Wellington junior Dru Zeka is an old pro at managing the demands of her busy track and field schedule, particularly under the glare of the State Outdoors spotlight.
 
Zeka navigated through a hectic afternoon schedule on the opening day of the 2025 state extravaganza to set a Class 4A meet record in the long jump while also advancing through preliminaries in the 400 meters and 400-meter relay. She completed that day’s work with her second consecutive 4A high jump title.
 
The Wellington standout was at it again on the first day of the state meet May 29 at Crossland Stadium, this time in the morning session and with a slightly modified itinerary in a more condensed time frame. So after taking the lead in the long jump with a mark that was three quarters of an inch shy of her meet record, Zeka was content to let it ride as she passed on her final three jumps to conserve energy for what eventually led to four gold medals in the two-day meet.
 

Zeka won her second consecutive 4A long jump title with a leap of 19 feet, sandwiching it between top prelim times in her new focus, the 100-meter hurdles, and an old standby, the 400. As midday passed, Zeka added her third state high jump title in as many tries, matching last year’s winning height of 5 feet, 8 inches.
 
Shifting her focus to the track for Saturday’s finals, Zeka led a 1-2 Crusader finish with sophomore Vivienne Wright in the 100 hurdles, winning in 15.27. She capped her meet with her third state 400 title, winning in 57.83.
 
Zeka returned to the long jump area after running 57.92 in the 400 prelims, good enough for the top seed in Saturday’s final. But with the high jump looming in the next session of field events, she remained a spectator as the other long jump finalists took aim at her third leap of 19 feet or better this season.
 
“I got back from the 400 and I knew I was dead, and knew I had high jump coming up,” Zeka said. “I just tried to keep my legs for the rest of the day.”
 
Zeka scratched on her opening attempt and stood in third place behind Andale senior Rylee Meyer and Paola freshman Berkley Meinig after going 17-8.25 on her second try. But while Meyer’s 18-4 and Meinig’s 18-2.5 went down as their bests, Zeka took the lead with her 19-foot jump on attempt No. 3.
 
While the loaded Friday morning schedule kept Zeka on the move, she said it works to her advantage.
 
“I think it distracts me and just settles my nerves, knowing that I have everything back to back,” said Zeka, who raised her career state meet medal count to 11, including nine golds. “I just have to rest my legs as much as I can.”

Zeka surpassed her 2025 state-meet record of 19-0.75 twice this season, leaping 19-2.75 at the Belle Plaine Relays and a career-best 19-5 at the Clearwater Invitational. While her latest state long jump victory paled to the 21 inches she outdistanced runner-up Meyer by in last year’s meet, she still won by 8 inches.
 

Zeka maintained her model of efficiency in the high jump.
 
Entering the competition at 5 feet, Zeka cleared that and the next three heights to secure gold at 5-6, where runner-up Brenika Rader of Eudora and third-place Jessa Losew of Buhler bowed out. Zeka added a first-attempt clearance at 5-8 to remain perfect before raising the bar to 5-10.25, which would have been a meet record.
 
“I honestly was super confident I could get it,” Zeka said of the 4A record of 5-10, set by Girard’s Morgan High in 1997 and 1998. “I thought I had it on the last one, but I just barely clipped. But I know I’ll be back next year.”
 
Zeka proved her ability to adapt. After running a leg of the 400 relay at state each of her first two seasons, Zeka turned her attention to the 100 hurdles this season. She won the event at five meets this spring, and posted her personal best of 14.79 in a runner-up finish to Wichita Collegiate sophomore Khloe Washington at the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail IV meet.
 

“I ran the 200 hurdles in middle school so I knew I had an idea of the technique,” said Zeka, who finished .33 ahead of Wright in the 4A final. “There are a lot of competitive sprinters and I didn’t think I could beat them, but I knew I’d have a chance in the hurdles.”
 
Zeka won the last of her four golds in the 400, running 57.92 in the finals after going .09 faster in the prelims. After running 57.44 to win last year’s 4A title, Zeka prepared for a state title defense with a personal-best 57.23 at the Andale regional.
 
“It just reassures me that it’s all worth it in the end,” Zeka said of her first-place haul. “All the work that I put in during the summer and in other sports, it all just adds up and comes together.”

 

FOUR-EVER HISTORIC: LITTLE RIVER’S OLANDER COMPLETES SECOND CAREER SWEEP
 
Havana Olander was rather simplistic in describing her historic moment at the State Outdoors.
 
“It feels pretty amazing,” said Olander, who didn’t elaborate much further with her description of an accomplishment that seemingly commanded much more.
 
After all, in winning the Class 1A triple jump title on Saturday, the Little River senior completed a career sweep of the event. Her four state titles in the triple jump is something only three other girls in state history had done in the event.
 
Olander joined Pratt-Skyline’s Michelle Egging (1990-93), Liberal’s Dalia Ingram (1993-96) and Ottawa’s Emery Keebaugh (2021-24) as the only girls in state history to win four straight triple jump titles.
 
But while the accomplishment of being a four-time champion is rare, it’s not something Olander was altogether unfamiliar with. In fact, it’s a feeling she’d already experienced this year.
 
In addition to being a championship-caliber jumper, Olander also was a key force in Little River’s run of four straight Class 1A Division I volleyball state championships with the Redskins capturing their fourth this fall. 
 
While not a complete been-there, done-that situation for Olander, her track accomplishment simply was the final chapter in an outstanding career that also saw her add a state basketball title to her resume in March.
 
“Getting it done in volleyball, I figured I could do it in track as well,” Olander said.
 
Olander burst upon the scene as a freshman in 2023 when she not only won her first Class 1A triple jump title, but did so with a state jump that had everyone buzzing. Olander soared 38 feet, 7.25 inches at the state meet to not only win by more than a foot, but also record the longest jump in any classification during the 2023 season.
 
That set the bar incredibly high. And though Olander never went over 38 feet again in her career, she always found a way to rise to the occasion when the state meet came around.
 
Her sophomore year, she was ranked second in 1A going into state behind Hutchinson Central Christian’s Jessa Losew, who ended up getting injured and missing the state meet. But Olander still had a battle on her hands with Marmaton Valley’s Janae Granere, who had taken runner-up to her in 2023.
 
But at state, Olander again dominated and won by more than a foot over Granere with a winning jump of 37-10.5 – her best of her sophomore season by nine inches. At that point, Olander said, the thought of becoming a four-time champion in the triple jump began to set in as a possibility and became a goal.
 
“I didn’t expect it at all freshman and sophomore year,” Olander said of her first two titles. “But my junior year, it seemed like something that if I worked hard, I could get it done.”
 
While Granere had graduated, Olander had arguably even more competition for the title her junior season. Though she had gone 37-9.25 during the season, that mark was just the third-best in 1A going into the state meet behind Hanover’s Gracie Bruna, who had gone 39-1.5, and Clifton-Clyde’s Sevy Wurtz, who had a 37-9.5. Losew was still around as well and had gone 37-5.25.
 
But once again, it was Olander who rose to the occasion, landing a 37-9.5 on her first attempt of the competition. Bruna couldn’t come close to her state-leading mark, and finished second at 37-2 while Wurtz wound up fourth with Onaga’s Lillie Weiser sliding into third.
 
“There’s a lot of pressure because there’s a lot of good girls jumping,” Olander said. “But it’s just go out and do your best and see where that gets you.”
 
This season might have been Olander’s biggest challenge yet. Though she won the event at every meet but one in which she competed, she only had gone over 37 feet three times and none of those came after going 37-4 at the April 23 Sterling Relays.
 
Olander went into this year’s state meet ranked just sixth in Class 1A. Golden Plains’ Brenlynn Rath led 1A with a 39-2.75 while Hanover’s Bruna (37-11), Ness City’s Taegin Liggett (37-11), Onaga’s Weiser (37-10) and Clifton-Clyde’s Wurtz (37-8) all had better marks during the season than Olander’s best of 37-4.
 

Even coming out of regionals, Olander’s winning regional mark of 36-8.5 trailed those posted by Rath (37-10.75) and St. Francis’ Avery Jensen (37-0.75).
 
“I was just hoping to jump the best I could at state,” Olander said. “I was a little nervous and it was special for them too. I’m friends with a lot of them and I was happy for what they’ve done. I just knew it would come down to whoever could jump the farthest on that day. I tried to focus on my eating and sleeping and preparing my body the best I could.”
 
Rath fired the first shot at state, going 37-2.75 on her first attempt while Olander only went 34-6.5. But as had been the case throughout her career, Olander found what she needed to get the job done. She sailed 37-6 on her second attempt and that mark held up as Rath never improved on her opening jump, fouling twice in the finals.
 
Wurtz took third at 36-8.5 while Weiser was fourth (36-2.75) and Jensen was fifth (36-1).
 
And with that, Olander made history.
 
“I’m not sure why I’m always able to do it,” she said. “But I’m glad I did. It’s been crazy and it’s been very special.”

 

UNIQUELY HER OWN: BASEHOR-LINWOOD’S SCOTT WINS 5A SHOT PUT, TRIPLE AND LONG JUMPS
 
Basehor-Linwood senior Kimberlee Scott has grown up viewing idle time as an arch enemy.
 
“My whole life, I’ve always wanted to be the versatile kid who does everything,” Scott said. “I’ve wanted to dance, power lift, wrestle, play tennis, do track. I’ve always been the kid who’s, ‘Oh, I have to run to this practice, I have to run to that practice.’ I’ve always wanted to stay busy.”
 
That approach might explain the unique combination of field events Scott has specialized in during her high school career. Scott, a key contributor to Basehor-Linwood’s girls wrestling championship team during the winter, has been one of Class 5A’s top triple jumpers and shot-put throwers the last two years.
 
In her final state meet, Scott had no peers, winning her second straight triple jump title and  first in the shot put. On the meet’s final day, Scott capped her first state appearance in the long jump with her third individual title while adding a silver medal as part of the Bobcats’ 1,600-meter relay team.
 

Scott, a Wichita State track and field signee, used her future home stadium to showcase her diverse field-event talents one last time in high school. She started the triple gold run in the shot put, an event she came within 6.5 inches of winning at state a year ago.
 
Scott’s final toss of 40 feet, 9.75 inches topped runner-up Paityn Fritz of Salina South by 9.25 inches and set her on her way to a big weekend.
 
“I’ve been looking for that since my freshman year,” said Scott, who won the first of three regional shot put titles as a freshman but was 12^th at state that year before finishing second last spring to Eisenhower’s Stella Kitt. “I’ve always dreamed of being a state champion in shot put.
 
“Coming so close last year, I felt like I was just barely touching the surface and this whole year, I’ve just been like, ‘I know I’m going to get to that. I know what I’m going to be able to do.’ I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way.”
 
Scott won the United Kansas Conference title in mid-May with a personal-best throw of 41-6.75. While she came up short of that at state, any of her final five throws would have won the event after an opening scratch.
 
After dethroning 2024 5A triple jump champion Paige Newland of Emporia to win last year’s title, Scott fended off Newland and other challengers to defend her crown. Scott posted a career best of 41-6.75 on her second attempt of the finals. The winning mark surpassed the 5A meet record of 41-5.5 set 30 years ago by Liberal’s Dahlia Ingram, but because of a tail wind that exceeded the legal limit, it was not recognized as a new meet record.
 
Newland also set a wind-aided PR of 40-10.75 to finish second for the second straight year.
 

Scott’s flirtation with the meet record contributed to two lengthy delays in the competition, as officials used steel measuring tapes to record her third attempt, which was 41-3, and the winning leap.
 
While the delays came on a warm Friday afternoon, Scott said they played to her advantage.
 
“It didn’t affect me in a bad way,” Scott said. “It let me get myself together mentally and not check out. Anything could still happen and that’s the fun aspect of competition.
 
“It gave me a minute to breathe and say, ‘Don’t get too excited. You might still have to compete at the end of the day.’”
 
Scott proved up to the challenge the following day in the long jump, an event she did not compete in prior to this season. The Bobcat standout showed signs of a breakthrough prior to state, winning the UKC title with a leap of 18-6 and the De Soto regional at 18-4.5.
 
Despite again facing Newland, who was last year’s 5A runner-up in the long jump to Hutchinson’s KeiRre Martinez, Scott overcame two early scratches to advance to the finals, where she landed a personal best of 18-6.5 on her penultimate attempt.
 
Newland, who had a personal best of 18-9 this season at the Lansing Invitational, finished second in 18-1.5.
 
“It was a not-surprising surprise,” Scott said of her long jump victory. “I felt like in the back of my head I knew that I was going to pull it out from wherever I needed to.
 
“After the scratches, I was like, ‘This isn’t the end.’ I kind of just re-focused and told myself I needed to handle business.”
 
Scott teamed with Avery Fischer, Alaina Schwisow and Katelyn Shockey for the runner-up finish in the 1,600 relay. The Bobcats matched their regional finish, trailing only St. James Academy, who used standout Ellie Wurtenberger’s anchor leg to win by .95 in 3:56.86.