When Steve Fritz looked at the make up of this year's Wamego track and field team and looked at the Red Raiders' school record boards, he strongly believed some had a chance to be broken this spring.
 
In no way, however, could Fritz ever have imagined the onslaught his team would take on that record board.
 
"You start the season and it's like, 'These records, we were close to a couple of them last year,'" Fritz said. "I looked at it ahead of time and I thought we might have a shot at six, seven, eight of them. And that sounded really absurd."
 
The way the Red Raiders have picked them off in recent weeks, however, it sounds more prophetic. Over Wamego's last four meets – Jefferson West, Abilene, Seaman Relays and Wamego – the team has broken a whopping eight school records.
 
What's more, those records have come from seven different athletes. Senior Brady Stegman and junior Harrison Cutting have had a hand in three of the six records from the boys team, while seniors Mason Herzog and Emery Wolfe have been involved with two.
 
"It's quite the situation and it doesn't come around very often," Fritz said. "A good year, you might get one or two records broken. But this is a special group. That boys group is senior-dominated for the most part and you knew that that group was going to be good. And on the girls side, we've got some talented young athletes.
 
"To have eight records … I told the kids, 'Enjoy it.' Because this just doesn't happen."
 
Wamego's history in track and field is a rich one and a large number of the school records coming into the season have stood for multiple decades. Eight of the boys 18 school records coming into the season were set before 2000, while six of the girls came before 2000.
 
Yet those long-standing marks have fallen quickly over the past month.
 
Sophomore Isabella Wilber got Wamego's record assault going three weeks ago at the Jefferson West Invitational when she took down a 37-year-old record in the girls' 400, running. 1:00.21 to top the old mark of 1:00.6 set by Karlene Lindenmuth in 1987.
 
Later in the week at the Abilene Invitational, Stegman broke the 23-year-old boys record in the 3,200 with his time of 9:38.70 topping the old mark of 9:46.2 set by Kyle Doperalski in 2000. In closing the Abilene meet, the foursome of Herzog, Wolfe, Harrison Cutting and Jonny Cutting set a new school record in the 1,600 relay with a time of 3:25.79 to eclipse the old mark of 3:25.94 from 2019.
 
After its three-record week, the Red Raiders matched that performance at the Seaman Relays with Harrison Cutting having a hand in all three. Cutting took down the second-oldest record for either program in the 800, running a 1:56.81 to cut nearly two seconds off Loren Riblett's record from 1978 of 1:58.8.
 
Cutting then teamed with Herzog, Stegman and Wolfe to break the 3,200 relay record with a 7:56.40, more than three seconds better than the record of 7:59.70 from 2021. The 1,600 relay foursome also broke their own record by .04 seconds with a 3:25.75.
 
At last week's Wamego Invitational, Stegman added his second individual school record in the 1,600 with a 4:23.07, beating the 41-year-old mark of 4:24.4 from Chris Barnes in 1982. Freshman Liz Adams got in on the fun as well, breaking the girls' 800 record with a 2:19.18, almost three seconds faster than Allison Seufert's record of 2:21.1 from 2015.
 
"They do feed off each other," Fritz said. "Just the excitement of it. Track sometimes it's hard to be excited about different things. You see teammates go set a record, and then we have enough kids that run similar events that they can push each other."
 
Here's the amazing thing. Fritz doesn't think his team is done.
 
Wilber is closing in on two more records for her collection. She's jumped 17-3.5 in the long jump multiple times, leaving her just off the mark of 17-4.25 set by Lindsey Lippert in 2007. Her best in the 200 of 26.13 is just off the 25.6 run by Jenny McDonald in 1998.
 
Jonny Cutting is within range of the boys' 400 record with his best of 49.75 less than a half second from the 49.30 run by Brigham Diederich in 2005.
 
"If we get the right conditions and the right competition, they're there," Fritz said. "I think we can make a run at those and lower some other records, too."
 
A former Kansas State All-American and Olympian in the decathlon, Fritz has a background of exceeding at the highest level. But he is quick to deflect the credit for this year's amazing record haul.
 
"I just have to stay out of the way and not screw them up," he said. We've got a great coaching staff. Coach (Rick) Patton's been around here forever and has done an amazing job. Coach (Jon) Klein, Coach (Carl) Behrens, too. We've got a lot of knowledge on this staff.
 
"You can plan as much as you want, but it's never an exact science. All you're trying to do is put them in the best position possible and give them enough confidence to go out and compete the way they should This group is really resilient and have bought into only worrying about what we can control. They're focused, they want to be good and want to get better. … I've been coaching track a long time and this is some of the most fun I've had. They're just such great kids. They train hard, compete hard and I'm not taking any of it for granted so you want to enjoy the moment while it's happening."
 
OTHER TRACK STANDOUTS
 

• Osage City's Landon Boss put together an impressive performance at the Wellsville Red Bud Relays, sweeping all three titles in the throwing events. Boss broke his own school record in the shot put with a throw of 56 feet, 6 inches, topping his old mark of 55-2 by more than a foot. He also won the javelin with a throw of 191-6 and won the discus with a throw of 172-8.
• Seaman's Bethany Druse broke a 34-year-old record in the 1,600 at the Joe Schrag Topeka City Championships, clocking a 5:13.49 to beat the old mark of 5:16.0 set by Topeka West's Rebecca Smith in 1989. Druse beat runner-up Madeline Carter, who will be her roommate next year at Kansas, by three seconds.
• Valley Falls' girls 3,200 relay team of Amelia Brown, Carly Henson, Gretchen Hager and Maddison Conner set a new school record with a time of 11:21.1. The old school record was set in 2015.
• Manhattan's Ayani Barron, Hanna Pellant, Avery Larson and Harli Omli broke the Indians' school record in the 400 relay at the Salina Invitational with a time of 48.83. That broke the old record of 49.16 from 2015 and is currently No. 2 in the state behind Blue Valley North's 48.13.
• Washington County's Lillee Richard broke the school record in the pole vault, clearing 9-9 at the Rock Hills Invitational to beat her old mark by one inch. Kiersten Tholstrup broke her own school record in the 400 with a 1:01.13, taking .57 off her previous best. The Tiger girls won the meet and got wins from Alyssa Jueneman in the long jump, Addie Goeckel in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, Richard in the pole vault and the 1,600 relay. Payton LeDuc added a win in the boys javelin.

 
 
TENNIS STANDOUTS
 

• Seabury got its first state qualifiers since the 2019 season, advancing the doubles team of Sebastian Borjas and Cole Shumaker and singles player Gabe Rinnert from the Class 3-2-1A regional the Seahawks hosted last week. Borjas and Shumaker placed fourth and are 14-6.
• Hayden captured the team title at its Class 4A regional last Friday, scoring 22 points to edge Bishop Miege by two points. Gus Glotzbach and Joseph Luke topped teammates Eli Wahlmeier and Daxton Ham for the doubles regional title, improving to 21-10 with a 6-0, 6-3 win. Chris Hayes and Evan George qualified in singles, taking third and fourth.
• Topeka West claimed the team title at its Class 5A regional, nipping Blue Valley Southwest by one point for the title (20-19), Carter Cool clinched the team crown by beating Southwest's Emmett Wirth 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the third-place match. Defending 5A double champions Ian and Miles Cusick took the regional doubles title for the third straight year, improving to 34-4 on the season. West qualified all six players with James Maag taking fifth in singles and Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew taking third in doubles.
• Chapman's Ian Wooldridge took third in singles play at his Class 4A regional at Buhler, qualifying for state with an 21-5 mark. His lone loss came to defending 4A state champion Davian Spies of Buhler in the semifinals. 
• De Soto's doubles team of Colton Rhoads and Cael Province captured a Class 5A regional title, improving to 27-2 on the season. The duo outlasted St. James Academy's Peter Wirtz and Jonathan Brazil 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the finals and were one of three qualifiers for the Wildcats with the doubles team of Will Lawson and Eli LeBar taking third and Logan Forssberg taking fifth in singles.
• Washburn Rural claimed the team title at the Class 6A regional held at Wichita East, scoring 19 points to top Manhattan by four. The Junior Blues qualified all six entries for state, led by singles champion Mason Casebeer, who improved to 28-4 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Wichita East's Bo Lu in the finals. Dylan Dodge and Keegan Knudtson took second in doubles and Kiefer Vonlintel and Dylan Willingham were fifth and Lawson Labatos was fifth in singles. Manhattan qualified doubles teams of Jackson Byerly and Michael Hwang (third) and Landon Ott and Jack Spiegel (fourth) and singles player Drake Kerr (third).

 
 
SOCCER STANDOUTS
 

• Cair Paravel has won 10 straight after beating KC Christian for the second time in three weeks, taking an 8-0 win last Thursday after previously beating the Panthers 10-0. The Lions have outscored their opponents 76-3 during their win streak, which has them 11-1-1 overall and the top seed in Class 4-1A east.
• Seaman saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end with a 1-1 tie against Basehor-Linwood on Tuesday. The Vikings, who are 13-1-1, picked up a big 3-0 win over Hayden last Friday and still have the top overall seed in Class 5A east with a big game Thursday against Washburn Rural.
• Washburn Rural wrapped up an undefeated run through the Centennial League with a 4-0 win over Topeka High on Monday The Junior Blues (11-4-0) went 5-0 in league play, shutting out all five opponents by a combined 24-0 count.

 
 
GOLF STANDOUTS
 

• Despite being in just his third year of playing golf, Shawnee Heights' Tyler Lincoln secured his first-ever tournament victory, taking the title at the Topeka City Championships, held at Junction City's Rolling Meadows Golf Course. Lincoln shot a 76 to tie Topeka West's Myles Alonzo for the low round and then won the playoff to get his first title. Washburn Rural claimed the team title with a 331, edging Heights by eight strokes. Tyler Baumchen led the Junior Blues with an 81.
• Silver Lake's Bryce Badsky scored his second tournament win of the season, shooting a 73 to take the title at the Rossville Invitational at Western Hills Golf Course. Badsky has seven top-six finishes this season and the Eagles took second as a team with a 349.
• After seeing Clay Center end its run of North Central Kansas League titles last year, Wamego reclaimed the title on May 8 at Concordia. The Red Raiders posted a season-low score of 297 and swept the top four places. Cash Foltz shot a 71 to win by three shots over teammate Regan Kueker while Talon White and Kaleb Winter each shot 76s to tie Concordia's Lennon Ninemire for third with White taking third after a playoff and Winter fourth.
• After taking second at the Rossville Invitational, St. Marys' Alex Gallegos carded a 74 to win the Perry-Lecompton Invitational by one shot of Basehor-Linwood's Carson Youngblood and Paola's Stratton Draper.
• Valley Heights' Jayden DeWalt shot a 77 to win the Twin Valley League title by seven shots over Centralia's Paxton Bowers and Washington County's Konner Gepner. Gepner led the Tigers to the team title as they finished with a 359 total to win by eight shots over Centralia.
• Washburn Rural won the Emporia Invitational on Monday with a 303, 27 shots better than Emporia. Brady Conard added the individual title for the Junior Blues with a 73, two shots better than Manhattan's Owen Kandt.