‘Strength in numbers’: Andale track dynasty rolls on with more team titles
For the fifth time in the last eight years, the Andale track and field team swept both Class 4A team championships at the state meet.
There’s no more powerful dynasty in the Kansas high school track and field world currently than Andale, which has won four boys state titles in a row and nine of the last 12 titles. Andale also has won seven of the last eight girls state titles.
“It really never gets old because we put in so much work every year and nothing changes,” Andale senior Ian Schrandt said. “Every year feels just as great.”
Year after year, Andale overwhelms its peers at the 4A level with its sheer depth. It’s not unusual for Andale to have several individual champions in a season, but even when the team doesn’t — Andale’s boys and girls combined for three gold medalists this spring — it still racks up points with the amount of state qualifiers it has in nearly every event.
The boys team only had one individual champion, but eight different individual medalists and all three relays medal to score 68.5 points to top Buhler (54.5) and Chanute (50.5). Meanwhile, the girls team had nine different individuals come away with medals to score 91 points and edge out Eudora (67) and Clearwater (58).
“We talked a lot this season about strength in numbers,” Andale coach Tyler Ryan said. “We brought, with alternatives, like 53 kids to the state meet. So we just try to sell that team concept and that’s what coach (Greg) Smarsh instilled here before me and I’ve just tried to keep it going. We’re going to of course celebrate the kids who were state champions, but what made this year so special is that we got this done all across the board. We had kids score in distance, throws, jumps, sprints and relays.”
Wining a championship is the annual expectation — for both teams.
So when one side comes up short, like the girls team did last year, they have even more motivation to get back on top the following season.
Andale did just that, as junior Rylee Meyer completed a standout state meet with a gold medal and state-meet record time of 12.06 seconds in the 100-meter dash to go along with second-place medals in the 200-meter dash and long jump and a third-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles.
Andale once again was dominant in the javelin, as sophomore Addy Orth won, Taya Orth placed second and sophomore Abbey McNeal took seventh. Taya Orth also was seventh in the long jump, while senior Arwyn Hennessy came away with medals in the 1600 (seventh ) and 3200 (third).
Other medalists included senior Emily Struckman (shot put, second), junior Hally Horsch (pole vault, second), junior Paige Brand (discus, fifth) and junior Sydney Waltner (triple jump, seventh).
“It’s gotten to the point where we expect it to happen every single year, so when it doesn’t like last year, it’s really heartbreaking,” Taya Orth said. “We knew we had to battle even harder this year. Everyone understands that we’re doing this for the team. All these medals we’re winning, it’s for the team, not just for yourself.”
Senior Harrison Potucek was the lone individual champion on the boys’ side, as he won the 110 hurdles in a time of 14.59 and took second in the 300 hurdles. Senior Cooper Marx was the other double medalist, placing fourth in both the discus and shot put. Other individual medalists included senior Noah Horsch (pole vault, second), junior Colt Lane (pole vault, third), junior Hunter Grimes (javelin, fourth), junior Sam Harp (300 hurdles, sixth), senior Ian Schrandt (long jump, seventh) and junior Jack Cutler (3200, eighth).
“It never really gets old because every year you put in the work,” Schrandt said. “So when it pays off like this, every year it feels just as great.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM.
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