Up to speed: Free State sprinter Ronald White fired up for ‘singles’

photo by: Richard Gwin

Free State High's Ronald White finishes the boys 100 Friday at the 89th Kansas Relays at Rock Chalk Park.

Since the seventh grade, Free State High senior sprinter Ronald White has focused most of his time on running track.

Beyond competing for the Firebirds each spring, White trains in the summer with an AAU program out of Topeka, running in meets across the Midwest.

All of that work culminated in a state championship last season in the Class 6A boys 4×100 relay, winning in 42.89 seconds alongside Avin Lane, Nathan Thomas and Tyler Odell. But there was one thing missing for White: qualifying for state in an individual event.

Last year, White painfully missed out on qualifying in two events. He missed the cut for the 100-meter dash by 0.05 seconds and was 0.22 seconds away in the 200.

White didn’t leave anything to chance this season. At regionals last weekend, he qualified for state in three events, finishing third in the 100 (11.29 seconds) and fourth in the 200 (23.02). The state meet begins at 8 a.m. Friday at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium.

“It still hasn’t clicked in, honestly,” White said. “Like, ‘Really? I made it to single events for once?’ It’s a really good feeling. I like it.”

The difficulty of the 100 is the effort it takes to shave time. A slow start or bad finish is all it takes to ruin a race. That’s why he likes the 200 better, because there’s a larger margin for error.

At the beginning of last season, White was running alongside Lane, a former Free State sprinter, and Lawrence High senior JD Woods. Lane and Woods went 1-2 in the 100 at state, and White was left wondering what could’ve been.

White injured his groin during the Kansas Relays and gained 0.5 seconds — a ton of time in the 100 — when he returned to the track.

“It’s nothing big,” he thought to himself. “It’s going to come back.”

Eventually he started feeling like himself and worked his way to a state title in the 4X100 relay.

“I would say the most improvement I’ve seen in him is his team work and team attitude,” Free State coach Jordan Rose said. “I think that he has grown a lot as far as encouraging the other kids and making sure that they are taken care of — making sure that he is a good team leader.”

All of those near-misses last season led to this season’s success, making it extra special for White, who has signed to run at Allen Community College.

“I worked really hard this summer to at least get a PR or something higher like just be able to make it to state,” White said. “I’m really happy I got there.”

Rose added: “You always want to see something like that happen for a senior. He puts in work all year for this. He talks about track all of the time.”

Heading into the state meet, with more races to run than usual, White is excited and nervous. He’s seeded 13th for the 200 prelims and 15th in the 100. Only the top eight return to finals.

“My personal goal is to get into finals in the 100 or 200, or both would be nice,” White said. “Mostly for the 100, I want to be able to come out smooth and come out really good — have no butterflies.”