Papay Glaywulu continues to push his limits, and the Park Hill senior came up with another monumental leap over the weekend.
At the prestigious Kansas Relays, Glaywulu went 50 feet, 2½ inches on his first attempt in the triple jump to break a barrier rarely seen at the high school level. He went on to win the competition at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kan., giving Park Hill a record-setting showing for a second straight year.
Last season, Chris Nilsen set the meet’s pole vault record.
Glaywulu continued to show off the talent he possesses despite medaling in the Missouri State Track and Field Championships just once so far in his career. His 50-2½ mark ranked first or second in the nation for high school competitors this season depending on what wind-aided limits are used.
According to the International Association of Athletics Federations, Glaywulu’s jump would rank No. 5 in the world in 2017 for under-18 athletes.
Glaywulu won the competition by 4½ feet on Friday, April 21 and even hit 49-5 on his sixth and final attempt after setting the early lead and holding on until the end. The meet-record-setting jump turned out to be the start of a big weekend for him.
In the long jump, Glaywulu’s mark of 22-6½ tied for third but he ended up fourth on tiebreakers. He also ran on Park Hill’s 4x100-meter team with Payton Stanfield, DJ Johnson and Grant Downes. The group won Heat 1 in Friday’s preliminaries in a season-best 43.20 seconds, and the Trojans came in fourth in Saturday’s finals at 43.45.
Downes pulled a pair of top-eight showings in the hurdles events.
A senior, Downes won the third heat of the 110 preliminaries on Friday with the fourth-fastest time (14.84), and he stayed consistent in the finals. He ran 14.86 on Saturday and dropped to fifth.
Downes also placed seventh in the 300 hurdles, still bordering on breaking the 40-second barrier (40.14).
Park Hill South standout freshman Chris Dupree also won a medal in the meet, which draws in top talent from multiple states every year. He won the fourth heat in 49.15 with third fastest time of Friday’s preliminaries — about 1 ½ seconds off senior teammate Nylo Clarke’s school record set in 2016 — and then ran 50.00 in Saturday’s final to finish second.
Clarke did not run due to injury.
On the girls side, Park Hill junior Taiya Shelby turned in another impressive performance in the 400 and anchored a pair of relays. She won the third heat in 57.63 with second fastest time of preliminaries in her individual event and ran a tick faster in Saturday’s final.
Liberty junior Kaitlyn Lewis outleaned Shelby at the line, winning in 57.59. Shelby crossed in 57.62 in another featured matchup between the consistent rivals.
Park Hill’s 4x200 team of Shelby, Teresa Thomas, Jena Hahlbeck and Sephora Koudou placed fifth in 1:46.84 on Friday. The 4x400 team of Shelby, Hahlbeck, Thomas and Manuela Ngo Tonye Nyemeck just missed a spot in the finals, coming in 10th at 4:06.56.
The top nine advanced to Saturday’s final.
Park Hill South put three in the top eight overall. Park Hill South’s 4x800 team of Jasmine Crawford, Justine Aiello, Marti Heit and Emma Roth came in fifth at 9:52.83 for the Panthers’ best finish.
Jasmine Case and Dymeria Guillory of Park Hill South were eighth and ninth in the 100 hurdle preliminaries to take the final two finals spots. Guillory, a junior and 2016 Class 5 state qualifier, ended up sixth in the final at 15.25, while Case, a sophomore, ended up ninth at 15.40 in a tight field.
Roth also placed 11th in the 800.