Perry-Lecompton senior Shane Quinlan gets loose before the 4x400-meter relay Sunday afternoon at Wichita State's Cessna Stadium on May 26, 2019.

Perry-Lecompton senior Shane Quinlan stepped slowly down from the podium after helping his 4×400-meter relay finish second Sunday afternoon at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium.

It marked the official end of his track career with the Kaws. When asked to pinpoint a favorite moment from his time with PLHS, it would have been easy for him to pick any one of his many first-place finishes throughout his career. One day earlier, Quinlan had even secured a state title in the Class 3A boys 400-meter run.

Yet, the lasting memory Quinlan will have is from his final race. And not just because it was the last one. Quinlan couldn’t have pictured a better way to close out his career, as he handed off the baton to his younger brother, Caidon Quinlan, during the 4×400-meter relay.

“That was so cool,” Quinlan said. “Everyone I have talked to hasn’t got the chance to run with their brother because their age is so far apart. It is just a special thing for me to get out there and run with him.”

Entering the state meet, Perry-Lecompton was considered the favorite to win the 4×400-meter relay in Class 3A boys. The Kaws had the No. 1 time in the state at 3:26.12, which they accomplished during their regional meet.

After multiple postponements via weather delays, PLHS managed to record a faster time Sunday afternoon. It still wasn’t enough to claim a state title in a highly-competitive race, which turned out to be one of the closer 4×400-meter relay races of the afternoon.

Shane Quinlan began the race in first and handed the baton off to sophomore Caidon Quinlan. Dalton Kellum was the third leg, while Colton Mallonee closed things out as the anchor. The relay unit ran a time of 3:23.11, which would have been good enough to set a new meet record.

Cheney had held the record in Class 3A boys with a time of 3:23.11 since 1996, meaning the Kaws’ time would have good enough for the gold in the previous 22 races. Scott Community won the event this year, however, and will go down in the record book with a mark fo 3:22.72.

“(The delay) came out for the better,” Quinlan said. “We got our legs fresh and got the state record.”

But Quinlan left his final weekend at the state track meet as a state champion and a record holder.

Despite not having a preliminary race, Quinlan delivered as the No. 1 seed by winning the 400-meter run. He ran a time of 49.52, which set a school record and was the fastest time in Class 3A boys all year.

It was a culmination of hard work by Quinlan, who claimed a runner-up finish in the same event last spring as a junior. He ran the fastest time in preliminaries before losing in the finals by .11 seconds. As a sophomore, Quinlan made the finals but did not finish the race.

“The past two years I have been wanting to get a championship in the 400. I have always been right there,” Quinlan said. “I was five feet away last year. It was always on my mind in practice, knowing I had a time to make.”

Quinlan added a bronze medal to his collection during his final appearance in Wichita. Quinlan ran a time of 22.37 to take third in the 200-meter run, finishing with 17 points for Perry-Lecompton’s boys track and field team.

After a successful tenure with the track team and football team, Quinlan will turn his attention to pursuing a major in engineering. But he still plans on coming back to Wichita next spring to cheer on Caidon Quinlan.

“It is a bittersweet moment, I’m going to have memories from here that last a long time,” Quinlan said. “(Caidon and I) will always have this moment together.”