Around the time many teenagers started heading home to meet weekend curfew on Friday, Kapaun Mt. Carmel sophomore Ava Claassen proceeded to the starting line for the Shawnee Mission North Relays 3,200-meter run.
 
Just over 10 minutes later, Claassen was the life of a record-setting party.
 
After posting times in two previous meets that put her in the middle of some of Kansas’ elite high school distance runners of all time, Claassen moved to the front of the pack with her winning run of 10:01.55 on a calm, cool evening. Claassen shattered the previous state record of 10:07.96, a converted 2-mile time set by former Shawnee Mission Northwest standout Molly Born in 2016.
 
Claassen topped a field of 30 other Kansas competitors by more than 40 seconds on Friday in her latest dominating 3,200 performance. It came on the heels of runs of 10:17.49 at the Campus Invitational on April 24 and a 10:16.34 at the El Dorado Invitational on May 1 that anchored Claassen in the state’s all-time top 5 for the event.
 
“My training has really helped and the weather was perfect,” said Claassen, who arrived at the meet around 3 p.m. but did not compete until after 10. “No wind. It was a little bit cold, I could see my breath. I stood on the start line and I was like, ‘I’m ready for this. I’m ready for this.’”
 
With the track announcer lauding her season accomplishments, Claassen ran the first 1,600 in 5:07, then cranked up the pace to put her teammates, coaches and spectators on notice. Her closing 1,600 of 4:54 was just off her personal-best open time of 4:53.88.
 
“She really hasn’t been in a race yet,” said Gretchen Bina, Kapaun’s girls cross country coach and track assistant. “Each time she’s racing it’s like she’s racing the clock and just trying to figure out, ‘How fast can I go?’ We’ve been setting goals of let’s bring the first mile in at this and then see what we can do.”
 
In that respect, Claassen has been a turbo-charged sports car on a test drive.
 
Coming off a solid freshman year in which she finished 15^th at the Class 5A state cross country meet and 10^th in the 5A 3,200 at the state track meet, Claassen put together a strong cross country campaign last fall. She set Greater Wichita Athletic League and school records in the 5K, running 17:11.36 at the league meet before finishing second to Salina Central’s Kaylie Shultz at state while helping the Crusaders win the team title.
 
Claassen, who ran her season-best 11:18.97 in a runner-up finish to Wichita North’s Nelly Puente at last year’s GWAL track meet, quickly showed her progress in the 3,200 this spring by running 10:46.14 in late March at the Wichita Southeast Invitational. But her latest stretch has been on another level, taking her past runners like Born, former Girard standout Cailie Logue, injured Seaman senior Ryin Miller and recent Salina Central standout Katelyn Rupe on the state’s all-time honor roll.
 
“I haven’t really been paying attention to other peoples’ times,” said Claassen, who did acknowledge her awareness of the state record. “I’ve just been paying attention to my own times and how my body feels. I just keep trying to lower my time as the season goes on.
 
“I’m not striving toward a time goal. I’m just looking to run lower than the time before.”
 
That approach has put her in lock step with Bina in her training approach. While Bina has steered Claaseen toward conservative first halves of races, the two have worked on peeling one to two seconds off early-race 400 splits as the season progresses.
 
“If you see her run, it’s clear that she’s got more in the tank,” Bina said. “She’s just out there smiling and she doesn’t look like she’s in distress. For me, it’s amazing because I just haven’t seen that before.
 
“But it’s also just fun to watch. She’s such a great kid and just works so hard. I was admiring her on Friday. She was so gracious and humble and it was so cool to see that.”
 
Claassen celebrated Friday’s achievement by taking pictures with several fellow athletes and sharing the good news in the Crusaders’ cross country group chat. One of Claassen’s teammates, senior Taylor Barringer, also set a school record at the meet, running 2:13.29 to win the 800.
 
“That whole group chat was just blowing up,” Claassen said. “They all sent videos congratulating me. It was a good night for us girls.”
 
Improvement in the 3,200 from this point could bring Claassen under 10 minutes. Her first attempt at that will come Friday in the GWAL meet at Wichita Northwest.
 
While Claassen said she wasn’t expecting such a rapid rise to a state record, it also hasn’t caught her totally off guard.
 
“If I think about it, it does seem surreal, but I also think about how good I’ve felt and that balances it out,” Claassen said. “I felt really strong. As I was coming into the last few laps, my coaches were yelling at me like, ‘You’re on pace to get the record. If you want the record, go get it.’
 
“Coming down to that last 100, I was looking at the scoreboard and my time was still in the 9 minutes. I was like, ‘OK, I can get this.’ I crossed the line and looked up at my time and couldn’t help but smile.”
 

OTHER SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD STANDOUTS

• Salina Central junior Kaylie Shultz set a school record in the 1,600 on Friday in the Salina Central Invitational, running 4:50.63. The time was the best in Kansas this season and surpassed former teammate Katelyn Rupe’s 4:53.45 that she ran at last year’s Central Invitational. Shultz also set a school record in the 800 (2:15.64) last month at the Buhler Invitational. Shultz’s teammate, senior Allison Robinett, won the shot put with a personal-best 42-5.75, tops in 5A this spring.
• Andale’s Rylee Meyer ran a personal-best 11.61 in the 100 meters to win a showdown with Wichita Northwest’s Kiera Smith in a battle of top senior sprinters Friday at the Goddard Invitational. Smith also set a PR with her 11.68. Meyer also topped Smith in the 200, running 25.02 to Smith’s 25.40, and added golds in the 300-meter hurdles (44.79) and long jump (18-2). Meyer’s junior teammate, Paige Brand, set personal bests in winning the discus (138-10) and shot put (37-9).
• Wichita Heights senior Aaliyah Bolden remained unbeaten in the 100 meters this season, winning the Derby Invitational on Friday in 12.24. That was just off the 12.18 she ran May 1 at the El Dorado Invitational. Bolden is also unbeaten this season in the 200 heading into Friday’s GWAL meet.
• Hesston senior Ashley Lehman broke her own meet record in the 400 meters Thursday at the Hesston Invitational, winning in 55.18. Lehman also took gold in the 100 (11.99), 200 (25.65) and pole vault (11-6) to earn athlete of the meet.
• Marion junior Dylan Kraus set a school record in the 1,600 in her victory at Remington’s Larry Brown Invitational on Friday. Kraus ran 5:22.90. Kraus also holds Marion’s top times in the 400 (57.71) and 800 (2:18.85), set at last year’s Class 2A state track meet.

 

SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS BOYS TRACK AND FIELD STANDOUTS

• McPherson freshman Kinnick Anderson earned Hesston Invitational athlete of the meet Thursday after sweeping the long jump and triple jump titles. Anderson’s winning leaps of 20 feet in the long jump and 42-2.5 in the triple jump were both less than 2 inches off his season bests.
• Sterling senior Zane Farney set personal bests in the 100 meters (10.96), 110 hurdles (14.68) and 300 hurdles (39.01) on Friday at the Ellinwood Invitational. Farney won both hurdles races and finished third to Chase’s Malik Carson and Ellinwood’s Carson Asher in the 100.
• Buhler senior Zach Friesen ran a personal-best 40.23 in his fifth-place finish in the 300 hurdles Friday at the Shawnee Mission North Relays. Friesen is the school record holder in the 110 hurdles (14.49).
• Udall senior Hayden Green threw the discus 160 feet, 3 inches to set a school record and win the Udall Invitational title by almost 13 feet on Friday. Green surpassed his previous best by more than 9 feet.
• Andale’s 3,200-meter relay of Roman Lubbers, Toben Easter, Jack Cutler and Lane Martin eclipsed a 28-year-old school record in the event with their second-place finish to Bishop Carroll at Friday’s Goddard Invitational. The Indians ran 8:11.61, topping the previous mark of 8:12.3.