Great Bend’s Ohnmacht takes Athlete of Year honors
There have been two periods of time in the 40-plus history of the Western Athletic Conference where one of the schools has dominated the annual Track & Field Championship held in mid-May.
First, it was Liberal, which dominated the 1990s and early 2000’s. Now, it has been the Hays Indians, who just recently won their fifth straight and 10th in the last 15 years.
Liberal still holds the record for most boys’ titles with 19 and Hays is now at 13. Dodge City owns four crowns with Garden City and Great Bend one each.
This time, the Indians squeaked out a 95.5 to 94 victory over Garden City thanks in part to the Buffaloes not fielding a 4×400-meter relay team in the meet’s final event. That allowed the Indians to score four points in that race, rallying from a 94-91.5 deficit to claim the team title.
“I didn’t realize that Garden didn’t have a 4×4 team until the race was just getting to be run,” said Hays first-year coach Kip Keelyi. “It was certainly unexpected, but I thought our kids did a good job in scoring points in the events where we thought we would.”
In recent history, the Indians have dominated the WAC meet in the field events and this year’s event was no different. Of the 95.5 points, 61 of them came in the field events.
“We’re blessed to have some outstanding athletes who work hard on their strength, conditioning and fundamentals, and we’ve got a great group of coaches who specialize with each field event,” Keely said. “I think it helps because they can give more time to each athlete and not have to go from event to event at a meet.”
The Indians secured three first-place finishes of the seven field events, getting one in the high jump from Kamani Jones at 6-00; senior Dalton Meyers won the javelin with a toss of 183-09 and sophomore Gus Corsair took the discus at 145-03.
However, it was the depth of the Indians in those events that helped pave the way for the team triumph.
The Indians went 3-4 in the long jump, 2-5 in the triple jump; 1-3-4 in the discus; 1-2 in the javelin and 2-3-4 in the shot put.
“We’ve worked hard to develop the depth, and it showed in the WAC meet,” Keely said. “Our shot putters are young and getting better every week.”
The Indians produced one winner on the track and that came from senior Bryce Steffan in the 300-meter hurdles where he clocked a 40.66 to score eight points.
The 200-meters saw the Indians finish 3-4 with Jones in third (22.43) and Jarek Purdy in fourth (22.60).
“We’ve had some exceptional athletes to compete in track and field, but it might not be their No. 1 sport,” Keely said. “For others, track is their No. 1 sport. I think this time around the boys did what they were supposed to do.”
While the Indians claimed the team crown, it was Great Bend sophomore sensation Cooper Ohnmacht who grabbed the Track Athlete of The Year Award.
Great Bend sophomore Ohnmacht wins Athlete of Year
When Cooper Ohnmacht arrived for high school at Great Bend in the 2023-2024 school year, it was difficult to predict what his impact would have on Panther boys’ athletics.
With a stellar class one year ahead of him, Ohnmacht came in much under the radar until he started making big plays on the football field, finding his place on the Panthers’ basketball squad and then jumped right in for the track and field season.
His freshman success is no longer a secret.
Ohnmacht, who stands 6-00 tall but has a vertical jump much higher than normal, made the big splash at the 2024 KSHSAA Track and Field Championship by winning the triple jump, which has now become his staple event.
At the WAC Championship in Dodge City, Ohnmacht won the triple jump at 46-04.75 and the long jump at 21-04.25, finished second in the high jump at 5-10 and third in the javelin with a throw of 157-03. His 26 points were the most for any individual and secured his Athlete of the Year award.
“I was always a big baseball guy when I was a kid growing up,” Ohnmacht said in a telephone interview. “But I had quit that at about age 12 and started doing other sports, mainly football and basketball.”
Turning to track for the spring season, Ohnmacht said he needed to find something to stay in in good physical condition for the upcoming fall football campaign.
“I needed to do something, and I decided on track,” Ohnmacht said. “I started off with sprints, but then found the triple and long jumps and with my high vertical it just seemed the natural thing to do.”
Ohnmacht became a state champion in his first high school season, winning the triple jump and now owns one of the state’s best marks in the event at 48-03, which he did at the recent Class 5A regionals and is the No. 1 qualifier for the state meet in Wichita (May 30-31).
“The triple jump is a lot of technical elements and the long jump is not,” Ohnmacht said. “I just kind of throw the javelin and did the high jump just to earn some points for the team.”
His season best marks have been 22-10.75 in the long jump, 182-00 in the javelin and then his 5-10 high jump at WAC.
“I’m really not flexible enough to do well in the high jump,” Ohnmacht said. “I did that just to help get the team some points.”
Ohnmacht said his practice sessions can be extensive and intensive, going through each of the elements (hop, step, jump).
“When I’m at a meet, I tend to not think about it (technique) and let it get in my head,” Ohnmacht said. “The key in the first phase is to keep low in transition and not get too high. Next, I need to hop off quick and land flat-footed and then keep my hip up and be ready to explosive in the jump.”
Ohnmacht firmly believes that proper practice has him prepared for meets.
“If I do enough reps and they just come naturally, it helps me stay calm in the moment,” Ohnmacht said. “There are things in both football and basketball that help me in track and there are things in track that help me for the other two sports.”
In football and basketball, Ohnmacht is reliant on his teammates as they are reliant on him. In track, Ohnmacht said. It’s him vs. Himself.
“It’s Me vs. Myself or vs. The tape measure,” Ohnmacht said. “I just try to use my athleticism and implement the techniques that I work on.”
Ohnmacht has increased his triple jump distance by a foot from a year ago, when he won state with a leap of 47-03.25.
“I’m happy with what I’ve done so far, but I’m kind of the person who likes to strive for more,” Ohnmacht said. “I’m always hungry for more. I always want to get better and to succeed even more.”
Western Athletic Conference
Boys Track & Field Championship
May 15, 2025 – Memorial Stadium, Dodge City
Team Scores
Hays, 95.5; 2. Garden City, 94; 3. Dodge City, 91; 4. Great Bend, 52.5; 5. Liberal, 38
First Team All-WAC (Winners of Each Event)
- High jump—Kamani Jones, Hays, 6-00.
- Pole vault—Isaac Guerrero, Garden City, 12-00.
- Long jump—Cooper Ohnmacht, Great Bend, 21-04.25.
- Triple jump—Cooper Ohnmacht, Great Bend, 46-04.75.
- Discus—Gus Corsair, Hays, 145-03.
- Javelin—Dalton Meyers, Hays, 183-09.
- Shot put—Tyren Holmes, Liberal, 52-03.
- 4x800m relay—Dodge City (Eddie Carmona Ortiz, Jair Cruz De La Cruz, Jose Chavez Ramirez, Jonathan Pelton), 8:23.18.
- 110m hurdles—Elliott Williams, Dodge City, 14.66.
- 100m—Ryder Carr, Garden City, 10.80.
- 1600m—Taran Castro, Garden City, 4:26.14.
- 4x100m relay—Dodge City (Cooper Speer, Kordell Howard, Luis Perez Martinez, Alan Rios Rodriguez), 42.12.
- 400m—Diego Pavia, Liberal, 49.82.
- 300m hurdles—Bryce Steffan, Hays, 40.66.
- 800m—Taran Castro, Garden City, 2:00.90.
- 200m—Ryder Carr, Garden City, 21.52.
- 3200m—Trevor Fry, Garden City, 10:04.11.
- 4x400m relay—Dodge City (Luis Perez Martinez, Elliott Williams, Alejandro Guerra Ramirez, Jonathan Bone), 3:23.45.
