Predicting greatness for young athletes is always a precarious challenge.

One never really knows what the talent of a young athlete will blossom into years later.

When Lesha Wood ran middle school sprints for a physical fitness test and then broke a school record in the 880-yard run during a summer AAU meet, there was no expectation of the records that would not only follow her, but also her two younger sisters – Joy and Jill.

This story begins sometime in the mid-1970s in the southwest Kansas community of Ulysses, population about 6,000.

The narrative of the Wood sisters, at least for their high school careers, ends in the spring of 1986 when Jill, carrying the torch (or baton) of her older siblings, walked off the track at Wichita State's Cessna Stadium with her seventh track and field gold medal in the two longest distances races (1600/3200).

From 1978 to 1986, Class 4A cross country and distance track races belonged to the Wood sisters. In the process, the Tigers cross country and track programs flourished with four cross country titles in 4A (1979 to 1982) and one in track (1980).

"I just went out to run and to run as fast as I could," said Lesha, the oldest of the trio of sisters who first claimed for herself a Class 3A state mile championship (1978) in her sophomore year.

In her freshman year of 1976-1977, there was no cross-country team for the Lady Tigers. In track, she competed in only the 880-yard run, placing sixth in Class 3A. Her sophomore season, she ran as the No. 5 runner on the boys' cross country team and then took fourth in the Class 3A 880-yard run in 1978 while also claiming her first gold medal in the mile run (5:10.8). That came a year before American standards of yards were converted to the metric system.

It was in her junior year, however, that Lesha blossomed into a dominant runner.  She captured a pair of Class 4A cross country individual gold medals (1978-1979), never losing a fall meet in the regular season, regional or state over those two seasons. Lesha added consecutive 1,600- and 3,200-meter championships in Class 4A track and field (1979-1980), although she doesn't clearly recall if she ever lost a race on the track in those three seasons.


"I don't think too much about it these days," says Lesha, today a middle school librarian in Firestone, Colo. "It's a long time ago and it is just something I did, that we all did, and I don't think we ever thought it was something special at the time. We just ran, and wanted to win – and to run again and to win again."

Lesha, though, is just the beginning of this story.

In her senior year of 1979-1980, her younger sister, Joy, became a member of the Lady Tigers' cross country team. In that 1979 fall season, the Lady Tigers never lost a meet, it was Lesha and freshman Joy who ran first, and second, at the state cross country meet to power the team to its first state championship.

"I always preferred cross country the most," said Lesha, who eventually went on to an All-American career at Emporia State University. "I think we just enjoyed the success, and for me I didn't like track as much because you're just running around and around."

That 1-2 finish at the state cross country was the first of two opportunities for two of the Wood sisters to run together, and place first and second at the state cross country championship.

The 1982 state meet provided then senior Joy a once-in-a-lifetime chance to run with her freshman sister, Jill, and the pair battled to a memorable finish, with Joy winning by one second (11:49 to 11:50).

"All I remember about the race is that mom (Sharon) was a nervous wreck about the possibility of the younger one beating the older one," said Joy, the one who had the opportunity to be both the freshman understudy and the senior mentor. "I don't think we ever really thought too much about that. We just kind of went out there to run and see how we would do."

Even though Title IX had been legislated in 1972, the three sisters were unaware in those teenage years of just how important a role that law played in making sports available to them and other young girls and women at the collegiate level.

"When I was in middle school and Lesha was running high school, I just knew that running was in our blood," said Joy, whose accomplishments included three 4A cross country crowns (after running second to Lesha in 1979 by 29.6 seconds) in 1980-1981-1982. Additionally, she would add a pair of 4A track titles in each of the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs in 1981 and 1982. She had also been second to Lesha in the 3,200-meters her freshman season of 1980.

Joy's four-year cross country record also included never having lost a team cross country meet – regular or postseason.

"When I was in the fourth and fifth grade, I was beating all the boys in the physical education class tests," Joy recalled. "The 400 and 600 seemed like long races at the time. Lesha was running with the boys when I was in middle school so I don't believe any of us thought it was anything special. We just ran."

Joy also credited the team's depth to the success, which also included the Mendoza sisters. In 1979, Mirta Mendoza placed seventh at state after the 1-2 finish of Lesha and Joy. In 1980, Mirta finished third behind Joy's first individual title. The second Mendoza sister, Olda, ran seventh in 1981 when Joy repeated her championship and then Olda took eighth in 1982 behind the 1-2 finish of Joy and Jill.

   "They were all one of our top five runners," Joy said of the Mendoza sisters. "They could have won a number of meets without my score. We certainly would not have won all the meets with the Mendoza sisters. They were really outstanding runners."
   When the 1982 cross country season ended with her third state individual title, Joy made the decision not to compete in the spring of 1983 in track for her final senior campaign.

   "There was just a lot of pressure and it was more than what I wanted to deal with that last year," Joy recalled. "Jill and I had some great races in cross country and I just wanted to have that memory of finishing first and second."
   In that one-second difference at the state cross country championship, Joy said she did not realize how close Jill was until she crossed the finish line.

   "I could hear her steps because I think I had a bigger lead until right at the end," Joy recalled. "I knew how she felt because it was that way for me when I finished second to Lesha three years earlier."

   Joy's decision to forego her senior year of track opened the door for Jill to carry the family banner.

   "I respected her decision and I think she enjoyed cross country because it's more of a team sport where track is more individual," Jill said about Joy's announcement before the track season started. "It was certainly strange not to have her running that year because that's all I knew from cross country."

   Jill did so in brilliant fashion, becoming the first girl in Kansas history to win the 3,200-meters four consecutive years (1983-1984-1985-1986) while also claiming three 1,600-meter titles. Her only loss came in the 1,600 her junior year to Andale's Karla Spexarth.  In a twist of irony, Jill finished ahead of Spexarth, who was third, in the 1985 state cross country the fall after losing to Spexarth the previous spring in the 1600.

   "I loved running so much back then," Jill reflected. "I think cross country stressed my mom more than it did us. She was concerned the younger one might beat the older one. I do not think we thought too much about that. We just went out to run our best race."

   Jill recalled just how close that 1982 cross country race was.

   "I was close to her at the finish," Jill said of that one-second difference. "You know, it was probably just a few steps. I think we were excited to have finished first and second after what Lesha and Joy had done before."
   All three sisters said that as teenagers they never got into the Title IX issues that brought athletics to girls and women.

   "I think since we had begun running track in middle school, we just thought it was normal," Lesha said. "I know in my freshman year I had no idea what cross country was, and then running with the boys my sophomore year was the only option I had since we didn't have a girls' team. I probably began to understand what Title IX was in college and after."

While the similarities in cross country and track are evident, the life and career choices of the three have taken three distinctly dissimilar paths.

Lesha attended Emporia State University where she became a seven-time All-American in both cross country and track. Her team was a NAIA national runner-up in cross country in 1980 and she is a member of the ESU Hall of Fame.

She earned a bachelor's degree in education and began a lifelong career in teaching. After 14 years serving as an elementary librarian, Lesha earned her Masters of Library Science from ESU and is now a middle school librarian in Firestone, Colo. She and her husband, Terry Baker, moved to Longmont, Colo. in 1988 and she has two grown stepsons and two sons. Her husband had played football at Sedgwick High School in south central Kansas.

When asked about the accomplishments of her and her sisters, Lesha simply stated, "I rarely think about it these days. It is hard to sit back and look at it objectively. I think when you're in the moment, you don't think about it from a historical perspective."

Joy simply hung up the running shoes after her senior year in cross country. Her high school career came to a close and there was never consideration of running in college. She says she has no regrets.

"I really never felt comfortable being in the spotlight," Joy said. "It was just not something I liked. I think that had a lot to do with my decision because of the expectations of others."

She married that August, just two months after high school graduation. She and her husband, Don Wilbourn, have two grown children.

After moving first from Ulysses to Westcliffe, Colo., they moved in 2021 to Gravois Mills, Mo., located in the central section of the state, where they operate an RV park and have rental properties.

Jill (Zablocki) now resides in Issaquah, Wash., a city east of Seattle.

Upon graduation from Ulysses High in 1986, she received an appointment to attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. There, she ran cross country for the Falcons where she was a three-time All-American, a national individual runner-up in 1988 and 1989 and was on the national team runner-up the same two years.

Upon completion of her Air Force Academy while earning a bachelor's degree, she spent five years of active duty with half of that time in San Antonio, Texas and the other half in Japan. When she left active duty she had achieved the rank of Captain. She joined the reserves and spent some of that time in Korea, earning the rank of Major.

She then attended graduate school, receiving a Master's degree in Psychology and Human Development from Colorado State University and now is working on her PhD. in Literacy Education.

Moving has been an everyday part of her adult life.

"I lived in one house all through high school," she said. "Since then, I've lived in 12 cities, seven states, three countries and 21 apartments."

Jill and her husband, Curtis, whom she met while in the Air Force, have two children – Owen, 18, and Dexter, 16. The older is a swimmer and the younger is a pole vaulter. No long distance running for the boys, however.
Her husband is an airline pilot and for a few years they did long distance with Jill living in Utah. They have resided in Washington nearly full time for the past nine years.

What are the memories that remain clear after more than three decades?

"The races vs. Joy are the ones I think about most," Jill said. "Karla beating me (Andale's Spexarth). She ended up marrying one of my high school classmates and we had become good friends. My mom was at every race. She would get to a (cross country) course, would walk around to see where she could watch the most and then she'd run herself from one location to another just to see  us run for a few seconds and then be at the finish line."

When Jill was a senior, the Kansas House of Representatives drafted a resolution to honor her and her two sisters for their accomplishments. Sports Illustrated had a picture of Jill in its Faces in the Crowd section to highlight the three sister's accomplishments.

With one living in Missouri, another in Colorado and the third in Washington state, there have not been many opportunities for family gatherings.

Lesha said it had been three or four years since the siblings were together, with her and Joy traveling to Washington to visit Jill.

"We're doing some zoom phone calls these days with our parents," Lesha said. The family schedules these 45-minute calls once a month, said the sisters' mom, since the three sisters each live in a different time zone.
The Parents

Keith and Sharon Wood still reside in Ulysses. Neither parent excelled in track so the talent developed by the three sisters is their own while crediting their coaches and the support of their teammates, the mother says.
"They had some great coaches (Dan Cutting in Cross Country) and they had really good teammates, too," Sharon said.

Keith recalled the first year of Lesha running, and losing a race to another runner from southwest Kansas.

"She learned from that race and then just kept getting better and running faster," Keith said of his oldest. "We didn't push the girls. They all enjoyed running and we just supported them the best we could."
Historical Perspective

Their 24 state championships – eight consecutive years of 4A cross country (1978 to 1985) and 16 state titles in track (1-Mile run; 7-1,600s; 8-3,200s) – have only one peer.

Amy and Erin Mortimer of Riley County High School (Class 3A) won seven consecutive state cross-country titles from 1995 to 2001. In 1998, when Amy was a senior and Erin a freshman, the younger Mortimer finished fourth at the state cross-country.

Those two sisters claimed 17 track titles (Amy with 9, Erin with 8) in races ranging from the 800 to the 3,200.

What separates these two families is up for debate.

However, what distinguishes the Wood sisters is the fact that not once, but twice, the younger freshman sister finished second in the state cross-country championship to their senior sibling. In addition, it happened again in track.

The one season of cross country for Lesha and Joy saw the siblings run 1-2 at every single meet through the regular season, regionals and state. That accomplishment was duplicated by Joy and Jill three years later. In Joy's sophomore cross country season of 1980, as the only Wood sister running at the time, she didn't win all of her regular season meets.

Lesha and Joy did not recall if they ran 1-2 in all of the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races in the 1980 track season. With Joy opting out of track her senior year, there was not an opportunity for that accomplishment to be duplicated.

When looking at the best times of the three, one clearly sees how similar they were and how difficult it would be to choose one over the other two. None of the three would say who might have been the best. Let history state that all three were gifted runners.
In cross-country state meets (all at Wamego Country Club), Lesha's fastest time was 11:25.4. Joy ran an 11:36.0 for her fastest while Jill's best mark was 11:30.0.

On the track, Lesha ran a 5:10.8 mile that converts to a 5:08.9 1600-meters mark. Joy clocked a 5:13.5 for her best 1,600 at state while Jill posted the fastest at 5:06.02 in her senior year. In the 3,200-meters, the times were 11:15.7 (Lesha), 11:22.9 (Joy) and 11:06.0 (Jill).

All the distances were the same for the three sisters. Cross country all at the same layout. However, there are three different years, three different weather conditions and three different sets of competitors.

Just consider that all three, individually and collectively, set a standard that stands above the crowd in Kansas high school girls cross country and track.


Championship History of the Wood Sisters
Lesha, 7: (1977-1978, 1978-1979, 1979-1980)
Cross Country: Class 4A, 1979-1980
Track & Field: 1-Mile (1978 Class 3A); 1600 and 3200 in Class 4A, 1979-1980)
Joy, 7: (1979-1980, 1980-1981, 1981-1982, 1982 Fall)
Cross Country: Class 4A, 1980-1981-1982
Track & Field: Class 4A, 1600 and 3200 meters (1981-1982)
Runner-up to Lesha in 1979 Class 4A Cross Country; Runner-up in 1980, Class 4A 1600 and 3200 to Lesha
Team won 4 consecutive state titles in her 4 years (1979-1980-1981-1982); Team never lost a Cross Country meet in her 4 years. She finished second to Lesha in every cross country meet her freshman year.
Jill, 10 (1982-1983, 1983-1984, 1984-1985, 1985-1986)
Cross Country, 3: Class 4A, 1983-1984-1985
Track & Field, 7: Class 4A, 1600 (1983, 1984, 1986), 3200 (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)
Runner-up to Joy in 1982 Class 4A Cross Country; Finished second in every cross country race to Joy in her freshman season. Only state race she did not win in final three years was Class 4A 1600-meters her junior year.
Too Close to Call
Here are the fastest times posted by each of the three Wood sisters at the Class 4A state cross country meet at Wamego, and the state track meet at Wichita: All cross country races were at Wamego Country Club and all track races were at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.
Cross Country
Lesha (11:25.4)
Joy (11:36.0)
Jill (11:30.0)
Track & Field
1600-meters
Lesha (5:10.8, Mile; converts to 5:08.9 1600-meters)
Joy (5:13.5)
Jill (5:06.02)
3200-meters
Lesha (11:15.7)
Joy (11:22.9)
Jill (11:06.0)
 
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