Rick Patton has coached cross country and track and field at
Wamego for more than three decades. His teams are routinely among the best in Class
4A, and his boys teams have won six state championships (the school's boys also
won in 1957 and 1959). Patton is a key figure in the community hosting the
state cross country championships each Fall.
KS MileSplit: Rick, you had both knees replaced this summer. First of all, hope you're feeling better, but how is the recovery and physical therapy going?
Rick Patton: I have my good and bad days, but I am making progress. It's a lot like training, you just have to keep at it.
Your community and school, and really our entire state, lost a great man with the recent passing of popular Wamego track and field coach Lance Lenard. Is your team honoring him in any way this season. What are your fondest memories of Lance?
We will be honoring Lance with our t-shirts this spring. We will have a moment of silence this Saturday at our home cross country meet. Our cross country and track team contributed to his scholarship fund.
My fondest memories of Lance include his bigger-than-life personality, and his passion for track and field. I will miss the conversations we had after practice about our team and life in general. We also talked a lot on the phone. He was all about helping people.
So, how is your team looking this year? Did you come off summer ready to roll?
We ran in our first meet at Abilene with six schools. We were able to win both team championships. Our girls are very inexperienced but the guys are very experienced. They are great kids to work with.
We have 55 schools coming to our meet this Saturday. We are going to see the best 4A teams in the state, and that will give us a true gauge of where we are at. This is the 52nd year for our Invitational.
Wamego has been a great location for the 1A/2A/4A state meets. What has it meant to you, personally, but also to the community to be able to host this event each year?
Wamego initially hosted the state meet from 1964 to 1986. In the 1960's and 1970's all the classes ran at Wamego. Jim Ryun ran in the state meet his senior year after competing in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo a month earlier.
From 1987 to 1991, all the classes ran the state meet in Manhattan. The state was moved back to Wamego for classes 1A through 4A from 1992 to 2010. In 2011, 3A moved to Lawrence with 5A and 6A.
What it has meant to me personally is that I feel like we are able to help serve the kids and parents of Kansas. I feel like the Wamego community enjoys it because it is another way for people to visit our community. I have run into several adults that will share with me about how they were able to run in the state meet when they were in high school. Some who ran at schools in western or eastern Kansas now live here in Wamego.