At the USD 232 Board of Education meeting on Monday, September 9, students De Soto High School and from Mill Valley High School were recognized for outstanding track accomplishments from late last spring.

De Soto High School – Track and Field State Champions

DHS students Luke Swartz, Harrison Purkey, Connor Jacober and Vance Krudwig won the 2024 Kansas State 5A Championship for the 4x800 Relay with a time of 7:52.88, which was .28 seconds away from the 5A state meet record. During the course of the season, this team won the Shawnee Mission North Relays, breaking a 44-year-old meet record set by Shawnee Mission South in 1980. Their winning time of 7:48.89 is the fourth-fastest all-time, all-classes in Kansas history.

Also recognized from De Soto High School for winning the 2024 Kansas State 5A Championship for the 4x100 Relay were team members Carson Miller, Jayden Lang, Davis Barr and Layton Lawson. During the course of the season this quartet broke the DHS school record - twice, while also winning the prestigious Sunflower Division of the Kansas Relays and the Shawnee Mission North Relays. In the last four seasons, Coach Tom Byers has coached DHS boys 4x100s to two state championships (2021 and 2024) and one State Runner-Up Finish (2022). Carson Miller was a part of all three teams.

Palmer O’Connor completed the difficult task of winning two Kansas Class 5A State Championship: one in the 800 meter and the other 1600 meter, for the 2024 season. Earlier in the season, Palmer was also named the UKC Class 5A regional champion in both the 800 and 1600 events. Also being crowned state champion in both competitions was a great way to end his senior year at DHS.

Mill Valley High School – Track and Field State Champions

Mill Valley Senior Charlotte Caldwell is the 2024 Kansas Class 6A 800-meter champion. This past season Charlotte broke her own school records in the 800m and 1600m on the way to winning the state title.  Charlotte dominated the race from the beginning as she pulled away from a talented field in the first 100 meters, running alone for her first 6A state title.  Charlotte's times in the 800 and 1600 rank her among the top 30 in Kansas high school history.

Miley Strathman, starting her junior year at MVHS, followed up her state medal from her freshman year by tying the Mill Valley school record and tying for the state title in the High Jump event.  Miley did not have a miss in the 6A competition until the high jump bar reached 5' 8".  The competition was exciting as each jumper cleared heights with no misses.  Ultimately, in a show of sportsmanship, both student athletes decided to accept a tie for the State Champion.

Mill Valley senior Jayden Woods continued his incredible high school career by winning both the Kansas Class 6A Shot Put and Discus at the 2024 meet.  He is the first Mill Valley athlete to win the shot put at the state meet after becoming the first Mill Valley athlete to win the discus at last year's state meet.  In the discus, Jayden took the lead on his first throw, and once the state title was secured, launched a bomb of a throw of over 180 feet to shatter his own school record.  Jayden now is the MVHS school record holder in the Shot Put and the Discus; his three state track and field titles put him among the best in Mill Valley track and field history.

Congratulations to all of these student athletes and to both Mill Valley and De Soto High Schools! While some of these students graduated and were not able to be recognized in person, all will be presented with Certificates of Achievement from the Board of Education.