"Calling all former state T&F champions" by Carol Swenson

As we close in on the final weekend in May, more and more people are finding out this year’s state meet marks the 100th running of the official KSHSAA State Track & Field Championships.

This is a significant landmark in the history of the KSHSAA and state track and field, marking the anniversary of the Association’s first official state high school championship event. And, boy have things changed since that first state meet held in Emporia in 1911 to today.

As part of this year’s centennial celebration, the KSHSAA and the Centennial Celebration Committee want to invite all former state track & field champions and the head coaches of championship teams to participate in several activities during the weekend, but especially the “Centennial Lap”, being held Saturday afternoon of the meet.

As of early last week, at least eight former Kansas preps who went on to represent the USA as Olympians have responded that they will be in attendance, some for the entire weekend while others for only one day. This group of special former Kansas preps will be leading Saturday’s “Parade of Champions”, helping with the presentation of medals during the weekend, and some of them will be meeting with this year’s state meet qualifiers at a special “meet and greet” on Thursday evening prior to the start of the weekend’s competition.

But, making contact with all the former state champions has been a monumental task.

The KSHSAA contacted the athletic director of every Kansas high school asking for the contact information of their former champions. Some schools responded in a big way, passing along all the information for every one of their former champions, individual and relays.

Some schools didn’t respond at all! But, it’s not too late.

This year’s meet is a significant milestone and the members of the Centennial Celebration want to have as many past champions join in as possible.

Each former state champion will be given free admission (if the KSHSAA knows you’re coming and the athletes pass through the proper pass gate) in addition to the opportunity to be part of the “Centennial Lap” and maybe even help out with the presentation of medals.

If you are a former state champion (both individual and/or relay team members), the former head coach of a state championship team, or you know of someone who was and you have their contact information (postal mail or email), just go to the KSHSAA website at http://www.kshsaa.org/TRACK/Anniversajry/Celebration.html to find a form which is to be returned to the Association’s office to notify them you are coming.

In addition to the “Centennial Lap”, the weekend will include a memorabilia display coordinated by former Kapaun-Mt Carmel and Wichita State University head coach John (JK) Kornelson in the WSU Koch Arena Multipurpose Room. It will be open during specific hours (I believe, 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday) so you will want to check out the times it is open. That in itself should be special!

The committee wanted to make sure this year’s competitors didn’t feel left out of the significance of this year’s meet, so each athlete qualifying for and participating in this year’s meet will receive a special commemorative item along with their bib number.

In addition, several other commemorative items will be available for purchase at the meet site, so you might bring along a few extra dollars. Those will include a special edition t-shirt, the official state meet history “A century of Milestones – 100 years of Kansas High School Track and Field”, which includes a complete listing of every state champion, both boys and girls, in every event from the initial 1911 meet through last year’s 2009 championships, reflections on the state meet, and special breakdowns of records, events and medalists. You might be surprised to find out you know more state champions than you thought.

This year’s state meet should be a special event and we hope you will be able to join in! See you in Wichita!