Thunder run away with Class 5A championship

St. James' Noah Schowengerdt won the Class 5A 400-meter dash, helping his team win the state title.

By Jimmy Gillispie

WICHITA — A victory in the 4x400-meter relay secured a state championship for the St. James boys track and field team.

The Thunder won the Class 5A state title with 90 points – 14.5 points head of Kapaun Mount Carmel. The Thunder won five events en route to the team title.

St. James won the 4x800-meter relay to kick off the Saturday slate of events. The team of Max Brown, Abraham Sound, Brock Wondra and Noah Schowengerdt won the race in a time of 7:51.03, winning by more than five seconds.

The Thunder’s second relay victory came in the 4x100-meter. The Thunder improved from their fourth-place prelims finish to win by 0.03 seconds – in a time of 41.97 seconds. The relay team members were Jameson Fitzgerald, Jonah Myers, Trey Rand and Joe Peterson. 

Individually, Schowengerdt sprinted to a state title in the 400-meter dash. He defended his prelims victory with a win in a time of 48.39 seconds.  Schowengerdt is committed to running at Iowa State next year.

In the long jump, Adam Sydzyik captured a long jump championship. He won the event with his fifth attempt.

The Thunder capped the meet with a 4x400 relay victory. Their time of 3:17.43 won the event by more than two seconds. The team of Fitzgerald, Brown, Wondra and Schowengerdt locked up the team title, beating Kapaun Mount Carmel in the relay.

St. James also had several other state medalists. Those were Cooper Ryne (fifth in t10-meter hurdles), Henry Wiley (second in 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash), Wondra and Brown (fourth and fifth in the 800-meter run), Alec Jett (eighth in discus and fifth in javelin) and Sydzyik (third in high jump).