While Free State High sophomore distance runner Kain Anderson didn’t exactly come out of nowhere this spring — following his junior-high season in ’09, he moved up to the Firebirds’ varsity team for the final two weeks of the season and qualified for last fall’s state cross country meet — it would have been hard (even for him) to predict this.

In the wake of last week’s performance in the regional meet — during which he finished second and third, respectively, in the 3,200- and 1,600-meter runs while helping the Firebirds’ 4×400-meter relay team to a third-place finish — Anderson has emerged as the surprise of the 2010 prep track and field season, a soft-spoken distance runner with the potential to leave today’s Class 6A state meet in Wichita with multiple medals.

Free State’s Kain Anderson will compete in four events at this weekend’s state meet.

“It’s pretty ridiculous to go from not doing anything last year to (qualifying for state in) three events this year — that’s a pretty big step,” said Anderson, who’ll also compete for the Firebirds’ 4×800-meter relay team, giving him four events at the state meet. “It’s an amazing feeling.”

Anderson’s times in the 1,600 (4:24) and 3,200 (9:40) are among the best in the state, and since a breakout performance in April’s Kansas Relays, he has been shedding time steadily.

He also has been asked to shoulder a sizable load for the Firebirds boys team, which will be looking to build upon its third-place showing at regionals.

At last week’s meet, for instance, he competed in three events, all of which were held within a 90-minute span, with only a 10-minute period between the 3,200 and 4×400-meter relay — though that didn’t stop Anderson from clocking a personal-best 51-second split in the final event of the night.

“The difficult thing is it really took his maximum effort in every event,” FSHS coach Steve Heffernan said. “Not all guys have to do that at a regional, but he did, and it was impressive.”

This weekend’s meet should offer a minor reprieve, however, as his four events will be spread out between two days, leaving Anderson hopeful he can improve a bit upon his times from last week.

And in a town with a reputation for regularly producing some of the state’s top distance athletes, Anderson appears poised to take over as Lawrence’s next great runner.

“The next two years are going to be very exciting,” Heffernan said. “The improvement we’ve seen from all of our distance runners between their sophomore and junior years has been very big, and if he can come close to that, it’s going to be good.”

Twenty will compete for LHS today

The Lawrence High track and field team will look to build off a successful recent stretch when this weekend’s Class 6A state meet kicks off today at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.

A year after the Lions boys team finished seventh at state, LHS qualified 20 athletes — nine in individual events and three relay teams — this spring.

“We hope we show up,” Lions coach Jack Hood said. “We’ve had a good last couple weeks, and we hope this is the big finale. Some of our kids are seeded pretty high, some are seeded a lot lower. You just hope you improve.”

Among the athletes with the potential to medal this weekend are distance runner Roy Wedge, thrower Blake Hocking, hurdler Ryan Marienau and both the boys and girls 4×800-meter relay teams.

“We haven’t put too much pressure on them, but I want to see what they can do,” Hood said. “See what they do in their last chance to compete in a Lawrence High jersey.