Star 2023 Wichita football recruit sets all-time jump to win Kansas high school title
John Randle Jr. is known for his highlight-reel plays on the football field as one of the nation’s top-ranked high school running backs in the class of 2023.
But the Wichita Heights junior found a new passion this spring on the track and field team, an interest which piqued on Saturday when Randle became a Kansas high school track and field state champion.
Just months after picking up the triple jump for the first time, Randle won the Class 6A title in the event with a mark of 49 feet, 3½ inches that stands as the 14th-longest triple jump in state history. It was nearly a three-foot improvement on his previous best mark.
“It feels really good to get this state championship,” Randle said. “I put in a lot of hard work and it feels good to have a good outcome at the end of it.
“I’m just kind of out here (as a football athlete), but I want to keep working to get my technique right.”
Even with his form a work in progress, Randle has already become an all-time great jumper with the same natural ability that has allowed him to rack up more than two dozen Division I scholarship offers in football.
Randle, a 6-foot running back rated a top-175 prospect by Rivals, is being pursued by some of the top programs in the country from the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC. He has offers from K-State and KU, as well as Arkansas, Texas, Oregon, Tennessee, Michigan State, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Penn State, Oklahoma State and Missouri, among others.
Winning a state championship with an all-time great mark in the triple jump can only help his recruiting, as he will use that same athleticism this summer in football camps before making a decision on where he will play college football.
Randle said he knew it was going to be a good competition when his opening mark was 48-2¾, which was a 17-inch PR and good enough to win the title by more than two feet. All five of Randle’s jumps (he fouled his last attempt) were better than his previous best mark with his second attempt being the one that etched his name in the history books.
“The key was my second phase because my second phase is usually terrible,” Randle said. “I don’t really get nowhere on it, but today I got a good, long first jump and a far second jump. I got out there and extended out and got it.”
Randle also picked up a medal on Friday in the long jump (21-7) and another medal on Saturday running a leg on the Heights’ 400 relay team, along with Jaeden Hamilton, Kamaar Alexander and Ashmar Anderson, which placed fourth.
But there was no doubt the highlight of the weekend for him was the triple jump. Upon learning the Class 6A state meet record was 51-6 set in 1989 by Kansas City Wyandotte’s Reggie Jones, Randle said he has a new goal in mind. Jones also owns the state record in the event at 51-7¾.
“I’m coming after that next year,” Randle said. “51-6, I’m coming after it.”
Wichita East boys run it back for a 400 relay title
After sending three sprinters to the finals of the open 100 race all season, it felt like it was only fitting for East’s 400 relay team to emerge with the gold medal.
Caquoy Patterson, Travon Manuel and Tobi Osunsamni all made it to the podium in the Class 6A finals of the open 100, but they climbed all the way to the top of the podium when they came together with Justin Bell to win the relay title.
“Without my brothers, what would I be?” said Manuel, who anchored the race. “I feel like we deserved it. That’s why I kept pushing myself.”
Bell gave East a strong start, then the key of the race was the second leg with Patterson facing off against Olathe North’s Jacob Parrish, who were the top two finishers in the open 100 with Parrish coming out on top. But in this race, Patterson held his own.
“I knew they had a tough second leg, so that’s what I was focused on when I got the baton,” Patterson said. “But when I saw he wasn’t next to me, some of that pressure went away and I just handed off to Tobi and let him do the rest.”
Olathe North might have been slightly ahead when Manuel took the baton and it was a neck-and-neck race between Manuel and Olathe North’s Tristan Madden down the final straightaway.
But it was Manuel who pulled away in the final 20 meters, putting the finishing touches on a school-record time of 41.79 seconds that just edged out Olathe North’s time of 41.82. It was the fastest relay time in Kansas this season.
It also marked the second straight year East won the 6A title in the 400 relay, as Bell, Manuel and Osunsamni all returned from last year’s title-winning group.
“It’s really special for me because I wasn’t part of that team last year and I heard all about it,” Patterson said. “I wanted to be a part of that.”
Patterson finished with the silver medal in the open 100 with a time of 10.55, which was the third-fastest time at the state meet in all classes, while Manuel came away with a medal in both of his open races in the 100 (sixth) and 200 (fourth), as did Osunsamni, a K-State football recruit, in the 100 (eighth) and 200 (sixth).
This story was originally published May 30, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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