Free State High School cross country runner Ryan Liston finishes in first at the boys Sunflower League championships Saturday at Rim Rock Farm.

Free State High senior Ryan Liston remembers sitting down for lunch with a friend last year, and they started talking about their future college options.

He liked Kansas University’s journalism program but didn’t think there was any way he would be good enough to make the school’s cross country and track team.

A year later, he did just that.

Liston held his signing ceremony, alongside several of his track-and-field teammates, Wednesday in the Free State library after signing his letter of intent to run for the Jayhawks.

“I was pretty confident that I would not be able to run at KU,” Liston said. “Just based on the times of the people who were running there and the times of people who had gone there — their high school times and whatnot.”

Liston has been a strong runner for the Firebirds for the past few years, but he transformed into an elite runner last year during the cross country season, when he won Sunflower League and regional titles. He points to his midseason win at the Haskell Invitational as the turning point to becoming a more aggressive runner. Instead of running in the middle of the pack and saving a push for the end, he started running in the front.

“Sometimes Ryan’s confidence level doesn’t always match his talent level,” FSHS cross country coach Steve Heffernan said. “He’s a part of great group of distance guys, and all these guys are a great class. But we recognized early on that Ryan had some talent. He just had to learn that he had that talent.”

KU distance coach Michael Whittlesey was also in attendance at the Haskell meet and told Liston he saw big improvements from a summer camp, especially more confidence.

“It just really made me have a goal to focus on,” Liston said of his meeting with Whittlesey. “It gave me more motivation to push because I realized I had worked myself to a position where I could actually make it to KU.”

Liston chose the Jayhawks a couple of days after taking an official visit in December, impressed with their facilities and resources, which he hopes will lead to improvement in his running mechanics and times. He picked KU over Drake University, Pittsburg State and Washington University in St. Louis.

“Right after the official visit, I was like, ‘If they’re offering me a spot, I’ve got to go here,'” said Liston, who was sporting a blue KU hat and track T-shirt. “The things they had at their disposal just really pushed it over the top for me.”

Four other Free State track and field athletes celebrated their college signings Wednesday.

Cole Stallard will run for Baker University, Nick Hocking signed with Johnson County Community College, Hannah Shoemaker will throw for Mid-America Nazarene University, and Kiara Clark will run hurdles for the Academy of Arts in San Francisco.

At last year’s Class 6A state track meet, Clark took fourth place in the 100-meter hurdles and second in the 300-meter hurdles, Shoemaker finished seventh in the discus, and Hocking was 14th in the discus. Stallard took 61st at last season’s Class 6A state cross country meet.