photo by: Matt Tait

From left to right, Free State's 4x800 relay team of Jack Keathley-Helms, Jake Loos, Jake Hedges and Ben Shryock took second place at the state track meet in Wichita on Saturday, May 28, 2022.

In his first race on the final day of his decorated Free State High running career, FSHS senior Ben Shryock was right where he wanted to be, running with his friends and helping the Firebirds to a second-place finish in the boys 4×800 relay at Saturday’s state track meet in Wichita.

After winning a state title in the 3,200 on Friday, Shryock also took sixth place in the 1,600 on Saturday. All three results merely added to Shryock’s terrific high school career in both track and cross country.

A couple of hours after the 1,600, the Harvard-bound Shryock said the fact that his prep career was now over already had sunk in.

“It hit me pretty quickly, actually,” he said. “Right when I was going on a cool down jog after winning the 3,200 on Friday, I just had this feeling of being content with how these last four years went, all the work I put in and everything I got out of it. It was a pretty peaceful and cool moment.”

With that vibe carrying him through Friday night and into Saturday, Shryock said he felt loose and free throughout the day.

“Our team had hopes of winning that 4×800 relay,” he said of the squad that finished just 3.6 seconds out of a state title. “We were all in on that today, but, even though you always want more, we were happy with second place because we left it all out there on the track. Then, in the mile, I was really just running with what I had left. That was kind of just the icing on the cake. Any medal at that point was just great.”

Shryock was joined on the 4×800 relay team by Jacob Loos, Jake Hedges and fellow-senior Jack Keathley-Helms. Fittingly, in his final individual race as a Firebird — Saturday evening’s 800 — Keathley-Helms joined Shryock in finishing sixth in 1:58.99.

Keathley-Helms also ran the anchor leg of Free State’s 4×400 relay that was the final event at this year’s meet. That group, which also included Roman Jasso, Michael Romito and Elijah Sabatini, finished sixth in 3:31.24.

Romito was another double-podium Firebird on Saturday. He finished fourth in the 400 in 50.41 seconds earlier in the day.

“It was definitely a better place than I expected,” Romito said of finishing fourth. “There was a lot of really strong competition in that race, so finishing fourth was pretty awesome.”

He said he was a little mentally and physically fatigued going into Saturday but also noted that “the adrenaline of the race will always take over and you forget about the aches and pains.” He also said running the meet’s last race brought its own adrenaline.

“It was so fun to run in the last event,” he said. “I love our group of guys and we have great chemistry. We only have one senior on the relay, but that being his last race definitely motivated us to run for him. We didn’t quite run the time we would have liked but we made the podium.”

One day after watching three Free State girls pole vaulters reach the podium, the FSHS boys came close to landing two on the medal stand. Both Logan Schwab and Dylan Farrell cleared 11 feet, 6 inches, but Schwab’s came on his first attempt and Farrell’s on his second, putting Schwab in seventh place and Farrell in 10th.

The Free State boys team was the top city finisher at this year’s state meet. Both FSHS teams finished in eighth plae, but the boys scored 33 points and the Free State girls tallied 31.

Reese Hulcher was the Saturday’s top female finisher for Free State, with a second-place medal in the high jump. After hitting 4 feet, 10 inches on her first jump of the day, Hulcher cleared 5 feet and 5-2 in one try each and then nailed 5-4 on her second attempt to claim second.

Later, junior Aubrey Duncan placed fifth in the javelin with a top throw of 122 feet, 8 inches.

“Overall, I think we competed well, and walking away from this meet, our team and definitely our coaches will be really fulfilled knowing we competed hard and represented ourselves and Free State in a great way,” Shryock said.

Lawrence High’s day was a little less eventful, but still featured a couple of memorable moments.

LHS senior Avion Nelson brought home fifth place in the triple jump and was actually in third place for a portion of the afternoon.

After hitting a jump of 45 feet, 3.5 inches to move into third, Nelson watched two competitors pass him and bump him to fifth almost immediately.

Initially disappointed about dropping down the leaderboard, Nelson quickly recovered and said he felt great pride in finishing his LHS career with a medal at state.

“I still had a great season,” he said. “I PR’d a lot and I’m so glad I went out with a bang like that.”

He called it the perfect ending to a memorable prep career.

“After I got my medal and took pictures on the podium, I went back and hugged everybody,” Nelson said. “They really supported me this season, people who didn’t make it to state, JV and I really enjoyed and appreciated every one of them. So I wanted to celebrate this with everyone.”

The Lawrence High girls 4×400 relay team of Harper Dye, Jaylie Hohman, Destiny Savannah and Brenna Schwada finished off the meet for the Lions with a seventh-place finish in 4:14.30.

The LHS girls finished in 24th place with seven points. The LHS boys finished slightly higher, in 22nd place, but also with seven points.

Olathe Northwest edged out Shawnee Mission Northwest to win the Class 6A girls team title, 76-75. Olathe North’s boys, meanwhile, lapped the field, scoring 112 points to finish well ahead of second-place Shawnee Mission East (56) to take the boys 6A team title.

photo by: Matt Tait

Free State’s Reese Hulcher.

photo by: Matt Tait

Free State’s Aubrey Duncan.

photo by: Matt Tait

From left to right, Free State’s 4×400 relay team, Roman Jasso, Michael Romito, Elijah Sabatini and Jack Keathley-Helms.

photo by: Matt Tait

Free State’s Michael Romito.

photo by: Matt Tait

Free State senior Jack Keathley-Helms.

photo by: Matt Tait

LHS senior Avion Nelson.

photo by: Matt Tait

Pictured from left to right, the LHS girls 4×400 relay team is: Gabrielle Reed, Destiny Savannah, Brenna Schwada, Jaylie Hohman and Harper Dye.