Top All Time Kansas Distance guys

chgray wrote:

To throw a little petro on the fire, some of Van Rose's teams that went on to run state were a bit weaker than Liberty, Lees Summit and Ble Springs teams. Some of Van's championship teams were like 3rd place at KC Metro's meet. It appears that the decline of power house teams from Wichita has aided the Sunflower Leagues dominance.

I hear ya. Like his team this year which won the 13th straight cross title only took 14th at Griak and definitely wasn't as tough as the powerhouse Missouri teams you mention. But, two points, to throw a little water on the fire: 1) he got this year's team to win the title despite losing 6 of the top 8; and 2) he is the only coach in Kansas history to have a high school team ranked in the top 20 by The Harrier. It's a pretty big achievement to crack the Harrier's apparent bias against Kansas teams.

hawk eye.. wrote:anyone notice that the 'big school'division 2 mile champion in 1977 was the infamous 'genius-impostor-criminal' Jim Hogue? 9:20. I've never heard it mentioned or written that he was the actual State Champion, before.

Woe!! You're saying this is the same guy who won the Kansas title? (I realize I just repeated what you already said.) Here's a link about him and I do recall him going back to High School after graduating but that was as a runner in California.

Did you just discover something or is this common knowledge?

no, most Kansas Citians knew he was a good runner at Washington High, but I don't know how many realize that he was the Kansas State Champion in the 5A-(biggest school) division.

& third in the Mile & XC the same year. Very good high school runner. I know that kind of talent is still in WYCO, if only we could get it back out. Hell Wyandotte High was still winning Track titles in the 90's. Very sad.

Wyco Loco wrote:

& third in the Mile & XC the same year. Very good high school runner. I know that kind of talent is still in WYCO, if only we could get it back out. Hell Wyandotte High was still winning Track titles in the 90's. Very sad.

Yeah, we used to have a JV T&F dual meet with Wyandotte every year and the coaches took it as seriously as any varsity meet -- in fact Frye had moved over to Northwest by then. I knew about Wyandotte's history but my teammates on a summer-baseball league (who weren't distance runners) didn't (practices started during track season.) We had a baseball game scheduled for the same day as the JV meet and I told my teammates that we were going to have to miss the baseball game. Because we were all varsity (but not the very top guy in our respective events) my teammates said in unison, "That's a JV meet we won't be in that" and I said (I was a Senior), "This is against Wyandotte, I'm pretty sure the coaches are going to ask us to be in it." And sure enough we were and every point seemed to be of great concern to them. I never kept track of team scores in T&F so I honestly don't remember who won.

someone mentioned that the 'inner city' -code for mostly black-high schools in KC, aren't fielding the powerhouse teams that they did in the 60's or 70s anymore...or even in the events that they dominated the Shawnee Mission schools in: sprints, jumps, relays. The schools like Wyandotte, Central (remember Ken Randle), Sumner, etc. Is that true? Even in the sprints and jumps? Why?

Our first track meet of the year, all 3 years I was in school at SMN, was a triangular with Wyandotte and Lawrence. A tough meet to start the season. I battled the likes of Kent Mcdonald, Bill Carpenter, Lawrence Smith, Lenis Boswell, Joe Clark, etc....tough guys.

chgray wrote:I would have never have accomplished what I did without my 1 1/2 years as one of Verlyn's boys.

Right on.

Does It Matter? wrote:

chgray wrote:I would have never have accomplished what I did without my 1 1/2 years as one of Verlyn's boys.

Right on.

I don't know.....let's not get carried away. There were alot of fine runners from the other Shawnee Mission schools too, during Schmidt's tenure. Whether they all would have run better under Schmidt is questionable. But, loyalty to one's coach is admirable in this day and age.

shawnee mission district wrote:I don't know.....let's not get carried away. There were alot of fine runners from the other Shawnee Mission schools too, during Schmidt's tenure. Whether they all would have run better under Schmidt is questionable.

Yes, I agree with you too. Unfortunately we can't take a time machine to test out which coach/system would suite us best. We're pretty much given only one chance to vest into the program the guy or gal who's telling us to go out and run every day presents or not. I think the more fully vested one's faith in a coach is, the better the runner turns out to be.

Personally, I hate all those movies where the fat and old football players blubber about how much "coach" turned them into better beef eating/heart attack machines but as a runner I can completely relate to the idea that if a coach has made you into a better person and/or runner you want to acknowledge that.

great job digging up those state track meet results going back 40 years. Is there anyway you could do the same for cross country?

My first high school mile was in that SMN/Wyandotte/LHS meet in 1972. That was the last year they held that meet and it was tough. I it was a pretty crisp/cool spring day and JScott dominated the mile. I had to double back in the Sprint Medley and I was so far behind Joe Clark it wasn't even funny. That North track was the best cinder track I ever ran on. The North Relays were great because of the way Gish took care of that track.

Does It Matter? wrote:

2) he is the only coach in Kansas history to have a high school team ranked in the top 20 by The Harrier. It's a pretty big achievement to crack the Harrier's apparent bias against Kansas teams.

Point of clarification: Emporia was ranked 17th pre-season in 1994 after returning 4 of 7 (including 1, 2, 4, 5) from a team that was honorable mention in the Harrier rankings in 1993. That team didn't end up ranked at the end of the season (which is obviously what matters, and was, I assume, your point), as SMNW upset EHS and began their current win streak.

Jayhawk wrote:

That North track was the best cinder track I ever ran on. The North Relays were great because of the way Gish took care of that track.

you are right about that. It was a really fast cinder track, as Gish personally manicured that track daily, with a tractor, rakes and steam roller. We'd see him from our classroom windows starting about 2pm.

Jayhawk wrote:

My first high school mile was in that SMN/Wyandotte/LHS meet in 1972. That was the last year they held that meet and it was tough. I it was a pretty crisp/cool spring day and JScott dominated the mile. I had to double back in the Sprint Medley and I was so far behind Joe Clark it wasn't even funny. That North track was the best cinder track I ever ran on. The North Relays were great because of the way Gish took care of that track.

at that season opener in '72; what was funny was; Clipboard Charlie was there lurking around taking notes, spying for Schmidt. I remember we gave him some good natured 'trouble'. One of our guys told him, "tell Verlyn I ran 10 x 440 in 60 an hour before the meet". Clipboard had a good comeback, "then that would explain why you ran so poorly"....lol....Clipboard Charlie was fun to mess with because he was so calm and deadpan in his nature with a quiet voice. (the opposite of Schmidt)...

Charlie Gray, if you see this; I often wondered was Clipboard an unofficial assistant of Schmidt's? Was he there at practice with s stop watch, etc?

Coach Schmidt was a piece of work... He's running alongside screaming his lungs out and yells... get that dog faced bastard. I just about fell over.

That is hilarious and kinda sad at the same time. A grown man in his 40s calling a 17 year old kid a 'dog faced bastard'....but funny, in a cruel kind of way, as long as it was you and not me. feel flatered. As East's # 6-7 guy most of my senior year in cross country, I didn't even rate a Schmidt insult. that was when you knew you had made it, at least onto the radar.

X-C guy..not so good in track wrote:

great job digging up those state track meet results going back 40 years. Is there anyway you could do the same for cross country?

Thy ask & thy shall receive.

wichita city league...but no individuals. team only...and all sports included

A name that popped out at me, for the 'what ever happened to' , dept. is Pfley, from Ottawa. He burst on the scene, taking some big scalps in high school, then disappeared.