By CONOR NICHOLL
Hutchinson Central Christian doesn’t have a track. The Cougars have limited success in the jumps. No CC girl has placed in a jumping event at the state track and field meet since 2015. No boy has done so since 2005, per KSHSAA archives.
However, the Losew siblings are producing historic results in the jumps for the 1A school.
This season, Cougar senior Jack Losew, who had battled through injury earlier his career, completed high school with a pair of state medals. Losew was seeded ninth in the 1A triple and long jump. He finished fifth in both events at Wichita State University’s Cessna Stadium.
Belle Barnett took seventh in the 100 at 12.74, and Blake Yoder was third in the 800 at 2:07.11.
Additionally, Jack’s sister, Jessa, is an elite eighth-grader and paced all of Kansas middle school girls in the triple jump, per Mile Split. Jack has the Central Christian high school triple jump record. Jessa holds the middle school mark for triple and high jump.
At regionals, Jack posted 20-7.25 in the long jump, and 42-2 in the triple. For state, he went 20-10.5 in the long and 42-8.5 in the triple. The 1A triple jump field was an elite group. Losew had a personal best of 43-6. That ranked seventh in 1A and 36th for all classes, per Carol Swenson’s performance list entering state.
Losew was the first Central Christian athlete to place in a state jumping event in seven years.
From 2013-15, Sara and Rachel Hagen collected four state medals in the jumps with fifth as the best showing.
No Central Christian boy has placed in a jumping event since Jonathan Hilton was fourth in 2005 in the high jump and triple jump. Before then, no Central Christian athlete had placed since Ranelle Isaac was sixth in 1987.
Jack broke his foot as a freshman and had surgery in 2020 when COVID-19 shut things down. He went to state as a junior in the 400 and 1,600 relays.
This year, he continually cleared 42 feet, including 42-4 at Marion.
Central Christian boys captured the Heart of the Plains League title in mid-May. Jack had his personal record when he went 43-6 and broke the CC school mark from 1992 of 43-5.75. At league, Jack also won the 200 and was second in the long jump by an inch.
Jessa competed at the AAU Junior Olympics in Houston last year. Jessa was third in the high jump and sixth in the triple jump.
In late April, Jessa hit a then-personal best of 34-5 at Fairfield in the triple jump. She has cleared 5-2 in the high jump on several occasions.
At one meet, she went 5-2 in the high jump with 33 mile per hour sustained winds and gusts to 47.
Her 36-4 triple jump also came at league on May 12 at Stafford. Also at league, Jessa won the 400 in 1:03.04 seconds and the high jump in 4-10.
Jessa finished as Kansas’ No. 1 middle school triple jumper. She, Grinnell’s Aliviah Ball and Wallace County’s Aria Pearce (who goes to Division I meets) enjoyed massive middle school seasons. All three led Kansas middle schoolers in at least one event.
Pearce competes for club Whatever It Takes and posted season bests of 11.79 in the 100, 24.64 in the 200 and 17-4.25 in the long jump. Ball cleared 5-6 in the high jump. Pearce would have ranked third for all classes in the 100 and 200 and second in the long jump.
Before state, only three high schoolers went higher than 5-6 in the high jump. Losew would have ranked 20th for all high school classes with her triple jump.
