixth in the 400, fourth in the 200 and second with the 400 relay on Friday and then began Saturday's quest by qualifying sixth in the 100.

"Yesterday was just about making finals, which is what I did," he said. "Obviously, I was in lanes I wasn't used to and that was a lot different. But it worked out pretty well."

Indeed, it did. Once the finals began on Saturday, Chard flipped the switch.

Running in lane 7 in the 100, Chard charged hard on the outside and just edged the field in a tight race that saw the top-seven finishers separated by just .2 seconds. Chard won in 10.68, just .06 ahead of Iola's Brett Willis.

After leading the Blue Comets to a half-second win in the 400 relay in 43.04, Chard was in lane 7 for the 400 as well. Once again, it proved to be a lucky lane as he just out-leaned Bishop Miege's PJ McCallop, winning by .01 seconds in 49.32.

"I was really looking just to get top five for some points," Chard said of the 400, an event he finished runner-up in last season.

With three golds in hand, Chard wasn't going to be denied his four-gold quest in the 200. He once again got a battle, but once again came out of top, winning by .04 seconds over Abilene's Lucas DeDonder in 23.11 from lane 6.

"I knew the 100 was going to be tough because the times were all very close," Chard said. "(In the 400), I saw them coming up on me and I was getting worried, but I knew I had to push through it. Once I got that one, I had to (win the 200)."

Chard's efforts helped Chanute to a runner-up finish in the 4A team race as the Blue Comets finished with 71 points to finish behind Andale (101). The individual and team results made Chard's performance even more satistying.

"It hurt bad, but throughout the day the stretching just made it feel a lot better," he said. "I just knew it was my last track meet and I had to go all out, pain or not. "
 

PARRISH BROTHERS PLAY 'TOP THAT!' IN LEADING OLATHE NORTH TO 6A TITLE

By all accounts, Jason Parrish enjoyed himself a productive Class 6A state meet for Olathe North.

The Eagle junior captured the Class 6A state title in the 300 hurdles, helped North's 1,600 relay to a third-place finish and also added an eighth in the 110 hurdles.

As good of a meet as it was, Parrish didn't return home with bragging rights in his own family. That just goes with being one of the Parrish brothers.

"There's a big rivalry between us, but it's a fun one being brothers," Jason Parrish said of himself, twin brother Josh and older brother Jacob. "We compete against each other in practice every day and push each other to bring out the best in ourselves. ... We just go at it every day."

The Parrish brothers certainly brought out the best in each other at this year's state meet. Coming into the meet with zero gold medals in their careers thus far, they came home with a collective five golds this year as well as five other medals of varying places.

In addition to Jason's win in the 300 hurdles, twin brother Josh brought home golds in the 110 hurdles and long jump. Jacob, meanwhile, finished his career with golds in the 100 and 200. Their haul easily led North to the Class 6A team title as the Eagles scored 112 points to double up runner-up Shawnee Mission East.

"It was exciting," Josh Parrish said. "All three of us were trying to get gold medals and we did. And we were able to win the state track meet. Everything about it was a dream. We had the same dream (last) year, but we didn't make it. Today, we all got it done."
 

Josh got the family mojo started for the brothers on Friday, opening the meet with his long jump title. He and teammate Paul Rowden have gone back and forth in the event all season with Josh leading Class 6A this year with a best of 23-8.75 but Rowden winning the regional title while Josh took second, 

At state, only one inch separated the two with Josh going 22-1.5 on his second jump of the day and surviving Rowden's late bid that saw him go 22-0.5 on the first jump of finals.

"I was mad I didn't win regionals, so I let it keep pushing me," Josh said. "Me and Rowden go back and forth and always push each other."

Both Josh and Jason specialize in the hurdles, further fueling their sibling rivalry. And they both acknowledge their fortes -- Josh in the 110s and Jason in the 300s. But that doesn't stop them from trying to one-up each other which led to a heck of a battle in the 300s.

After Josh won the 110 title by almost a full second in 14.40 -- Jason eighth in 17.10 -- he darn near made it a triple crown day by knocking off Jason in the 300s. But Jason held him off, barely, winning by .36 seconds in 38.96, finally getting his own gold.

"For the hurdles, he's better than me in the 110s, but I still try to beat him whenver I can," Jason said. "In the 300, I'm better but we still go at it all the time. There was a lot of pressure but I knew if I could go out and do what I do every time, I could get the gold medal for my team."
 

In between the hurdle sweeps by his younger brothers, Jacob Parrish finally got the golds that had eluded him throughout his high school career.

Owning just the sixth-best 100 time in 6A this season, he qualified third and then knocked off rivals Alonzo Morgan of Blue Valley North, Matheus Madeiras-Bontempos of Olathe South and 6A leader Caquoy Patterson of Wichita East for the title, winning in 10.47 seconds to beat Patterson by .08 seconds, Morgan by .10 and Madeiras-Bontempos by .15.

It was a career-best time for Jacob. And yet it might not have been his best win of the day.

In adding the 200 title, Jacob knocked off Blue Valley's William Jones, who earlier this spring posted the fourth-fastest 200 time in Kansas history with a 21.00. This day, however, belonged to the Parrishes and Jacob pulled out a win by .03 seconds with a 22.47.

"I'm not ever going to go into a race and think I'm going to lose," Jacob said. "He's a great, great athlete and I like running against him. He pushes me a lot. It was the hardest race I've ever had. It was my last race, so I gave it my all."

With so much hardware, the question begged to be asked. Who had the best win of the weekend?

"Oh me for sure," Jacob said.

"I think I did and they'd probably say me too," Josh said. "My twin will, I think."

So, Jason. Who gets the nod?

"I would say Josh," Jason said. "That's my twin brother, right there. I got him."

Josh and Jacob both also helped North to a runner-up finish in the 400 relay and Jason was on North's third-place 1,600 relay that closed the meet.

With Jacob heading off to Kansas State to play football next year, it will be up to Jason and Josh to maintain the performances that produced a T-shirt the brothers were sporting that read "Keep calm and let Parrish handle it."

"He's going to be greatly missed from this team and our family, but we have to keep striding out and putting our best efforts in to win another championship next year," Jason said.

Which Jacob doesn't doubt will happen.

"I love watching my brothers succeed," he said. "I'm not going to lie, they might be better athletes than me. If they keep working hard, they've got a bright future."

 

TEAMMATES FOR LIFE, SPRECKER, POAGUE CARRY SOUTHEAST OF SALINE TO 3A TITLE REPEAT

Ever since they met in kindergarten, something has clicked between Dylan Sprecker and Chase Poague.

"Best friends ever since then," Sprecker said.

Their life-long friendship carried over onto the track and the past two seasons, they've led Southeast of Saline to new heights. After combining to win four individual golds and a relay gold and carry the Trojans to the Class 3A team championship last season, the duo finished their high school career together Saturday with a combined five individual state golds as Southeast won a second straight championship.

"Going into high school we both decided we were putting our hearts and soul into this," Sprecker said. "We wanted to do great things."

The fact that they did is no surprise to Poague.

"Being around each other is awesome," he said. "He's pushed me to be my best in football and pushed me to be my best in track. He's the greatest teammate I've ever had."

Both burst onto the scene a year ago as juniors with Poague emerging as one of the top hurdlers in the state and Sprecker one of the top distance runners. Poague swept 3A titles in the 110s and 300 hurdles in 2021, while Sprecker swept individual titles in the 800 and 1,600 and anchored the Trojans' winning 3,200 relay.

Neither deviated from that golden path this season, though Sprecker's took a bit of a twist. Having run on the 3,200 relay with a pair of last year's seniors he had looked up to throughout his career, he instead chose this season to go for the distance triple adding the 3,200 to his state repertoire.

"It was a goal," he said. "I did the 4x8 last year for a couple seniors who really inspired me so I wanted to finish my season with them. This year, I could go out and even if I didn't win the triple I could put up 28 or so points in those events and help my team win a state title."

Sprecker had no trouble accomplishing the first leg of the triple crown, topping Wichita Collegiate's CJ Meyer by nearly three seconds for the win in 9:39.81. He also didn't get pushed too hard in the 800, winning by two and a half seconds over Wichita Trinity Academy's Clay Shively in 1:58.37.

In between those titles came the big challenge. Earlier this season at the Shawnee Mission North Relays, Shively had posted the state's fastest time in the 1,600 -- No. 12 all-time -- with a blazing 4:10.08. It certainly caught Sprecker's attention with his season best a very solid 4:15.72.

"I'm not going to lie, it's kept me up at nights thinking about that race," Sprecker said. "When he ran a 4:10 at the North Relays, I don't mess with the guy. But I saw that and said, 'OK, here's the standard.' If I'm in a race with him, I needed to make sure it's a dog fight and I can come out on top mentally."
 

A dogfight it was with Shively and Sprecker running shoulder for shoulder for the first three laps. In a position he didn't necessarily expect himself to be in at that point, Sprecker made it a point to capitalize. He charged out to the lead and steadily pulled away to win by just more than two seconds in 4:14.88.

"I knew that last 800 is where the fight would happen," he said. "With 600 meters, I was surprised I was right there with him. At that point, I told myself, 'I'm doing this.' We came around the bell lap and I knew I had a fast 400 and it was just mental toughness to gut out that race."

Accomplishing the distance triple -- something only Hayden's Tanner Newkirk in 4A also did -- meant plenty to Sprecker.

"Going into this weekend I was really nervous because it's a big task, especially when you have great opponents," he said. "But I always pride myself and tell my team, it's all your mentality. If you go in and say. 'I'm going to run a state record,' or 'I'm going to win a dogfight with these guys' that's what you're going to do. It's all about having the right frame of mind."

Poague fed off Sprecker's mentality throughout his career and became a four-time hurdles champion in the process. After sweeping the 110s and 300s last year, he duplicated the feat this season.

Poague fought off Marysville's Sander Zutterman to win the 110s in 14.71, .27 ahead of Zutterman. In the 300s, he survived a challenge from Silver Lake's Carson Johnson, winning by .40 seconds in 40.83.

"This year I pushed hard and I'm happy I got another two under my belt," he said. "I had a target on my back most of the year. I was really pushing myself to get PRs and school records. As soon as I got those records, it went downhill a bit. Then state revamped and I got back in my groove."

While the Trojan duo spent Saturday savoring their final high school track meet together, they also relished the fact that their time together isn't over. Both have signed to run track and field at Pittsburg State.

"Four more years together? I'll take it," Poague said. "That's just four more years of him pushing me to be my best."