As the national post-season meets draw to a close, it's time to look at a few outstanding seniors from the class of 2023. In this series, we'll be highlighting 2 boys and 2 girls from across Kansas who have had noteworthy careers and a stellar 2022 cross country season.
The first of these is none other than Shawnee Mission East's Wyatt Haughton.
Haughton is a six-year cross country athlete, starting at Indian Hills Middle School before making his mark at Shawnee Mission East. As a middle schooler, Haughton showed promise, but wasn't a major standout. As would become a trademark of his career, he saw considerable improvement between his 7th and 8th grade years, knocking off over a minute in time. He gathered a handful of accomplishments as well, finishing 4th in the Sunflower League and 13th at the Kansas Milesplit Junior High State Championships in 2018. His best two-mile time was 11:11 during his 8th grade year at Shawnee Mission Park.
As a freshman in 2019, Wyatt jumped right into Shawnee Mission East's top-5, finishing alongside teammate Blair Ptacek. The two classmates would battle for the team's 3rd and 4th spots throughout the season, often finishing just a step or two away from each other. Both broke the 17:00 barrier for the first time at league, and peaked when it mattered most at the state meet. While Ptacek always had the upper hand in middle school, Haughton edged him out in 5 of 8 races in 2019. As a team, SM East finished 3rd in the Sunflower League and 6th in Class 6A. Haughton's freshman PR was 16:44 at Rim Rock. Like most freshmen, though, he would finish the year without a top-10 medal in any meet.
Many attribute the seismic shift in 5K times in recent years to added training during the COVID lockdown that followed Haughton's freshman season. However, that was certainly not the case for Wyatt and Shawnee Mission East. In a 6-race 2020 season, Haughton clocked 16:20 at the Sunflower League, his only PR of the season. In a heartbreaking regional meet at Shawnee Mission Park, Haughton placed 11th, just one spot out of medal position, and more importantly, a trip to state. SM East ended their frustrating COVID-riddled 2020 season 7th of 9 teams at the regional meet. In that final meet, however, Haughton was the lead runner for the Lancers: a spot he would never again relinquish.
The bitter taste of being the first man out, combined with the fact that he was now SM East's top runner, motivated Haughton to new heights. He came out in the spring with a remarkable track season, winning 4 races and claiming state medals in the 800 (8th), 1600 (6th), and 3200 (3rd). With sophomore track PRs of 9:22, 4:24, and 1:58, Haughton immediately became one to watch for the 2021 cross country season.
In the fair-weather fall of 2021, Haughton's times dropped like never before. He opened the season with a 19-second PR of 16:01, and broke 16:00 a week later in the fast Olathe Twilight meet with a 15:35. His first cross country win came in upset fashion at the 2021 Sunflower League, where he shocked SM North's Micah Blomker by 0.7 seconds. Blomker would go on to win the regional and state titles, but Haughton made him earn them both, finishing second in each of them. To finish the year, SM East traveled to Alabama for the Runninglane National Meet, where Haughton ran a season-best 15:18.
Another stellar track season saw Wyatt win state titles in the 800 and 1600, with a 4th place finish in the 3200. He also cut a few seconds off each PR down to 9:17/4:11/1:54. While Haughton had become a champion on the track, the cross country world was still fixated on his cross-district rival and defending 6A champ, Micah Blomker. Just like his Junior year, though, Haughton was ready to roll in week 1. In 2021 it was just a breakout PR, but this year it was an upset over the consensus #1 runner in the state... by eleven seconds. Suddenly, Wyatt Haughton was the top dog. All season long, he fought off the best shots from state's elite, outkicking Clay Shively at Olathe Twilight, Colby King at Rim Rock, and Micah Blomker again at Regionals & State. In that final battle at 6A State, Blomker had the lead with 400m to go, only for Haughton to unleash an incredible kick to become the first athlete in history to break 15:00 on the legendary course. Thanks to the efforts of Ptacek and his other SM East teammates, the Lancers also claimed the 6A team title.
Like many of the state's best, Haughton and the Lancers marched on to some high-caliber postseason meets. At the Nike Heartland Regional in South Dakota, Haughton felt the bitter taste of defeat once again as he saw fellow Kansan Colby King take the final individual spot to nationals, while Haughton was 11 seconds and just 3 places back. SM East placed 10th overall; a respectable finish, but only the top-3 move on. While Nike is known for being the "Team" nationals, Champs Sports is known for being the "Individual" nationals, so Haughton made the trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin for the Midwest Qualifier. This one was another tough day, where Haughton ran his slowest time of the season by 20 seconds, placing 27th.
That left one final meet: the RunningLane Championship, sponsored by Garmin. While the previous two major meets had been suspended for the pandemic, RunningLane rose to national prominence, being the premier national meet in 2020 and 2021. With the return of Nike and Champs Sports, the field was thinned somewhat, but it was still a national meet with many of the nation's best. Haughton got out to a good start, leading the race through the first mile. Utah's Jake Seegmiller took the lead during the 2nd mile, with six others forming the lead pack with Haughton. Slowly, though, it began to slip away. When New Mexico's Steven West made his move during the final mile, Haughton fell into 8th place. In the final minutes of the race, Haughton found the extra gear that wowed the crowd at the state meet. He worked back into 6th, then 5th, and then closed the 20-yard gap into 4th, and powered into 2nd by the 3-mile mark. Utah's JoJo Jourdon put up a fight, though, and the two battled all the way to the line. West, the leader, was fading in the final 200m, enough that the announcers briefly thought Haughton & Jourdon may overtake him, but they ran out of real estate. Haughton edged out Jourdon for 2nd place by 0.2 seconds in 15:12, just 2.7 seconds behind the winner. His secret to closing so much ground? He ran the tangents. Many runners went wide around the corners due to the mud, but Haughton was smart, only avoided the areas with standing water, and ran a substantially shorter distance than the rest of the field. That proved to be the difference as he roared back, just as things were slipping away, to take the silver medal at a national meet.
