WICHITA – Delia Gregory’s tears proved to be as invincible as she was in a one-lap sprint around the Cessna Stadium track.
 
Such were the emotions for the Blue Valley North senior, who completed the final afternoon and early evening of her Mustang career by running the fastest 400 meters in Kansas girls history and anchoring her 1,600-meter relay team to a fourth consecutive Class 6A title at the State Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
“My family is incredible, my coaches are incredible, my teammates are incredible,” Gregory said after an exhausting relay run that produced her eighth career state gold medal. “I literally could not do it without them.”
 
Yet in her signature moment, Gregory found herself where she frequently has been over the last two seasons – alone and in front in the 400.
 
Gregory, who will run collegiately at Princeton, won her second straight 6A title in the event. Competing in a finals field that included Manhattan senior Harli Omli, who edged Gregory in the 400 two years ago and who sandwiched 100- and 200-meter victories over the Mustang standout around their final high school 400 duel, Gregory delivered a command performance.
 

Gregory quickly made up the stagger on her outside-lane competitors and carried the lead into the final turn. Last year at state, she held off Omli’s late charge to set the 6A meet record in 53.92.
 
This year, there was no reeling in Gregory. She charged through the finish line in 53.49, the fastest Fully Automatic Timing (FAT) result by a Kansas girl, which gave her the No. 1 time in state history.
 
“It’s surreal,” Gregory said. “It really hasn’t hit me yet.”
 
In March, Gregory and her Blue Valley North basketball teammates celebrated their second 6A title in three years next door to Cessna Stadium at Wichita State’s Koch Arena. That team spirit prevailed for Gregory and her 1,600 relay teammates – seniors Audrey Brown and Emma Ramboldt, and freshman Evie Kincaid – after they won the meet’s final event in 3:54.20, 4.01 seconds ahead of runner-up Mill Valley.
 
“I feel like we have such a strong community of girls at our school who just excel at everything,” Brown said. “It really just pushes us all to continue to strive for more.
 
“I think all the little steps that we’ve made, even since the fall, has really just come to this moment and it’s just so satisfying for everyone to end it as state champions.”
 

Brown relished her own journey to double gold in her final state meet.
 
Part of Blue Valley North’s state-winning 1,600 relay teams as a freshman and sophomore, she also helped the Mustangs set the all-time state record of 3:52.65 at last year’s Kansas Relays. But after doing that in the preliminaries, Brown’s junior season ended a day later when she sustained a lower-leg injury in the finals.
 
In her final state meet, the Georgia Tech-bound Brown collected her third 1,600 relay title and won the 800 in a 6A meet-record 2:11.95, less than a second ahead of Mill Valley senior Charlotte Caldwell.
 
Brown also finished third to Gregory and Omli in the 400, helping the Mustangs finish third behind Mill Valley and Manhattan in the 6A team race.
 
Gregory finished her career with 13 state medals. Prior to her back-to-back, record-setting 400 victories, she twice finished second in the event. She also won a 400-meter relay gold as a sophomore, and captured the 200 as a junior after finishing fifth in 2023.
 
All of it led to a final spring season in which Gregory acknowledged a lot of self-pressure.
 
“Finishing off a really good junior season, I set high expectations for myself,” Gregory said. “It’s hard mentally to try to live up to that. I didn’t hit what I was wanting to hit, but I’m really proud of myself and what I did.
 
“I’m not going to hold my head down at all.”
 
As they celebrated their relay victory, it was apparent that Gregory’s legacy was intact with Kincaid, the newcomer to the quartet. As Gregory wiped away tears, the freshman looked at her and smiled.
 
“She’s so inspiring,” Kincaid said. “It’s just been so much fun playing multiple sports with her.”

 

 
PURE JOY: EUDORA’S KELTNER GETS ICING ON STELLAR CAREER WITH 4A 1,600, 3,200 SWEEP
 
Hanna Keltner doesn’t need state titles or school records to absolutely love what she does.
 
Simply being at even a meaningless early-season meet is thrilling enough for the Eudora distance standout, let alone competing and succeeding on the biggest stage.
 
“I just love going to track meets just because I get to see my friends,” the exuberant Keltner said at this year’s State Outdoors Track and Field Championships. “I get to see Payton (Wurtz) of Wabaunsee, Bree (Allen of Prairie View) and Payton Fink (Washburn Rural) and Izzy Ross (Blue Valley Southwest) and Liz Browning (Olathe West). All my friends I’ve made through the years. It’s just so cool to catch up on six months of our lives in like two seconds before a race.
 
“It makes running fun. And at the end of the day, that’s what running is about.”
 
With the mindset, anything Keltner has been able to accomplish in her career has simply been icing on the cake. And boy is that cake a decorated one.
 
When it comes to running Keltner said she had a checklist of things she wanted to accomplish during her running career at Eudora. And as she heads to Kansas State next year to continue her running career, that list is filled with nothing by checkmarks.
 

 
Keltner added the final mark on that list at this year’s state meet as she got the Class 4A sweep of the 1,600 and 3,200. The 1,600 title was nothing new for the Cardinal, winning her first in the event last year when she beat Chapman’s Elyssa Frieze by nearly eight seconds for the crown.
 
But the 3,200 had been an elusive one for Keltner, one that she had come oh so close to getting each of her first three years.
 
The 4A field in the event each of those seasons was flat-out loaded, including the likes of former Eudora teammate Sydney Owens, Circle’s Brett Jacobson and Baldwin’s Irelyn Kennedy. And then there was Frieze, who followed in the footsteps of former Irish teammate Taylor Briggs and won three state 4A 3,200 titles the past three seasons after Briggs had won three straight from 2018-21.
 
While Keltner was right there to challenge Frieze, she never could knock her off, finishing runner-up by nearly 24 seconds as a freshman in 2022 before slipping to third, nine seconds back last year with Jacobson sliding in between for the runner-up spot.
 
Last year was the closest call, but Frieze was able to hold off Keltner by two and a half seconds for the title. With Frieze graduating last May, Keltner knew it was her time.
 
“My resume for the two-mile, I was runner-up, third place, runner-up so I was like, ‘C’mon Hanna. You have to do something crazy here,’” she said. 
 
After winning her first cross country individual state championship in the fall, Keltner followed up with her first 3,200 title, winning in 11:14.71 to beat Baldwin’s Kennedy by nine seconds. It was her second-fastest time of the season, trailing only the 10:52.84 she ran at the Shawnee Mission North Relays, which broke the school record.
 
“It’s truly a surreal feeling. I’ve put a goal sheet for every season and one of them was to win the 1,600 and 3,200 and break some school records and I’ve been able to cross everything off that list. It’s just so rewarding.”
 
Keltner had no trouble defending her 1,600 title, cruising to a 5:08.87 that also relegated rival Kennedy to a runner-up finish, six seconds back in 5:14.96. Her bid for a triple crown with a title in the 800 fell short, but Keltner’s time of 2:19.02 was a career best and also broke the Cardinals’ school record.
 
Keltner also holds school records in the 1,600 and the 5K and in her career helped lead Eudora to three straight cross country team championship (2021-23) and one track team championship (2024).
 
“Ten-year-old Hanna, her brain would probably blow up if I told her all the things I’ve been able to accomplish,” Keltner said. “Cross country champ, two-time mile champ, two-mile champ, 4X800, team. I mean I have truly been living the life I dreamed of since I was a little girl. It’s just truly a gift and I’m so grateful.
 
“Running has given me so much and I just wanna give back. I want to meet the next Hanna Keltner and I want her to beat those records and continue that Eudora girls’ running legacy. I’m so grateful for everything I’ve gotten in running and it’s brought me a closer relationship to family, God, the Eudora community and the running community.”

Keltner was one of three champions for Eudora.
 

The lone underclassmen among the top six finishers last year, when she took fourth, sophomore Izzy Brunkow added an inch to her 2024 state effort, clearing a personal-best 11-7 to win the Class 4A pole vault title.
 
“I’ve been struggling,” said Brunkow, who topped out at 11 feet prior to state on three occasions, including the Frontier League meet and Tonganoxie regional. “Every time I’ve gotten 11, I go straight to 11-7, and I finally got it.”

Brunkow’s peak clearance came on her third attempt and gave her a sizable victory over a quartet of vaulters who bowed out at 10 feet. Andale junior Hally Horsch finished second based on fewer misses than Buhler junior Jenna Lackey, who took third. Wellington’s Claire Ginter and Concordia’s Gabi Lange tied for fourth.
 
Brunkow took a shot at breaking the 4A meet record of 12-6 set by Paola’s Samantha VanHoecke in 2017, but missed on three tries at 12-6.25. Still, she led a trio of Cardinal sophomores to the medal stand. Avery Hemphill and Edie Siemon were part of a three-way tie for sixth.
 
“This year, I’ve gone to stronger poles and I feel like I’ve been able to swing up better,” Brunkow said. “My technique is so much better.” 
 

A year ago, Adalyn Hemphill got her first state title when she won the Class 4A long jump. Denied that title this year when Wellington's Dru Zeka took the title with a meet-record 19-0.75, Hemphill turned her attention to getting the triple jump crown.

She had no trouble doing that, going 36-9.75 to beat Parsons freshman Aynna Robertson by more than 10 inches with Robertson jumping 35-11. Hemphill had taken fourth in the triple jump last year at state. She was third in the long jump this year with a 17-2.5, well behind Zeka's record, but just behind runner-up Rylee Meyer of Andale who went. 17-3.75.
 

 
JUST BUILT DIFFERENT: BASEHOR-LINWOOD’S SCOTT SHOWS OFF VERSATILITY ON STATE STAGE
 
Kimberlee Scott really shouldn’t have been caught off guard when her Basehor-Linwood track coaches approached her about doing the triple jump.
 
After all, her older brother, Eric, was a state champion in the event in 2016 before eventually embarking on an NFL football career with brief stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs.
 
But with nearly a decade separating the two in age, Kimberlee didn’t really know much about her brother’s exploits. Or even that triple jump was a thing.
 
“I had always thought long jump was the only jumping thing,” she admitted. “But my coaches said, ‘Just try it,’ because my brother won triple jump back in his high school days. ‘Your brother did it, you can do it,’ kind of as a joke.”
 
Even then, she still was somewhat hesitant. Her main track love is the shot put and when she hit high school that was really the only event she wanted to focus on.
 
And let’s face it, there just aren’t many shot put/triple jump combinations when it comes to track and field.
 
“At first I was like, ‘Are you sure you want me to do it?’” Scott said. “When they said yes, I was down to try anything. Everybody was saying shot putters don’t jump. And I was saying, ‘Well, I’m different. I don’t think you guys realize all I can do.’ I’m a dancer too so I my body is made to jump. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for me and I caught on really quick to it.
 
“I’m just different. I am built different.”
 
That she is and Scott had that versatility on full display at this year’s state meet. Competing in not just the shot put and triple jump but also on the Bobcats’ 400 and 1,600 relays, Scott was all over Cessna Stadium, leaving her mark.
 
She captured the 5A state title in the triple jump, finished runner-up in the shot put and helped the 1,600 relay to a seventh-place finish. The 400 relay also made the finals, but dropped the baton and did not finish or place.
 
“I was only wanting to throw shot,” Scott said of her high school plans. “Maybe run the 4X1. Now I’m throwing shot, running the 4X1 and 4X4 and doing triple jump, which is a weird mix. But I’m so good at shot and then they say I’ve got a good runner’s body. And then the triple jump just became part of my routine. Now I’m all over at track meets, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
 
Scott has always dabbled in one event or another, running the 100 and 200 in addition to the shot put her freshman year. She threw 39 feet at regionals that year in the shot and qualified for state where she only managed a best of 36-6.5 and placed 12th.
 
During the preseason of her sophomore year is when her coaches approached her about adding the triple jump. She began competing in the event in the middle of the season and two meets in already was hitting marks in the mid-35s.
 
“I actually ended up doing quite well in it,” Scott said. “I jumped 36 my first time in practice and that’s when I thought I actually could do it.”
 
Scott topped out at 37-1 in the event last year and qualified for state, placing fifth. The crazy thing was, while she was soaring in the triple jump, Scott was regressing in the shot put.
 

 
After hitting 39 feet as a freshman, Scott’s best in the shot last year was a 38-3 in her first meet and she only went over 37 feet two other times, and didn’t qualify for state.
 
“Freshman season went well, but sophomore season didn’t go well,” she said of the shot. “Didn’t have great coaching going on. This year, got a really great coach and he’s helped me. It wasn’t that the talent wasn’t there, it was just my technique. I’ve got it figured out.”
 
Scott gradually worked her way back up to her freshman marks and at state she got her PR, throwing 40-5.75 on her finals attempt to place second to Eisenhower’s Stella Kitt, who threw 41-0 to win the title.
 
“I was very pleased,” she said. “I knew going into the meet I was just going to throw. I feel like when I get in my head and am focusing on numbers, then it doesn’t go as well. If I just do what I need to do, it goes well. I can only focus on me. Last throw I was just like, ‘Let’s get it out there’ and I did. Wish I’d done that on my first throw, but second, and I still PRed and got better today.”
 
While Scott said she has some unfinished business in the shot, she took care of business in the triple jump. She had battled Emporia’s Paige Newland for the 5A and state lead all season with Newland holding those top marks most of the season. 
 
But starting the year at 36-8, Scott continually upped her marks, going 37-8 and then 38-2.25 at the Kansas Relays. She pushed that to 38-5 at the Shawnee Mission North Relays and then at regionals took over the 5A and state lead from Newland with a jump of 40-4.75 that ranks No. 6 all-time in state history.
 
“At regionals, I was just on it,” said Scott, who won every meet this year in the triple except at KU, where she was fourth. “I just went for it and ended up jumping 40 feet, 4 inches. That was the highlight of my meet and it’s been really fun.”
 
In her head-to-head showdown with Newland at state, both were on their game. Newland’s first four jumps were all over 38 feet with a best of 38-5.25. Scott, meanwhile, went 38-plus on all but one of her six jumps, the other a 37-11, and after taking the event lead with a 38-10 on her final prelim jump, Scott clinched the title with a 39-0.75 on her final attempt.
 
“I’ve learned to love the technique and full aspect of the sport,” she said. “It’s become maybe my favorite event.”
 
But then she quickly added, “But shot put is still my true love.”
 

 
MILL VALLEY WINS 6A TITLE BEHIND GOLDS FROM STRATHMAN, ALSTON
 
A year ago, Miley Strathman experienced the thrill of winning her first state championship.
 
But at the same time, she maybe didn’t get to fully soak it all in. The Mill Valley high jumper was too busy sharing the moment with longtime friend Anna Bundy of Blue Valley North.
 
When both Strathman and Bundy finished last year’s Class 6A state high jump competition tied for first, they did what most wouldn’t but only the closest of friends might do. Instead of going to a jump-off to settle things, they decided to share it.
 
But even with that, Bundy gave Strathman a caveat.
 
“She’s got to win it next year now,” Bundy said.
 
Strathman didn’t make a promise at the time that she would, but she certainly made Bundy proud at this year’s state meet.
 
Once again, Strathman finished tied for the best mark in the 6A competition with Shawnee Mission South’s Hannah Kerr tying her at 5-4. But this time, Strathman had a tiebreaker edge in her favor with no misses until coming up short at 5-6 and that was enough to give her the title all to herself.
 
“This year I was just trying to put my best jump out there,” Strathman said. “It wasn’t that I was really mad that I tied last year because I really liked (Bundy). So it was just doing the best I could for me.”
 
But she quickly added, “I wasn’t looking to tie this year.”

Strathman was one of two individual champions for Mill Valley at this year’s state meet. Teammate Kaidence Alson captured the triple jump title and the duo got more than enough help across the board as the Jaguars captured the Class 6A team title – their first at the 6A level after previously winning the 5A crown in 2022.
 
Mill Valley finished with 70 points to edge Manhattan by six points with Blue Valley North taking third with 52 points.
 
Coming off clearing 5-6 to share last year’s state title, Strathman hit the ground running, err, jumping this season and got 5-6 at her second meet of the season before going a career-best 5-7 to win the title at the Kansas Relays.
 
But following her win at KU, Strathman suffered an stress fracture in her ankle, an injury that had her hit and miss for meets the rest of the season. She missed the Sunflower League meet and even when she did compete, she was a shadow of her peak self – still winning titles, but with more modest marks of 5-4, 5-5 and even 5-2 at regionals.
 
Needless to say, repeating as a state champion wasn’t a sure thing.
 
“It felt good today, especially since I’ve been injured and out,” Strathman said. “I’ve been working through (the ankle injury and haven’t been practicing that much. Regionals didn’t go the best for me, so I was nervous about (state).”
 
Opting to maximize her effectiveness on the balky ankle, Strathman passed until the bar went to 5-2 and at that time, it was a wide-open competition with 11 jumpers still in the competition. Ten of those got over the bar at 5-2 as well with Strathman one of four to clear the height on her first attempt.
 
But with the bar at 5-4, it became a different story. While Strathman cleared her first attempt there as well, only Kerr was able to join her, needing all three attempts.
 
“Maybe I didn’t go my best, but it felt good,” Strathman said.
 

 
By the time Strathman was getting her title, Alston had already become Mill Valley’s first champion on the meet, getting her triple jump title on Friday. And while Strathman was coming into state with just a so-so regional mark, Alston went in on a high.
 
Her 39-0 at regionals was just off her career-best of 39-4.5 from a week earlier at the Sunflower League meet and made her the slight favorite over Topeka High’s Ahsieyrhuajh, who has a season best of 38-3.25. Rayton had missed all but one meet since April 18 with a leg injury before returning at regionals, but went 37-9.5 there to show she was close to peak form.
 
But Alston immediately put a mark out there the told Rayton she would have to have a career day to get the title with the Jaguar soaring 38-5 on her first jump of the competition. That wound up being more than enough as Rayton only went 37-4.25 to finish second.
 
Charlotte Caldwell did her best to give Mill Valley another state champion, but came up just short in each of her three individual events. She came closest in the 800 where she clocked a 2:12.72 to finish less than a second behind champion Audrey Brown of Blue Valley North, who won in 2:11.95.
 
Caldwell also too second in the both the 3,200, finishing just over two seconds behind champion Charlotte Hardy of Shawnee Mission East, and the 1,600, coming in five seconds behind two-time champion Emma Baum of Blue Valley West.
 
Mill Valley also got a runner-up finish from the 1,600 relay team of Madison Bausby, Nora Harmon, Mollie Smith and Josie Benson, who finished four seconds behind Blue Valley North. Six other Jaguar entries also posted top-eight finishes.
 

 
ST. JAMES PUNCTUATES CLASS 5A THREE-PEAT WITH STATE-RECORD 1,600 RELAY
 
St. James Academy already had its third straight Class 5A team title well in hand before taking to the track for the final race of the night.
 
But there was still some unfinished business for the Thunder. The 1,600 relay wanted to go out with a bang.
 
Which they did.
 
Knowing they were within striking distance of the Class 5A state meet record of 3:56.56 – which, set by St. James’ 2018 relay also doubled as the school record – having come within .26 seconds of that mark earlier this season, the foursome of Ellie Wurtenberger, Vivian Overlease, Annie Wilken and Beatrice Wiley got their “bang” finish in getting the record they’d been shooting for all season.
 
“Our team has worked so, so hard all year for this moment,” Wurtenberger said. “We’ve gotten so much better this year and I’m just so proud of my team.”
 
How far did the relay come this season?
 
At the start of the year, the Thunder opened with a 4:04. But the work put in during the offseason and then early in the season began paying off and the times kept dropping. The posted a pre-state best of 3:56.82 that served notice the exiting records could be in jeopardy at state.
 
Getting sub-minute 400s from both Wurtenberger and Wiley and Wilken just over by .21, the Thunder easily took down the records they coveted.
 
“Our improvements have been huge and our coaches know exactly what they are doing,” Wurtenberger said. “They just had an amazing strategy to have us peak at the right time. It’s just been so good and we just started to believe in ourselves more.”
 

 
That Wurtenberger led off the relay with a strong was no surprise. Earlier in the meet, she became the second straight Thunder runner to win the Class 5A state title in the 400, following in the footsteps of 2024 state champion Evelyn Overlease.
 
It only took a 58.77 for Overlease to get her title. It took something considerably faster for Wurtenberger to get hers. She ran a 57.97 in the prelims to qualify first, but saw Basehor-Linwood’s Katelyn Shockey make a big push in the finals to go from a 58.85 in the prelims to a 57.56 in the finals.

But Wurtenberger had the strength to hold the Bobcat junior off and won in a career-best time of 57.13.
 
“(Evelyn) was an amazing training partner and she pushed me so much last year,” said Wurtenberger, who only ran the 400 sparingly before winning the state title, having just two races in the event as a sophomore and just three this year before state. “I saw how aggressive she was and how much she put into it. I saw what she was doing and I wanted to be there.”
 
Wurtenberger only competed in the long jump at state last year, taking ninth. But a member of St. James’ cross country team, she began to put in the work to make more of an impact on track as well and progressed from never having gone under a minute in the 400 in her first two seasons to living under that mark this season.
 
“Cross country is huge for my endurance,” she said. “I was putting in the work, putting in the weight room work, running outside in 10 degrees. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
 
Wurtenberger also finished fourth in the 200 and sixth in the long jump to help St. James’ pursuit of the three-peat.
 
St. James got one other gold-medal performance as the 3,200 relay team of Wilken, Allison Meyer, Abby Loos and Quinn Hays fought off a hard-closing charge to win the state title. The Thunder finished in 9:20.67, just .26 seconds ahead of Andover, which made up more than a second on the final lap to make things tight.
 
The three golds and strong final state meet from Wiley helped the Thunder rack up 77 points and finish 27 points ahead of runner-up Andover Central.
 
Wiley did just about everything in her high school career except win an individual state gold. She was a four-time top-three finisher in the 5A triple jump, placing third as a freshman and senior around runner-up finishes as a sophomore and junior. After taking third at state in the 200 last year, Wiley moved up to the runner-up spot this year in both the 200 and 100, taking second to Newton’s Mackenzie Sauerwein in both.
 
Wiley narrowly upset Sauerwein in the 100, finishing just .03 seconds behind the Newton speedster in 12.35. The 200 was even closer with Wiley running a career-best 25.24 but coming up just .01 seconds shy of that elusive individual state title.
 
St. James also loaded up points in the 1,600 with Hays taking fifth, Loos seventh and Allie Morfield eighth. Hays and Loos also posted top-eight finishes in the 800 and 3,200 respectively. 
 

 
OLATHE NORTHWEST’S ARITUS GETS BACK HER 6A LONG JUMP TITLE, ADDS HURDLES AS WELL
 
When Michenainda Aritus claimed the Class 6A long jump title as a sophomore, she admitted she felt like that would simply become an annual thing for her.
 
Last spring, however, the Olathe Northwest standout found out otherwise.
 
Even though she jumped four inches farther than she when she won the title as a sophomore, Aritus not only didn’t get her second straight state gold, she wasn’t even close. Shawnee Mission North’s Rosjai Curtis left Aritus and the rest of the field well behind with her winning mark of 19-6 nearly a foot and a half farther than Aritus’ runner-up mark of 18-2.5.
 
“She was a beast,” Aritus said of Curtis, who had finished fourth behind Aritus at state in 2023. “It was sad because I thought I was going to win because of sophomore year. But I had way better competition.”
 
With Curtis having graduated, Aritus was poised to get her title back. And to make sure, she took her jumps to another level this spring just in case the competition had risen their games as well.
 

 
Going 19-9 during the regular season – a mark that moved her into the top 10 all-time in Kansas history – Aritus wore the title of favorite well. She opened the state competition with a jump ot 18-8.5 that was easily enough to win the competition by more than eight inches and then improved to 18-10 and then finished off the title with a final leap of 18-11.5.
 
“Winning it this year as a senior felt – well, winning is great,” Aritus said. “But this is so near and dear to my heart so it means even more. I was determined. I didn’t want to lose, didn’t want to get second, I just wanted to win.”
 
Aritus wasn’t done in adding to her gold medal collection. This year she also had emerged as one of the top hurdlers in the state and held the No. 1 spot in 6A (No. 2 overall) with a season best of 14.15.
 
She posted the top qualifying time in 14.36, .51 ahead of Olathe North rival Layla Parker. The two battled even tighter in the finals with Aritus slowing to a 14.87 but still pulling out a .09-second win over Parker, who had gone 14.87 in prelims but went 14.96 in the finals.
 

 
“I love Layla,” Aritus said. “Every single meet, we’re pushing each other. She’s like my little sister. She makes me want to do better and makes me want to beat her.”
Aritus didn’t even start running hurdles until her junior season and wound up progressing enough for finish fourth at state. With the top-three finishers ahead of her all graduating, she suddenly had that carrot in front of her as well.
 
“I started hurdling last year and we didn’t have an expectations,” Aritus said. “I had hurdled in middle school , but I wasn’t going to do it in high school. But my coaches convinced me to give it a try one time and see where we went from there. I started to forget why I didn’t like it and began to fall back in love with it.”
 
Aritus also placed eighth in the 100, giving her three medals in her final state meet.
 

SPIN, RELEASE, WIN: DE SOTO’S SHROUT CLAIMS 5A DISCUS CROWN
 
This season for De Soto junior Cadence Shrout has been a crazy and unbelievable experience. From injury to rebuilding at the beginning of the season, to all the hard work paying off and becoming a state champion.
 
The season Shrout experienced was not like everyone else's. For her, there was a spin to it.
 
Shrout is a part of club volleyball, and during this season, she faced a couple of injuries along the way. A strained MCL and Achilles and a sprained meniscus injury have a big impact on any athlete, let alone a thrower. This affected the upcoming track season due to the recovery process.
 
“My season had a lot of ups and downs with wins and injuries, but I worked through them,” Shrout said.  “I now understand what I need to do to be a better athlete for my senior season next year.”
 
After taking the time to heal and letting her body rest, Shrout was finally able to release the tension this season held and compete at the level she wanted to.
 
“A positive impact this season has been my coach,” she said. “He put a lot of time and effort into me and my training after coming back from my injuries. I learned so much this year from him. I would not be where I am today without him.”
 
After making it to state her sophomore year and coming up short in a runner-up finish to Spring Hill’s Margo Todd by 4 feet, 7 inches, Shrout was determined to make this year’s trip to state worth it. She still had plenty of ground to make up on Todd this year, however, with Todd’s top mark during the season of 140-6 nearly 10 feet longer that Shrout’s best of 130-8.
 
At state, however, Todd didn’t prove to be Shrout’s top competition. The defending champion only managed a best of 132-7 and wound up taking fourth.
 
Instead, it was Bonner Springs’ Addyson Thompson who put the most heat on Shrout, throwing 134-11 on her second toss of prelims to take the event lead. By the time Shrout made her third prelims attempt, she was sitting fourth with Newton’s Natalie Cassant (133-4) and Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Lillian Stafford (131-5) having better throws than her mark of 130-0.
 
But on her final prelim throw, Shrout came through with a career-best heave of 136-9 and that held up through finals as Thompson, Cassant and Stafford each fouled two of their three finals attempts, none improving on their prelim throws with their lone counting toss.
 
“It is so unbelievably satisfying to be a state champion,” Shrout said. “It has been a goal of mine since last year’s state meet. I am a very competitive person, so I loved the competition I got to experience this year.”
 
Everything Shrout has experienced this season makes the win even sweeter.
 

 
OTHER KANSAS CITY GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONS
 

•  Blue Valley West’s Emma Baum picked up the second state championship of her career in winning the Class 6A 1,600 with a career-best time of 4:56.92. It was the second state title of her career, also winning the 6A 800 as a sophomore in 2023. Baum ran a season best 2:15.87 in the 800 at state this year, but that was only good enough for third behind Blue Valley North’s Audrey Brown (2:11.95) and Mill Valley’s Charlotte Caldwell (2:12.72).

 

• Shawnee Mission East picked up a pair of state champions with two 6A state leaders backing up their positions.

 
Junior Paige Stanfield threw 142-7 to win the 6A javelin by more than four feet over Washburn Rural’s Morgan Ray, who threw 138-1. Stanfield had three throws over 140 feet with her best toss coming on her final one.
 

 
Sophomore teammate Charlotte Hardy picked up her first state title as well, winning the 3,200. Hardy took the race lead on the fifth lap and never looked back, winning in 10:48.89 with Mill Valley’s Charlotte Caldwell second in 10:51.16.
 
 

• Leavenworth’s Emma Thompson successfully defended her Class 5A pole vault title, doing so in similar fashion to a year ago. Last year, Thompson was one of three 5A vaulters to finish at 11-0, but edged out Salina Central’s Anna Hogeland and Salina South’s Bethany Hicklin on fewer misses at 11-0.

 
This time around, both Thompson and Hicklin were the only two left standing at 11-0 but with Hicklin holding the upper hand with no misses at either 10-0 or 10-6 while Thompson had missed at each of those heights. But at 11-0, Thompson got over on her second attempt and Hicklin didn’t clear until her third and when both went 0-fer at 11-6, Thompson had her second straight title.
 

 

• Piper’s Nora Turney fell short of sweeping the Class 5A hurdles, but did come away with one gold. Turner held off Andover Central’s Allison Saunders for the 100 hurdles title, winning by .44 seconds in 14.52, just off her season best of 14.51. Saunders came back for the win in the 300 hurdles with Turney taking third behind Saunders and Bishop Carroll’s Lauren DeGroot, posting a 44.42 to finish more than a second behind the duo.

 

• Tonganoxie’s Adalyn Schooler dominated the Class 4A discus competition with all six of her throws long enough to win by at least three feet. She finished with a best of 130-5 on her last throw to win by more than nine feet over Augusta’s Rylee Jay, who threw 121-2.

 

 
 

• What was expected to be a tight competition for the Class 4A shot put title played out just that way with the top-four throwers all going at least 38 feet. But Bishop Miege’s Jayla McClinton was the only one to get two marks over that distance and both were enough to win the title, finishing with a best of 38-8.5 on her final throw to be Andale’s Emily Struckman by 4.25 inches.

 

• The top discus thrower in 6A this season by three feet, Free State sophomore Sadie Reynolds enjoyed the best day of her career. She threw a PR of more than 10 feet on her opening throw of the competition with a 148-10 and then topped that on her first throw of the finals to win the title with a 151-2, more than 21 feet ahead of runner-up Grace Yeager of Olathe West.

 
 

 

• Shawnee Mission South’s Amelia Hansen needed not only a career best, but had to do it on her first attempt to claim the Class 6A pole vault title. Hansen was locked in a showdown with Olathe North’s Elena Ginie and Shawnee Mission East’s Cate Conrad as all three cleared 11-6. Hansen got it on her first try, to give her an edge over both Ginie and Conrad, who got it on their second and third, respectively. At 12-0, Hansen – whose previous best was an 11-9 – also made it on her first try while Ginie got it on her second and Conrad missed all three. Neither Hansen nor Ginie cleared 12-3, giving Hansen the title on no misses at 12-0.

 

• Baldwin captured its second straight Class 4A 3,200 relay title with the foursome of Shea Griffith, Rachel Watkins, Kami Moore and Irelyn Kennedy leading from start to finish, winning with a time of 9:30.27, more than 21 seconds clear of runner-up Bishop Miege. Kennedy also added runner-up finishes in the 1,600 and 3,200 and Moore was runner-up in the 800.

 
 

• Olathe West continued its impressive reign in the Class 6A 3,200 relay, capturing its fifth straight championship in the event. McKenna Taldo, Liz Browning, Laynie Clements and Jasmine Stiede teamed up to win in 9:25.52, four-plus seconds ahead of Washburn Rural. Stiede and Clements were the lone holdovers from last year’s championship team.