For the longest time, throwing 60 feet in the shot put was clearly the goal for Joey Goodenow.
 
Even during his freshman season when he was only maxing out at just under 46 feet.
 
At that point, the distance seemed so far off. And the arugment could be made that even though the St. Thomas Aquinas junior progressed quite nicely through his first three seasons for the Saints, it was still quite a ways out there even a year ago.
 
His season best as a junior was a 56-6.75, which while good enough to earn him the Class 5A state championship, still left a pretty sizable gap to close if he was to join the hallowed 60-foot club.
 
But the five-foot jump he made from his sophomore to junior year convinced him he was close.
 
“Ever since I started throwing as a freshman, 60 seemed like a long ways away,” Goodenow said. “It was probably last year, I was like, ‘I can do this. I can get over 60.’ And not just at 60 but keep expanding to that 62, 63 range.”
 
With changes in both his physical stature and technical skills, Goodenow did indeed hit his goal. He posted a career-best mark of 62-10 in the regular season, but more importantly topped 60 feet at this year’s state meet to successfully defend the title he won a year ago.
 
Goodenow came up with a throw of 60-7.25 in the finals to finish more than three feet ahead of teammate K’lyn Curtis, who finished runner-up with a throw of 57-3.
 
“It was great to do it and especially to do it at the state meet,” Goodenow said of the 60-foot barriers. “Not a lot of guys do that and to have a performance like that at state was really great.
 
For good measure, Goodenow also captured his second straight Class 5A state discus title as well, throwing a career-best 190-1 in the finals to win that competition by more than 15 feet.
 
Given where Goodenow started his throwing career at Aquinas – he didn’t even qualify for state in the discus as a freshman and didn’t place as a sophomore – sweeping back-to-back state titles in both the shot put and discus reflected a transformational journey. And a very rewarding one.
 
“It’s been a cumulative effort,” Goodenow said. “I’ve been blessed to be around a lot of great people -- my teammates, my coaches, my parents, my siblings. They all want the best for me. It’s been four really long and hard years putting your head down and doing the work. Two back-to-back golds is more than I could ever have thought. If you do work hard, results will come in some form or fashion and for me they came in a really great sense.”
 
But they didn’t come overnight.
 
“I was the skinniest guy, the littlest guy at state my freshman year,” Goodenow said. “And looking back on it the other day, 54, 55 feet won state my freshman year. So I thought if I could get there, It would be where I cap out at because I’m not as big and my technique wasn’t as good as those guys.”
 
The technique improved throughout the course of his career and as he matured, he got bigger and stronger, even form his junior to senior seasons. After throwing at state at roughly 200 pounds a year ago, Goodenow tipped the scales around 225, 230 pounds this season when he entered the ring.
 
“That extra mass kind of helps put more into the shot,” Goodenow said. “It was a lot of weight room work, eating and all that stuff. Changing my body to fit that specification was the biggest thing.
 
“And then drilling down technique for sure. I don’t think anybody will ever master the spin. But I got a lot of great work with it and we made a couple tweaks with it that made me a little more room in the ring.”
 

 
It also didn’t hurt the process that he had Curtis there with him virtually way. Separated by a year in school, they first began training together as teammates during Goodenow’s sophomore year and really began ramping up the workouts and results a year ago.
 
Their battle for the state title a year ago was a fierce one with Goodenow and Curtis finishing 1-2, Goodenow winning by eight inches.
 
Their battle for shot put supremacy only heated up this year, starting with the early May Shawnee Mission North Relays. Going into that meet, Goodenow had already finally eclipsed the 60-foot mark with top throws of 61-6.75 and 61-4.25 at his two previous meets. Curtis, meanwhile, had only produced a season best of 58-9.5
 
But at the Relays, Curtis exploded. After Goodenow had thrown 62-9 on his second attempt of the competition, Curtis popped a throw of 63-8 that held up as the top overall mark in the state this year. Goodenow threw a career-best 62-10 on his third attempt, but that day belonged to Curtis.
 
“That was a foot PR for me and he had a 5-foot PR,” Goodenow said of the meet. “That’s one of those things where you just tip your hat to the other guy and say, ‘You got me today.’ It then makes it a goal where you say, ‘I don’t want to lose again,’ and you put in the work to make sure you’re putting yourself in the best spot and if he does have a better throw, you tip your cap to him. I’ve got to prepare enough that if he does make that throw, I have to respond with a better one.”
 
Goodenow got the better of their rivalry at the Eastern Kansas League meet and Curtis answered by getting the win at regionals. That set the stage for what promised to be an epic final showdown at state.
 
One that almost didn’t materialize.
 
While Curtis got off to a solid start with opening throws of 55-1.5 and 56-8.25, Goodenow was in a tough spot. He fouled on each of his first two attempts and seemed in danger of not even making the finals, let alone challenging Curtis for the title.
 
But if he was nervous, it didn’t show. Goodenow delivered a throw of 53-0.75 on his third attempt to get a spot in the finals.
 
“I’ve had some practice with that this year to be honest with you,” he said. “At our league meet, I fouled my first two before ending up winning. The ones at state weren’t super bad. I wasn’t falling out, I was just brushing my foot up against the ring. So that kind of helped a little bit.
 
“Yeah there was a little nerves with that, but there was also a thing of I trust my coach, I trust what I’ve been doing and I know I can throw it a lot farther. I didn’t need to throw it 65 feet to get in the finals. I can get a good solid throw. With all that I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got this,’ because I’d prepared for it.”
 
Safely in the finals and sitting third, Goodenow made the opening statement of the round. His first finals attempt sailed 60-7.25, putting a mark out there that Curtis had only surpassed once with his state-leading toss at North. 
 
Curtis couldn’t come up with an answer, throwing 56-11.25 and 57-3 on his first two finals attempts and fouling on his third, and Goodenow prevailed again.
 
“I think one of the things that makes us both great is competition,” Goodenow said. “I think whenever we’re competing, we’re pushing each other. And it’s not just at meets. I’d say it starts in practice. Our practices are just as intense. We want to beat each other in practice as much as we want to beat each other in meets. When we have those intense practices it carries over.
 
I wanted my guy to do well and he’s capable of going over 60. At practice he does it all the time. So it’s yeah I want my guy to do well, but at the same time I want him not to do it. There’s that conflicting pull. He didn’t have the day he wanted to I’m sure, but I know he’s going to be great next year.”
 

 
Goodenow had been the state leader in the discus most of the season after throwing 189-4 in late April. Even though he’d thrown over 170 just once since, he was still the heavy favorite going into the state meet with Curtis and Arkansas City’s Karson Palmer the only other two throwers in 5A over 170 feet this year.
 
His lead was a slim one over Palmer heading into finals with Goodenow’s top prelim throw a 176-6 and Palmer right behind at 174-4. But on his second throw of finals, Goodenow put an emphatic capper on his discus career with a state and career-best throw of 190-1.
 
“That was the goal for the year,” he said. “I wasn’t incredibly happy with the marks throughout the year and the big throws just didn’t come in a meet. But the thing I’m most proud of is the preparation the whole year to when I had to have the throw, I had it.
 
“PRing at state, Coach Wrigley says, ‘Don’t go out and try to out-do yourself. What’s gotten you here will work. If you go outside your bounds, you’re not going to have the day you want.’  So I think it was one of those days I was in my zone and I throw how I’ve thrown in practice and was loose and free and was doing what I was doing. That ended up working out.”
 
Goodenow will take his throwing skills to Princeton next year where he will join former Madison state champion Casey Helm.
 

 
CAUGHT AT THE TAPE AND ON TAPE: SM SOUTH’S LARSON ENJOYS VIRAL MOMENT IN RECORD RUN
 
Say hello to Max Larson, viral video sensation.
 
More noted as the state’s top distance runner this season, the Shawnee Mission South senior went viral not for his exploits in winning his second straight Class 6A state title in the 3,200.
 
No, Larson’s moment came at the end of a race he admitted he really had no business winning.
 
The Class 6A 1,600 was the moment. The moment Larson snatched victory from sure defeat at the expense of friendly rival Dylan Plath of Olathe South.
 
“That video has been everywhere,” Larson said. “I’m pretty sure everyone I know has seen it.”
 
The photo finish that went video viral shows a hard-charging Larson powering down the homestretch, doing everything in his power to track down Plath, who seemingly was in command. And just as Plath raised his arms to celebrate his would-be title, Larson leaned in and stole the victory and the title.
 
Larson finished in 4 minutes, 11.70 seconds – just .01 ahead of Plath’s runner-up 4:11.71.
 
“I’m going to be honest, I was pretty sure he had that,” Larson said. “Really I just felt like I wanted to be competitive in the last 30 meters. For some reason, I said ‘I’m going to put in a big surge and see how close I can make this.’ And then I leaned hard. At that point I looked up at the scoreboard and I fully expected it to go 2 for me. To see that .01 second victory was something else.”
 
What’s more, the victory and time also earned Larson the Class 6A state meet record with the old mark of 4:12.93 set by Shawnee Mission East’s Wyatt Haughton just two years ago. Plath also crossed in a record time as did third-place finisher Carter Cline of Mill Valley, who crossed in 4:12.20.
 
Which was by design. In placing fourth in the 1,600 a year ago, Larson wasn’t exactly thrilled with how he attacked the race. So he made a conscious effort to run a completely different race this year to at least give himself a chance.
 
“The race as a whole leading into it, I wanted to make some changes as opposed to last year in the mile when I let the race go and wasn’t really engaged and I went ahead and let other people dictate how the race went,” Larson said. “We went into this race with a plan to say, ‘Hey, let’s control this race. Let’s get to the front and make it hard.’ The whole race was ‘Let’s be competitive, let’s be engaged,’ and that was the mindset.”
 
Mill Valley’s Dalamar Read set the early pace with a 1:03.51 first lap with Larson right on his heels just .15 seconds back in a tightly packed lead group. Larson then surged ahead by a similar margin on the second lap before Garden City’s Taran Castro made a big push on the third lap to take the lead, just ahead Plath in second and Larson in third.
 
At that point, however, Larson wasn’t really sure he was right where he needed to be.
 
“Dylan’s a beast and you know he can go hard in those last 300 meters,” Larson said. “That’s why we were really concerned. That’s where I’ve lost to him before. I don’t make it hard enough where I have that lead going into that last 400 meters. We knew that was trouble, but we also had planned to be fit and for the race to go out hard enough to use that strength that I have. That’s my advantage in any of my distance races. We knew if Dylan goes, it was going to be hard, but I had the strength to fight in those last 200 meters. I don’t have the foot speed he has but I knew that if it came down to a guts battle I could compete with him there.”
 
Those guts were on full display on the home stretch. Larson maintained striking distance coming around the final turn but Plath wasn’t wavering. The Falcon standout had the race in hand.
 
Until he didn’t.
 
As much as Larson could savor the victory, he also felt awful for his close friend.
 
“The thing about it, he was going to win that race,” Larson said. “It’s felt strange in my mind. On the one hand for me, it’s never give up. He made a mistake that cost him that. I still feel great about it because I was right there as well and we basically ran the same time. All credit to Dylan on that because he ran a really great race and the reality is he was going to win that and I was very blessed to do it instead.
 

 
“Dylan’s a great guy and we’re close. There’s no animosity or anything. He’s somebody I love racing with and we’ll talk before races, we’ll talk after races. We’re all for it and I like the way he brings a laid back approach and isn’t as emotional as I am. It makes running fun, even though we’re trying to do big things like set state records and win state titles.”
 
The title was the second of the meet for Larson, who on Friday had little trouble defending the 3200 title he had also won as a junior.
 
Despite not feeling particularly great and coming into the race with some extra baggage from a disappointing finish to his senior cross country season, Larson took the lead on the fifth lap and steadily pulled away from the Mill Valley duo of Cline and Read to win in 9:01.39 – 2-plus seconds ahead of Cline and 19 seconds ahead of Read.
 
“The doubts were definitely there, but the 3,200 is definitely my baby,” Larson said. “That’s my event. I felt better about getting that title in the 3,200 than I did in the mile because that’s the event we train for. It’s my focus. To see that work out was really, really good.”
 
One of the top cross country runners in the state this past fall, Larson had his sights set on getting his first state title in that event. But after running just over 15 minutes earlier in the season, he only managed a 15:48.6 at state and finished a disappointing fifth.
 
“I remember laying on the ground after cross country and somebody coming over and saying, ‘Hey, we’ll get them in track,’” Larson said. “So I had some doubts in my mind for sure. But the manifestation of that was getting the 3,200 again. We weren’t discouraged by that failure in cross country.
 
“Coming off cross country season, I knew I had a lot more to give in running in high school. I was not ready for the end of it to be marked by what I would call pretty mediocre in cross country. Really I had to change so many things as far as running philosophy goes, training and made a lot of adjustments. I tried to focus on narrowing down on that process and doing those little things here and there to get better. To see that happen at state and to walk off the track happy, which for me is something I’ve always struggled with, and always is so emotional and difficult, it’s huge for me. It shows the culmination of three-plus years of hard work and focusing.
 
“The dream is to go out there and win state titles, right? All the workouts to produce actual results with two state titles and get the 5K state record the other night come to fruition, even though the main fruit is going through the process and growing as a runner, to see that outcome-related success is also just huge.”
 
Larson’s record-setting 1,600 run at the state meet had some carryover effect too. A week after his record-setting run, Larson returned to Wichita to compete at the Kronos Distance Night -- an elite distance only meet held at Wichita’s Trinity Academy – with the intent of trying to set the state record for the 5,000 meter race.
 
All 10 of the meet’s races were held at night with the 5K starting at 10 p.m. Using WaveLight technology to set a pace for 14:35 and with former Trinity state champion Sam Ferguson also pacing the race, got all the help he need to run an all-time state best in the race.
 
He finished in 14:37.23 – 13 seconds ahead of Trinity Academy’s Caleb Tofteland, who swept the 3A 1,600 and 3,200 titles at the state meet – and broke the previous state 5K record of 14:46.0 set by Fredonia’s Lane Boyer in 2007.
 
“We came out there with the intention of breaking that record,” Larson said. Everything set up pefect for it. It was really tough. It was a challenge, but that’s what I’m going to be doing college, so that’s the next step. It was getting prepared for that.”
 

 
While Plath fell agonizingly short of winning the 1,600 at the state meet, he left nothing to chance in winning his second straight 6A 800 title. He hung just behind Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Brayden Klahn for the first lap and then pulled away on the second, taking the title in 1:54.77.
 
The time was nearly a second and half faster than a year ago when he won his first title with a frantic finish, out-kicking Free State’s Jake Loos to win by just .26 seconds.
 

 
VAULT VICTORS: KC-AREA TRIO SWEEP 6A, 5A, 4A POLE VAULT CROWNS WHETHER FAVORED OR NOT
 
Over the past two seasons, Dylan Cross got a front-row seat to the best pole vaulter the state has ever seen.
 
Competing in Class 5A for Blue Valley Southwest, Cross and his fellow vaulters – as good as they were – knew it was a competition for second place with Bryce Barkdull closing out his record-setting career that saw him break the 5A meet record twice and set the all-time state best with a 17-9.
 
And to be quite honest, Cross relished going up against the Andover Central standout every time they met.
 
“I feel like the meets I’m competing against guys jumping higher than me, I get more out of it than meets where I go out and win easily,” Cross said. “I would rather get last place jumping against some great athletes than get first place without much competition. I think it grows me in all my attributes.”
 
So is Cross saying he wished Barkdull was still around this spring?
 
“Well, I won’t say that,” he laughed. “I’m happy he was gone because now I could do my thing.”
 
The heir apparent to the throne in Class 5A with Barkdull now at the University of Kansas and former teammate Carson Ratzlaff also having graduated after taking second a year ago just ahead of his third-place showing, Cross proved he was ready for the mantle in capturing his first state title.
 
Ranked No. 2 in the state overall just four inches behind Gardner Edgerton’s Mason Hill, Cross won by more than a foot with his final clearance of 16-3. Though it was two inches shy of his season best of 16-5, it was satisfying enough.
 
After clearing that height, Cross took the bar to 16-9, but missed on all three attempts there.
 
“I wanted it pretty bad,” Cross said of that final mark. “I’ve been working for it all season. It was close, but I’ll take first place any day.
 
“I got third last year and 1-2 were seniors. So I had a pretty good feeling about it.”
 
Cross was one of three Kansas City-area vaulters to come away from the state meet as champions.
 
Louisburg’s Cooper Wingfield successfully defended the 4A championship he won a year ago, out-lasting Andale’s Noah Horsch with a winning clearance of 15-6. 
 
Gardner Edgerton’s Karter Kueser, meawhile, pulled a slight upset in the 6A pole vault, leading a 1-2-3 Trailblazer finish with state leading teammate Mason Hill tying classmate Ben Karlin for second. Kueser also won with a 15-6 clearance.
 
Despite being the odd’s-on favorite to succeed Burkdoll as 5A’s premier vaulter, Cross didn’t exactly have much room for error. Bishop Carroll’s Zach Stephan had also joined the 16-foot club this season and when Cross entered the state competition at 15-0, Stephan was the only vault still left jumping, having passed until 14-6 and clearing that height on his final attempt.
 
Stephan also needed three attempts to get over 15-0 while Cross easily cleared it on his first attempt. Both missed their first two attempts at 15-6, but after Stephan missed on his third try, Cross had the title locked up and went ahead and punctuated the victory with a clearance on his final attempt.
 
“Every time he made a bar, my adrenaline went up and I got even more excited,” Cross said. “It was close at the end. The last couple bars he was in, I missed and there was a chance for him. I just tried to relax. When I’m breathing and am confident in myself, not much goes wrong.”
 
Cross skipped 16-0, instead taking the bar to 16-3 where he cleared his third attempt. He then moved it to 16-9 to tie Hill’s state-leading mark and only had one close attempt, missing all three.
 
“This season, I was going for 17 at some point because I came in with a PR of 16-3, which I hit today,” Cross said. “It didn’t end up happening, but I had a lot of growth in my technique so next year I want the state record, 17-2. … I think (17) is pretty close; this summer it’s going to happen.”
 

 
While Cross will wear the bull’s-eye next year as the reigning 5A pole vault champion, that’s the burden Wingfield carried this season after capturing the Class 4A state title last year. 
 
“There was definitely a lot more pressure this year,” Wingfield said. “I knew I was going to have to perform.”
 
Wingfield had to come through in the clutch to get his first title a year ago, nearly bowing out of the competition at his opening height of 14-0, which would have placed him fourth, but then dominating from that point on to finish just ahead Andale’s Rylan White and Camden Vulgamore with a winning clearance of 15-0.
 
With White and fourth-place finisher Trevor Christenson of Rock Creek having graduated and Vulgmaore and Scott City moving to 3A, the competition certainly didn’t appear prior to the season to stack up to Wingfield.
 
Instead, Andale’s duo of Noah Horsch and Colt Lane emerged as legitimate threats, each matching Wingfield’s winning regional mark of 14-6, and three other 4A vaulters also having gone at least 14-0 this year, including Wingfield’s teammate Jacob Brown.
 
“It mainly got me excited,” Wingfield said. “15, I’d gone that the past two years at state and I knew I would have to jump higher than that.”
 
This year, Wingfield entered the competition with the bar at 14-6, but unlike a year ago, he had no early hiccups, getting over both that height and 15-0 on his first attempts. Four other vaulters were still alive at 14-6, but three of them bowed out, leaving Horsch for Wingfield to deal with.
 
Horsch made Wingfield earn it, too. He also got over 15-0, albeit on his third attempt, but couldn’t clear 15-6. Wingfield did get over 15-6 on his final attempt for the victory.
 
With a career-best of 15-7.75 earlier this season, Wingfield went to 16-1 to try and eclipse that PR, but came up short.
 
“I really didn’t have that many good jumps at it, but I think it’s right there,” Wingfield said. “My goal was to jump 16. But getting two straight golds is pretty nice.”
 
That also matched the two straight titles former teammate Caden Caplinger won in 2022 and 2023. He saw a bid for a three-peat end with a preseason injury a year ago as Wingfield, who had taken second in 2023, inherited the throne.
 
“I had to keep our streak going,” Wingfield said. “I had the pressure on me to do that.”
 

While Cross and Wingfield were expected to win their titles, Kueser was a bit of a darkhorse in the 6A competition.
 
The elder of Gardner Edgerton’s talented trio, Kueser made considerable progress over the last two seasons, raising his ceiling from 13 feet early in his junior year to 15-6 this spring at the Trailblazer’s home invitational and at the Sunflower League meet.
 
But with Hill leading the state this season at 16-9, Kueser had yet to experience victory.
 
Until the state meet’s final day.
 
“We’ve all been working for this all year,” said Kueser, who cleared 15-6 on his final attempt. “We’ve been looking for that sweep at state. Most of the year, it was Mason who was taking home first place, so maybe it’s a little surprise.
 
“But we came here to win, so it could have been any one of us. That was our mentality. Why come if you’re not coming to win?”
 
In doing so, Kueser improved on his sixth-place finish at state a year ago. He said any nervousness that restricted him in that debut was absent this time.
 
“I was just locked in,” Kueser said. “Wasn’t thinking about much. Just trusting myself, trusting my training. I just relaxed and executed.”
 
The Trailblazers finished second (Hill), third (Jadyn Campbell) and sixth (Kueser) at state last season. With Hill and Karlin both clearing 15 feet, Gardner Edgerton got its sweep of the top three spots.
 
Kueser became the Trailblazers’ second state champion in three years, matching the Pierson Carlisle’s winning height in 2023. He credited the tutelage of coach Thane Nonamaker and daily workouts with his teammates for reaching the pinnacle.
 
“It was amazing,” Kueser said. “We just pushed each other to get better every day. It really lit a fire under each other. Once one dude PR’d, the next one would do it and so on.
 
“It was just a great atmosphere to compete in all year long.”
 

 
DETERMINED GASAWAY HELPS OLATHE WEST GRAB 400 RELAY BRAGGING RIGHTS, 6A MEET RECORD
 
If there was extra determination for Tevyn Gasaway as he brought home the anchor leg for Olathe West’s 400 relay at the state meet, there was good reason.
 
Actually, two.
 
For starters, occupying the lane right next to the Owls was arch rival Olathe North. The two had gone back and forth all season trading victories but heading into the state finals, the Eagles really had the bragging rights.
 
After West had grabbed the state lead in the event at the Shawnee Mission North Relays with a 41.66, just ahead of North’s 41.79, North came back the next week at the Sunflower League meet and not only beat the Owls, but turned in the fastest 400 relay time ever in state history with a 41.35 – West second and No. 2 all-time in 41.51.
 
When the Owls won the rematch at regionals by just .08 seconds, North had an answer in the Class 6A state prelims, turning in the fastest qualifying time by .04 seconds over West.
 
So side-by-side with North anchor Jaalan Watson on the homestretch, Gasaway wasn’t about to get beat.
 
“North has the all-time state record and they got us before,” Gasaway said. “We just had to get back at them at state. And we also won it last year, so we had to defend it as well.”
 
With Gasaway bringing it home, West had the final say for the season-long rivalry. Teaming with Brayden Johnson, Bryce Austin and Caden Richardson, Gasaway anchored the Owls to a winning time of 41.49 that not only improved their previous No. 2 state mark and beat North by .13 seconds, but also set a 6A state meet record.
 
The old mark was a 41.60 set by Topeka High in 1986 – a mark that had stood for 40 years.
 
“It’s a fun rivalry with them and I will say it gets into the social media aspect a little bit,” Gasaway said. “Then I get a little heated when I see a Tik-Tok or something like that and it’s like, ‘I got to go get it now.’
 
“It felt amazing. All the hard work we put in and God getting us to this point and I’m just blessed to have great teammates and for us to get that record.”
 

 
Not that Gasaway needed any additional motivation for state, but he certainly got a serious dose at regionals. One of the top contenders for the 6A title in the 100 with his top time of 10.52 sitting No. 2 all season behind Wichita Southeast’s Dejuan Colbert, who had run a 10.42, and with Watson just a fraction behind at 10.55, Gasaway was looking forward to a series battle at state.
 
Maybe too much. At regionals, he false-started in the 100 prelims, effectively ending his bid to win a state title in that event.
 
“It got very personal after that,” he said. “I was bummed, but I just said ‘I have to go win state in the 200 after that.’”
 
After cruising to the regional title in that event, Gasaway put himself in position for that title by qualifying second in the 200 prelims at state with his heat-winning time of 21.87 just .07 seconds behind top qualifier Davon Morrison of Derby. Colbert and Manhattan’s Crayton Rauch were right behind with a 21.93s and Garden City’s Ryder Carr, the 6A leading going into state, was right there too with a 21.99.
 
All but Rauch from that fivesome posted faster times in the finals with Gasaway and Morrison locked in an ultra-tight battle for the title. Gasaway got the final lean, however, and won in 21.53, just .04 ahead of Morrison’s 21.57.
 
“I stayed in the blocks a little longer,” he said. “I just trusted the process and trusted my training. I really wanted to get those guys in the 100, but it was just God saying it wasn’t my time and I had to wait a little bit.”
 
With Gasaway helping the Owls to two titles and Cade Zimmerman adding a third championship in the javelin, Olathe West finished with 80 points to win its second straight Class 6A team title. The Owls scored 81 a year ago to finish 16.5 points ahead of Olathe North, ending the Eagles’ two-year reign, and this year topped North by 19 points.
 

 
Zimmerman went into state as one of two javelin throwers over 200 feet this year, throwing a 202-10 early in the season. The only other 6A thrower over 190 this year was Blue Valley West’s Jason McNicoll and the Jaguar junior put some heat on Zimmerman early when he threw 191-7 on his second attempt, 16 feet farther than Zimmerman’s opening attempt
 
But Zimmerman didn’t blink and immediately answered with a 195-1 that wound up holding up for the title. McNicoll threatened in the finals, but his toss of 192-4 fell just short and Zimmerman punctuated his title with a 194-6 final toss.
 
While West didn’t have any other champions, the Owls picked up 14 other top-eight finishes, including multiple placers in the javelin (Mason Barnard fourth), pole vault (Aiden Heidari fifth; Tige Vader eighth) and triple jump (Simba Mundava second; Keinyn Thomas sixth). Mundava and Thomas had been 1-2 in the triple jump in 6A this season, but Olathe North’s Jaalan Watson enjoyed a career day by nearly two feet to snag the victory.
 
In addition to Mundava’s runner-up finish in the triple jump, the Owls got a second-place showing from the 3,200 relay team of Dayton Richardson, James Merfen, Isaac Schilling and Gunnar Hornung in 7:512.79, nearly two seconds behind Olathe Northwest’s 7:50.06. Hornung also added a fourth in the 3,200 while Richardson was seventh in the 400 after winning the title a year ago and Schilling was eighth in the 800.
 

 
BISHOP WARD’S HOLMES DOUBLES UP WITH MILD SURPRISE, CLEARLY EXPECTED TITLES IN 3A
 
Tyler Holmes couldn’t see the anchor from Wichita Collegiate as he tried to hold him off for the Class 3A title in the 400 relay.
 
But he definitely knew AJ Batiste was there.
 
“I could hear him breathing,” Holmes said, then imitating the chugging sounds coming from Batiste as he tried to track down the Bishop Ward senior. “I was confident, though. My team gave me a great lead and I just had to run away from him and get through the line before he could catch me.”
 
Had the race been much longer, Batiste might have found his mark. But Holmes did his job as the anchor and converted the lead his Cyclones teammates had given him into a state title. Ward finished in a season-best 42.48, while Collegiate just held off a hard charge from Silver Lake for second, crossing in 42.54 to the Eagles’ 42.57 – a mere .09 seconds separating the top three teams with Lakin just .40 back in fourth in 42.88.
 
The relay title was a slight surprise. Collegiate had held the 3A lead in the event for most of the season, though the Spartans’ season-best time of 42.76 was only .05 ahead of the Cyclones’ best of 42.81.
 
And though Ward qualified first in prelims in 43.04 and Collegiate was just third in 43.31, the two sandwiching Hesston’s 43.26, the Spartans had a pretty good dose of momentum heading in the relay finals.
 
Earlier in the day, Collegiate’s Bastiste and Timmy Ritchie had finished top three in the 3A 100 with Ritchie runner-up by just .01 seconds to record-setting Brody Anderson of Burlington in 10.50 and Batiste third in 10.88.
 
Ward’s Davontae Davis was fourth in that race and running the second leg of the relay going head-to-head with Ritchie, he more than held his own in keeping the Cyclones in position after the leadoff leg by Jailen Jefferson. Davis turned it over to Micah Neely, who got the baton to Holmes in the lead and Holmes did his part in bringing home the title.
 
“The relay means more to me,” said Holmes, who already had won his first state title in the long jump. “These guys have worked hard all season and I’ve worked hard with them all season. It’s my last time running with them. I can go to college and long jump all by myself, but having a special team like this, man I just love these guys.”
 

 
It was no surprise that Holmes came away with the long jump title in 3A. In fact, it might not have been a shock had he won any other classification as well.
 
He hadn’t been beaten in the event all season and going up against a loaded field at the Shawnee Mission North Relays that featured 5A state champion Sommyr Moore of Sumner Academy and 6A leader Jaalan Watson of Olathe North, Holmes showed out. He won the competition by more than a foot and a half with his winning jump of 24-5 ranking No. 7 all-time in state history.
 
Having three other meet-winning jumps of 23-4 or better, including a 23-4 at regionals, no other 3A jumper was within two feet of his career best or even a half foot from hitting 23 feet.
 
Hampered by a slight knee injury that popped up during warmups and affected his jumping far more than his running, Holmes wasn’t even close to his best at state, leaving the door open for someone to pull the upset. His best was a 22-5 on his opening attempt, two feet shy of his career-best.
 
But nobody made a charge at him with Hoisington’s Jason Robinson finishing over a foot back in second at 21-4.
 
“It was pure adrenaline getting me through,” said Holmes, who was state runner-up in the long jump last year as a junior and third as a sophomore. “It meant a lot. I just kept climbing up the ranks and I had to win it for my coaches, who do everything they can for me to make me better.”
 
It capped a big senior season for Holmes, who averaged 23.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season in leading Bishop Ward to the Class 3A state basketball tournament, the first state appearance for the program since 2008.
 
“It’s been great and I’m just surrounded by so many great people,” he said. “Whether it’s friends, family, teammates, coaches, they all support me and keep me going. I definitely need them.”
 

OTHER KANSAS CITY AREA BOYS STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONS
 

• While Olathe West’s Cade Zimmerman captured the 6A boys javelin title, Olathe South swept the other two 6A throwing championships.

 
Peter Mac Swaney started the title run for the Falcons, backing up his distinction as the top discus thrower in Class 6A this year. The clear favorite in the event, Swaney proved why as he won the title by a whopping 28 feet, throwing 174-2 while runner-up Michael Moser of Shawnee Mission South was a distant second at 146-3.
 

 
Swaney turned things over to teammate Jeremy Gracia in the shot put. Trailing Moser for the 6A lead in the event going into state, Gracia also was trailing the Raider standout going into the his last throw with Moser putting a 56-4 mark on the board during prelims. With only a best of 55-1.75 going into his last throw, Gracia unleashed a career-best 56-10 to snatch away the title as Moser only hit 55-10.25 on his final attempt.
 

 

• St. James Academy demolished the Class 5A state meet record in the 3,200 relay as the foursome of Max Brown, Michael Bianco, Brock Wondra and Noah Schowengerdt finished in 7:45.21. That took a whopping seven-plus seconds off the previous state-meet mark of 7:52.60 set by Kapaun Mt. Carmel more than 40 years ago in 1983. The time also was an all-class state meet record and the third-fastest in Kansas history behind a7:40.1 from Wichita East in 1965 – a time converted from yards – and a 7:44.97 by Wichita Trinity Academy in 2024.

 

 

• Olathe Northwest also came up with a state title in the 3,200 as Carson Madsen, Benjamin Herbst, Tyler Palangi and Dexter Favreau topped Olathe West by nearly two seconds for the 6A title in 7:50.06. That Ravens had only finished fourth at regionals with a time of 7:58.35, but earlier in the season had run a 7:51.34 that was just .01 behind Olathe West for the 6A lead. 

 
 

• Having played somewhat of a third fiddle to Olathe West rivals Kiernyn Thomas and Simba Mundava for most of the season in the 6A boys triple jump, Olathe North’s Jaalan Watson picked the perfect time to take the lead act in the competition. Going into state with a season best of 45-6.5 that trailed Mundava’s best by nearly two feet and Thomas’ best by a foot, Watson took advantage of an off day by both Owls and had a career day himself.

 
Watson sailed 45-4.75 on his first attempt and neither Mundava, who had a season-best of 57-6.75, nor Thomas, whose best was a 46-8.25, could even surpass that mark. With the title in hand when he took his last attempt, Watson made a final statement with a career-long 47-3.25 to win the title by nearly two feet over Mundava’s meet best of 45-4.25.
 
 

• Sumner Academy’s Sommyr Moore was a bit of a darkhorse to win the Class 5A long jump title, sitting a distant third in the 5A standings for the regular season and having just the sixth-best regional mark. But he was right in the race going into finals, trailing Andover Central’s Ethan Armendariz by just 1.25 inches and when he jumped 22-7.5 on his first finals attempt, Moore won his first state title as Armendariz fouled twice around a jump of 22-5.25 in the finals.

 

 

• After seeing Rock Creek’s Elijah Bell snatch away his lead in the Class 4A boys triple jump by a mere two inches on his second attempt of finals, Paola’s JJ Crawford returned the favor. Bell had just gone 45-7, but Crawford followed with a 46-0 and that jump earned him the state title by just five inches. Crawford also took third in the 4A long jump, finishing in a three-way tie for the runner-up spot with Bell and Bishop Miege’s Liam Tesmer but settling for third on next-best jump tiebreakers with Tesmer second and Bell fourth.

 
 

• Tonganoxie’s Tucker McGuire won a tight competition for the Class 4A boys discus title, winning by just over two feet over Chanute’s Canton Fitzmaurice, who won the 4A shot put title. Fitzmaurice had thrown 170-4 to start his day, but McGuire came up with a 172-6 on his second prelims throw and when neither could improve on those marks, McGuire had his first state title.

 

 

• Gardner Edgerton’s Bravin Powell pulled off a mild upset to win the Class 6A 110 hurdles titles. Having the second-best 6A time during the season, just .01 seconds behind Blue Valley’s Wesley Gill, Powell had only qualified fourth in the state prelims in 14.71, coming in behind Mill Valley’s David Johnson (14.46), Gill (14.55) and Washburn Rural’s Liam Morrison (14.64). But in the finals, Powell channeled his regular-season form turning in a season-best 14.23 to win by .07 seconds over Johnson and .10 over Gill.

 

 

• One of three 5A runners to dip into the 1:53s during the regular season, Spring Hill’s Jack Janovick was the only one of that trio to do it at state as he bolted from seventh to first on the final lap to win in 1:53.71. St. James Academy’s Noah Schowengerdt, another to get a 1:53 time this season, was a half-second behind in second in 1:54.23.

 

 

• Despite having to replace half of last year’s state-champion 5A 400 relay team, De Soto more than capably filled those holes to win the title in the race for the second straight year. Holdovers Layton Lawson and Jayden Lang were joined by Brady DeArmond and Austin Lindsay to top last year’s winning time by more than a half second, blazing to a 41.77 to beat United Kansas Conference rivals Piper by .35 seconds and Basehor-Linwood by .36 seconds for the crown.