WICHITA — Manhattan High’s girls 4×800 relay had been chasing history for weeks.
On Saturday morning at the Class 6A State Track and Field Championships in Wichita, the Indians finally caught it.
The quartet of Allison Knopp, Zara Koehn, Lauren Perry and Gabrielle Converse captured the state title in a school- and state meet-record time of 9:15.63, helping lead Manhattan’s girls to a fifth-place team finish with 44 points at Wichita State’s University Stadium.
The time shattered the previous state meet record of 9:20.63 set by Shawnee Mission South in 2007 and eclipsed Manhattan’s own school record of 9:33.70 set earlier this season at the K-State Relays.
Knopp opened the race with a 2:21.41 split before Koehn followed with a 2:19.26. Perry then turned in a 2:17.47 leg and Converse anchored the victory with a 2:17.53 split as the Indians crossed the finish line more than four seconds ahead of the field.
“We had a meeting six weeks ago with Gabby to make a sacrifice for her individual events to be a part of the 4×800 team and go for the state record, because we knew 9:20 was in the cards,” head coach Kory Cool said. “Hats off to those girls. The race played out perfectly for them.”
The victory was the culmination of a season-long goal for a relay group that spent months talking about what was possible.
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time,” Converse said. “We knew we wanted to go out there and do something cool. Our coach was hyping us up before; he was like, ‘Hey, we’ve never won a 4×800 as a team before, let’s go do it today.’ I had that in my mind all weekend, thinking, ‘This is for the team,’ throughout the entire race.”
Converse, who competed in four events across the two-day meet, credited the relay’s success to the work her teammates put in throughout the season.
“I love them,” Converse said. “They’re so sweet. They work hard every single day. You see it in practice. They’ve worked hard all season. No one sees the hard work until meet day, but I see it every single day. I just want to say they’re the hardest-working ladies that I know.”
Perry echoed that sentiment after helping deliver the program’s first state title of the weekend.
“I love competing. It’s really fun to race with all my friends,” Perry said. “I love them so much. They really supported me. I really couldn’t be here without them or God.
“They push me every day. We’ve thought about this moment before, but it’s real now, and it’s amazing.”
The relay title highlighted another strong state meet for Manhattan’s girls.
Perry earned a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash in 58.73, while Converse added a sixth-place finish in the 800 in 2:18.55.
The Indians’ 4×100 relay team of Demya Gill, Sarah Oberreuter, Sophie Stanley and Michelle Jeje placed fourth in 48.69.
In the field events, senior Jorryn Hall finished runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 40-1 and added a sixth-place finish in the javelin at 125-4, capping a career that included three straight years of state medals.
“It’s amazing to be out here competing with all these amazing girls,” Hall said. “I wish I had taken first, but I still have years ahead of me that I can push myself. Obviously, no one wants to feel like this again, so I’m going to use this as motivation to push myself over the next couple of years.”
Hall will continue her track and field career at Austin Peay after graduation.
“Senior year went by so fast,” Hall said. “I love competing at Manhattan. I think it’s one of the most competitive schools in Kansas. I’m definitely going to miss it. All the hours that my siblings and I put in across basketball, volleyball, track — all of it — I wanted it to amount to something.”
Manhattan also received all-state performances from freshman Alexis Peabody, who placed fourth in the high jump at 5-4, and her sister junior Sophia Peabody, who finished sixth at 5-2. Alexis was the only freshman placer in the event, while Sophia earned back-to-back all-state finishes.
In her state debut, Callie Porter added a seventh-place finish in the triple jump at 36-4 1/4, while Kayla Cramer tied for eighth in the pole vault after clearing 10-0, matching the school record she set earlier this season.
“They’re young, and I’m very excited for what’s to come with them,” Cool said of the girls’ squad. “They’ve got to stay hungry. We left a lot of points out there, so there’s a big learning curve on that.”
While the girls were rewriting the record books, the boys were led by one final championship performance from senior Wilson Wesch.
Wesch captured the Class 6A state title in the 1,600-meter run in 4:21.39 and followed it with a runner-up finish in the 800 in 1:56.09, helping the Indians finish ninth in the team standings with 34.5 points.
“I thought I could do it, then around lap three I was pretty much kicked to the back,” Wesch said. “There was a lot of elbowing, and I got spiked a little bit, but I found my way back around the 500 mark. By the last 150, I knew it was mine.”
Wesch said the performance was less about the clock and more about the competition he faced.
“I haven’t run a lot of miles,” Wesch said. “I think I could go faster than that, honestly. It’s not really so much the time as knowing the people I beat. They are great competitors.
“I didn’t look at the time. I just kept it in my head that I was the best and never looked at anything to prove me otherwise.”
Cool echoed that Wesch’s ability to stay focused helped fuel his state championship performance.
“I’m not sure if we’ve ever had a guy score more points at state than he did at league,” Cool said. “He had all the tools. You just had to make sure he didn’t mess it up with his own thoughts and his own mind. He stayed focused, put in the work, and I’m really proud of him.”
Elsewhere for the boys, junior Leo Kane delivered a personal-best time of 14.64 to place third in the 110-meter hurdles. Senior Evan Middleton earned a runner-up finish in the shot put with a throw of 57-1 1/4 and also qualified for state in the discus.
Cool said both Hall and Middleton left everything they had on the field in their final state meet appearances.
“They’re both hurting. Double shot golds would have been awesome,” Cool said. “But I don’t think they could have done anything more. You can’t control what other people do. If they leave it out here, then that’s all we can ask.”
Freshman Brekett Kruse placed seventh in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 179-7.
“It took a lot of hard work. It’s a long season to get here, but to PR at state feels really good — it’s kind of crazy,” Kruse said. “I’ve had to adjust to a lot this year. I’m hoping I can place a lot higher next year, maybe top five or top three. Hopefully by my senior year, I can be standing in first place.”
Sophomore Lucas Strawn rounded out the boys medalists with an eighth-place finish in the pole vault, one of only two underclassmen to place in the event.
Manhattan’s season laid a foundation that Cool believes can continue to grow.
“Really proud of the group,” Cool said. “I think there are some areas where we left some things out there, and we just have to learn from it and make some adjustments and do better next time.”