photo by: Shane Jackson

Free State senior Ethan Sharp takes off after receiving the baton from senior Brock Cordova in the 4x800-meter relay during the state track meet on Thursday at Cessna Stadium at Wichita State University in Wichita on May 27, 2021.

Free State’s 4×800-meter relay finished off a flawless season with a near-perfect race during the Class 6A state track and field meet last Thursday at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.

The quartet of Ben Shryock, Brock Cordova, Ethan Sharp and Jack Keathley-Helms led for seven of the eight laps on their way to capturing a state title with a personal-best time of 7:54.11. The mark ended up being four-plus seconds faster than runner-up Manhattan High.

It completed the important postseason sweep for the Firebirds. They won a Sunflower League title, regional crown and state championship in the 4×800-meter relay to put the finishing touches on the undefeated season in the event.

“We all know none of it came easy,” said Sharp, who is a senior. “We all know everything we’ve done is years in the making. There is a lot of trust too. We all have a lot of experience out here running this race, running it as a team really.”

The journey to this moment really started in 2018, when Sharp and Cordova came into the program as freshmen. Maresa Cuevas, who has been coaching the distance team for four years, noticed their ability to set the tone of the entire group from Day 1.

“They automatically had this leadership just around them,” Cuevas said. “They just always ran together, worked well together, pushed each other, competed with each other, (and) just really enjoyed each other’s company. It was (a) really fun group to work with.”

photo by: Shane Jackson

Free State senior Ethan Sharp runs in the 4×800-meter relay during the state track meet on Thursday at Cessna Stadium at Wichita State University in Wichita on May 27, 2021.

It didn’t lead to results right away. Free State finished fifth in the 4×800-meter relay at its regional meet in 2018, coming up just short of qualifying for the state meet.

Shryock and Keathley-Helms joined the program the following year as freshman, and fit right into the new culture being established. Those four linked up to become a relay team, and they eventually ended up in Wichita at the state meet where they came in eighth in the event.

That’s when they knew they were on the brink of something special.

“After the 2019 season, we kind of just blended together very well,” Keathley-Helms said. “We see each other everyday — five days a week — for the last three years.”

“It’s a little cliche, but we really have become a family,” Shryock added. “Us four and the whole Free State team. It is a close-knit group.”

photo by: Shane Jackson

Free State’s Jack Keathley-Helms competes in the 4×800-meter relay during the state track meet on Thursday at Cessna Stadium at Wichita State University in Wichita on May 27, 2021.

As a result, the expectations would have been high for this group last spring before the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. Instead of sulking, though, they kept putting in the work and led the cross-country squad to an undefeated season and a state crown last fall.

Despite coming off a state title in the fall, FSHS wasn’t sure what to expect entering the track season. After all, track has different conditions and types of races than cross-country. Yet this group maintained that momentum with a commitment in practice throughout the spring.

“I was most impressed with how they came together and were able to accomplish that as a team and continue to improve throughout the season,” FSHS head coach Jordan Rose said.

photo by: Shane Jackson

Free State senior Brock Cordova competes in the 4×800-meter relay during the state track meet on Thursday at Cessna Stadium at Wichita State University in Wichita on May 27, 2021.

Because of the depth of the relay squad, this exact quartet didn’t actually run in every race together. Senior Christopher Stone and sophomore Carson Marsh were both mixed in throughout the year to keep everybody fresh. FSHS still won every varsity race in the 4×800-meter relay this spring.

When the state champion squad did run together, they absolutely delivered. They set the bar high with a time of 8:02.95 during the “Little KU” meet at Lawrence High on April 14. They also posted a mark of 7:55.56 to win the league title by a whole 14 seconds.

To cap off the year, Free State’s relay crew posted the second-fastest time in school history at the state meet. Shryock took the lead on his second lap while posting a split of 1:56 as the first leg. Cordova needed two minutes to finish his two laps as the second leg.

Sharp posted a split of 2:01 before passing the baton to Keathley-Helms to close it out. He finished off the victory with a time of 1:57 over the final two laps.

“That jumbotron, I kind of kept looking at myself and was like ‘I look really slow, let’s go a little faster,'” Keathley-Helms said.

In the end, it was more than enough to secure a state championship. And while all these runners had success as individuals, it was especially satisfying to climb the top podium as a relay squad.

“If any of us didn’t put in the work that we did, there would be no chance that we would come close to winning,” Cordova said. “What we did was because of what we did as a team.”