State Track Recap

Piper's Devin Kerr and Turner's Chris Flores top boys' high jump

Piper senior Devin Kerr cleared the bar at 6-feet, 6-inches to win the Class 5A boys’ long jump at the KSHSAA state track and field meet in Wichita on Saturday.Devin Kerr didn’t set out to be a state champion high jumper.

Devin Kerr didn’t set out to be a state champion high jumper.

“This is my first year. I’m just jumping for fun. I really didn’t see myself here winning the whole thing.”

“I’m a hooper for real,” said the lanky Piper senior.

Indeed he is. Kerr was a stand-out on Piper’s state runner-up basketball team and is headed to Hutchinson Community College in the fall to play basketball for the Blue Dragons.

But Kerr’s decision to chase the school record this season, with his talent and hard work, took him even higher — to the top step of the podium at Wichita State University’s Cessna Stadium in front of an audience of thousands.

“It means a lot for our program because he’s the first high jumper in my twenty-year career here that we’ve ever got to be a state champion,” said head coach Josh Baxter. “To come here in this environment and then tie his own school record — it’s a pretty impressive performance.”

Kerr’s win was part of a big showing from the Piper boys, who collected 36 team points and placed fifth of thirty 5A teams in the meet.

Baxter also called out the across-the-board showing of his Pirates. “We had nine out of our eleven events get into finals, so I’m pretty proud of [that].”

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Chris Flores’s high jump career at Turner started humbly in 2023, his junior year, clearing just 5-feet, 2-inches at the rainy and frigid Wyandotte Relays in March. Flores stuck with it nonetheless, up to 5’ 8” by the end of the season, and hitting 6-feet to win the 2024 Wyandotte meet.

Flores continued to improve through the season, hitting a personal best of 6’ 4”, which he matched to claim the state runner-up position to Kerr’s winning 6’ 6” jump.

As coach Colin Chenoweth described it, “Every meet he just got consistently better and better and better. Chris has just worked his butt off this year, and it’s been great to watch him come here and compete and get up on that podium.”

With Class 5A boys’ long jump taking place on Saturday afternoon, the crowd was at its peak, filling the towering west grandstand, and aweing the Golden Bears senior. “All the people,” Flores said when asked what stood out to him about the experience. “There’s so many people here.”

With the season over, Flores is hanging up his spikes, headed first to junior college and then to Kansas State University to study engineering.

Medallists

Bishop Ward

• Tyler Holmes, 11, Boys' long jump, 2nd, 22' 7 1/4"

• Boys' 4×100-meter relay (Steven Mills, Davontae Davis, Micah Neely, Tyler Holmes) 4th, 43.58s

• Jailen Jefferson, 10, Boys' 110-meter hurdles, 8th, 15.90s

• Jailen Jefferson, 10 Boys' 300-meter hurdles, 8th, 42.69s

Bonner Springs

• McKenzie Campbell, 12, Girls' shot put, 4th, 38' 8 1/2"

• Addyson Thompson, 10, Girls' discus, 5th, 120' 5"

• Addison Vogel, 10, Girls' triple jump, 6th, 35' 8"

• Chasitee Sambol, 10, Girls' triple jump, 8th, 35' 3"

Piper

• Devin Kerr, Boys' high jump, 1st, 6' 6"

• Jayden Henry, 12, Boys' 300-meter hurdles, 2nd, 38.75s

• Jayden Henry, 12, Boys' 110-meter hurdles, 3rd, 14.63s

• Nora Turney, 10, Girls' 100-meter hurdles, 3rd, 15.36s

• Boys' 4×100-meter relay (Shinji Pollard, Zane Pudenz, JamarRe'Air Jarrett, Jayden Henry), 3rd, 42.54s

• Girls' 4×100-meter relay (Maia Dolinar, Nora Turney, Kylie Rice, Anneliese Lockwood), 4th, 49.42s

• Nora Turney, 10, Girls' 300-meter hurdles, 5th, 46.60s

• Boys' 4×800-meter relay (Quinn Hanson, Lukas Hein, Mikey Pruett, D.J. Thomas), 6th, 8:09.19s

• Anneliese Lockwood, 10, Girls' 400-meter, 7th, 59.66s

• Skyler Little, 11, Boys' 200-meter, 7th, 22.97s

• Skyler Little, 11, Boys' 100-meter, 8th, 10.87s

Sumner

• Sommyr Moore, 11, Boys' long jump, 3rd, 22' 2 1/2"

• Sommyr Moore, 11, Boys' triple jump, 3rd, 45' 4"

Turner

• Chris Flores, 12, Boys' high jump, 2nd, 6' 4"

Washington

• K'Lynn Lawrence, 11, Girls' 300-meter hurdles, 7th, 47.76s

Wyandotte

• Jaquelyn Perez-Vela, 12, Girls' 400-meter dash, 5th, 57.20s

Other Results

Bishop Ward

• Steven Mills, 12, Boys' 100-meter, 9th, 11.42s

• Steven Mills, 12, Boys' 200-meter dash, 9th, 22.63s

• Davontae Davis, 10, Boys' 100-meter, 10th, 11.44s

Bonner Springs

• Rylan Howard, 9, Boys' triple jump, 9th, 42' 1/2"

• Rylan Howard, 9, Boys' high jump, 13th, 5' 10"

• Dominic Schierbaum, 12, Boys' javelin, 14th, 143' 10"

• Chasitee Sambol, 10, Girls' javelin, 16th, 87' 6"

Piper

• Shinji Pollard, 10, Boys' 300-meter hurdles, 10th, 41.47s

• Girls' 4×400-meter relay (Nora Turney, Kylie Rice, Ella Eads, Anneliese Lockwood), 10th, 10th, 4:11.54s

• Anneliese Lockwood, 10, Girls' high jump, 11th, 4' 10"

• Aaron Henson, Boys' shot put, 11th, 49' 9"

• Maia Dolinar, 10, Girls' pole vault, 15th, NH

Sumner

• Micaela Patrick, 11, Girls' triple jump, 13th, 30' 11 1/2"

• Boys' 4×100-meter relay (Orie Scruggs, Sommyr Moore, Johnathan Bandy, D'Marrion Shine) DQ

Washington

• K'Lynn Lawrence, 11, Girls' 100-meter hurdles, 14th, 17.55s

• Girls' 4×400-meter relay (Zoie Johnson, Za'Niya Walker, Paulina Mercado Amado, K'Lynn Lawrence), 16th 4:26.91s

Wyandotte

• Jaquelyn Perez-Vela, 12, Girls' 200-meter dash, 11th, 25.94s