They were Wichita’s only two potential 4-time state champs this spring before COVID-19
He isn’t most upset about not getting the chance to lift a fourth state championship trophy or win his first individual title.
What Andover Central High School golfer Cooper Schultz misses most after having his senior season canceled before he played in a single tournament has nothing to do with an accolade.
“I never even got to have a final practice with my team,” Schultz, a senior, said.
Schultz is one of two Wichita-area spring athletes who was shooting for a fourth team title in four tries in 2020. Ellee Eck of the Andale girls track team is the other.
She agreed with Schultz: It wasn’t so much about the result, but the journey.
“I just miss hanging out with my track buddies,” she said. “It’s a totally completely different environment than in school. I have my school friends, but in track, you get to share pain and suffering of running a hard workout and getting to vent about it afterward and taking ice baths together. It’s just a different bond.”
Eck was one of the rare freshman state qualifiers in 2017. She was part of the 4x400-meter relay team and 4x100 that took fourth in Class 4A. She ran the second leg on a team that finished in 50.13 seconds.
As a sophomore, she qualified for the first time as an individual and competed in the long jump, 100-meter dash and state-championship 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays alongside her sister, then-senior Kasidee Eck.
Last season, she qualified again in the 100 and took fifth. She ran in both relays for a third time and added a new event to her resume: the 300-meter hurdles. She placed third at 46.55 seconds, and it lit a fire. She said she trained throughout the offseason and felt prepared to pick up where hurdler Abby Smarsh, now at Wichita State, left off — atop the medals podium.
But Eck and all the other spring-sports athletes never got that chance.
“When KSHSAA announced the season would be canceled, I wasn’t really emotional about it,” Eck said, “but just in shock. It was numb feeling.”
Eck also played softball. After verbally pledging to WSU, she started receiving interest from Stanford. She took a visit to California and fell in love, she said.
She flipped her commitment and will head to Palo Alto for college.
“I’m so excited about new scenery and meeting new people,” Eck said. “I love a challenge and trying new things. I feel like going out there is really going to change my perspective on some things.”
Eck and Schultz are two of the lucky ones. They’ll both compete in college — Schultz is signed with Kansas State. He said that’s the only silver lining after losing his final season of high school competition and camaraderie.
At K-State, he will join two-time All-Metro selection Jack Baker from Kapaun Mt. Carmel and Blue Valley North grad Ryan Bender. But he was looking forward to vying for his first individual state title and likely third All-Metro selection in 2020.
“I don’t think they should have canceled everything; I think they should have just postponed it,” Schultz said. “Obviously now it’s looking bad, but I think they should have decided as time went on.”
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Schultz was part of some outstanding golf teams at Andover Central. As a freshman, he finished 15th in Class 4A with an 82 and the Jaguars beat Trinity Academy in a tiebreaker to start their title streak.
As a sophomore, he rose to fifth in the individual standings, improving by 11 strokes, and Andover Central beat Hays by 17 when Keegan Ellington surprised the field and won the individual title.
Last year, Andover Central made it three straight championships by stopping another three-year streak in Class 5A: The Jaguars beat St. Thomas Aquinas by four strokes. Schultz tied for seventh with a 71 and felt that 2020, with the state tournament to be played over two days for the first time, would be his turn.
And it could have easily been Andover Central track and field’s turn again, too. Schultz was poised to be the Jaguars’ headliner, but juniors Austin Goodrum and Cooper Ward bolstered the team’s depth.
“Right now, we have a big group chat with a bunch of Wichita-area golfers, so we are having a little match-play tournament,” Schultz said. “Now a lot of the guys in the area are going out and playing one-on-one, trying to make the most of it and having fun.”
In Andale, the path to a fourth straight state championship was much clearer in 2020, and Eck was going to be one of the centerpieces. Competing in four events, she might’ve brought in 20 team points, which would have been among the most from any individual in Class 4A. And all around her, Andale was loaded.
Andale coach Tyler Ryan said he’d anticipated his girls team could eclipse 100 points, a feat unseen since Newton did so in 2016.
“We had a really great combination of really great athletes that have really great attitudes,” Eck said. “They’re all very fierce in their desire to win. ... That was what was going to make us great.”