In a sport that both literally and figuratively requires endurance, the athletes that run the farthest have set the pace for the Rockhurst track and field team. The distance runners have broken multiple records and made their mark on school history. With the postseason beginning with the district meet Saturday, they’ll look to go the distance yet again.
“We’ve always had talented and dedicated runners in our program. This year, we have a concentration of them in the ’25 [junior] class,” distance running coach Alex Dobens said. “I could see that coming since their freshman year.”
The Rockhurst distance relay team started off the season strong by breaking the school record for the 4×1600 meter relay in the second large meet of the season, the Shawnee Mission South Relays, with a time of 18:05.44. The team of senior Hudson Tsevis and juniors Bill Hayes, Andrew Davis and Henry Acorn shaved three minutes off their time from this same meet last year.
Also at the South Relays, Acorn broke the school record for the 3200m, which was set back in 1976. He topped that the following month, beating his own record by 12 seconds, setting a new mark of 9:12.62. Acorn’s success in track follows a fourth place finish at state in cross country back in the fall.
“It’s just consistency and training. I believe that we have the best training program in the state,” Acorn said. “But more importantly, our top guys are very consistent with training. We hold ourselves accountable, and we’ve built a great team atmosphere.”
In their last meet before districts, the Shawnee Mission North Relays on May 3, the distance runners came up big again. Davis finished second in the 800m, but broke the school record, which had stood since 2004, with a time of 1:54.63. Hayes finished less than two seconds behind him in fifth place.
In the 1600m, Acorn and Davis placed third and fourth, respectively. Hayes came in 16th. Rockhurst was the only team to have more than one runner finish in the top 20 of the event.
After a full season of training and meets, the runners say the mental side of things is just as important as the physical this time of year.
“What works for me, especially this late in the season, is living in the moment rather than worrying about what upcoming meet I have.” Davis said. “When I think too much about the upcoming meet, I usually wear myself out and lose that focus and motivation. This will be difficult, as I will probably be running four races in districts.”
Last year in districts, the distance runners achieved some success. Rockhurst runners placed first and fourth in the 1600m, second and third in the 3200m and second in the 4x800m relay. Even after losing some strong contributors, the Hawklets are looking for even more success this year, all while keeping their eyes on the ultimate goal.
“Districts are just the start of the lengthy process to qualify for state,” Acorn said. “The main goal is to simply qualify, whether that is first or fourth place. We have a tough sectional after districts, so we definitely want to stay well-rested for that.”
In districts, the top four times in each event advance to the sectional meet the following week. At sectionals, the top four times advance to state. Therefore, advancing can take precedence over winning, at least until state.
“Should our boys find themselves competing at the state track meet, I don’t have any explicit goals for them. My hope is that they make the most of their moment against the best in Missouri,” Dobens said.
The first step toward state qualification begins Saturday at districts at Warrensburg High School.
