Rezac Wins 200 M State Title

From the Capital=Journal: 

WICHITA — Only moments before stepping into the blocks for the Class 3A boys 200-meter final on Friday at the State Outdoors, Mid-East League rivals Woodrow Rezac of Rossville and Brogan Renfro of Silver Lake made what some might consider a sacrilegious pact between two presumably heated rivals.

"Right before the race, we looked at each other and said, 'We're bringing that state title back to 24,'" Rezac said.

The insinuation being, that it didn't matter which did it, as long as the mission was accomplished. Which might seem odd given the intensity the Rossville-Silver Lake rivalry carries no matter what the sport.

But as Rezac put it, "We live only 10 miles away from each other, no sense being enemies. We all get along. Except when it comes to football. With football, it's full War on 24. That's how Rossville and Silver Lake are."

When Rezac made good on their pre-race pact, winning by a mere .01 seconds over Perry-Lecompton's Hunter Hess in 22.15 seconds, the friendly rivals celebrated his title. But at the same time, the rivalry juices were still there.

Rezac admitted that he "really doesn't like the 200," even though he's the school-record holder in the event. But after coming up just short of getting a title in his favorite event, the 100, finishing second to Holcomb's Zephyn Mason by .05 seconds in 10.74, the 200 was his only chance left to get the first state title of his career.

He set the stage for the title with a strong showing in preliminaries, posting the fastest qualifying time from his spot in lane seven after an off week at regionals.

"That got my confidence boosted back up," Rezac said. "I was ranked pretty close to last coming in and I had to step it up to show what I've got."