ShawneeDispatch.com

Photo by Chris Wristen

Maranatha Academy senior Zach Zarda races down the home stretch of the 1,600-meter run on Saturday at the Kansas Relays. Zarda won his heat and turned in the fastest time in the state this year up to that point.

Lawrence — Zach Zarda's time as the top miler in Kansas lasted for maybe 10 minutes, but the moment was special just the same.

Zarda, a Maranatha Academy senior and distance running standout, missed his junior track season with a stress fracture. That meant he missed out on a year's worth of opportunities to earn a faster qualifying time for the Kansas Relays, which helps explain why he was in heat one on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the slower of the two heats of the 1,600-meter run at the Relays.

Zarda ran the first of his four laps at a sprint. During the final three laps, no other runner was close enough to hear the pitter-pat of his spikes clipping the track. The announcer sang Zarda's praises throughout the final lap as he cruised to victory by about 20 meters in a time of 4:25.67.

It was a personal best by seven seconds, and at that point it was the fastest time in the state this year.

"I think I could've done a lot better," Zarda said of his dominant performance. "I went out way too hard my first lap, but I had to do that to not get stuck into a slow pace. I went out in a sub-60 (second) first quarter."

For Zarda, the time at the top didn't last long. Runners in the faster heat stepped onto the track, and six topped his time, bumping Zarda into a seventh-place finish at the Relays. Of those who ran faster races, two were from out of state. That included champion Andrew Perkins of Watertown (Wis.) High, who finished in 4:18.05. The top Kansas runner was Scott Gillespie of Shawnee Mission South. Gillespie finished second in 4:19.92.

Zarda said the strong showing gives him great optimism about what he can accomplish during the rest of the season.

"Hopefully a state championship, or a couple state championships," he said. "But I got competition here that I will be facing at state."