For the first time in the school's history, Hogan Prep won a boys
championship in a running event, which came in the MSHSAA Class 3
track and field championships.
The Rams won two running titles, Dyimond Walker in the 400-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay team also won the final running event of the day.
Considering the school doesn't have a track on the campus of the Kansas City school, the feats are even more impressive.
"We run around the school, we run inside the school when we can't run outside," Hogan Prep coach Roosevelt Gipson said. 'We have a shopping center across the street and that area is around 1,000 meters. Honestly, for me, I'm a Hogan alum as well and that is all I've ever known. I never trained on a track or a turf field. We always had second-rate facilities and we never let it bother us. We do a lot of work in our weight room and that helps us build more strength. It's never really a thing I regretted or was upset about. We always managed to be successful without it. Unless you've been to our school you wouldn't know (we don't have a track)."
The charter, formed in 1998 after the previous iteration of Bishop Hogan Catholic closed in 1998, did have a chance to use the top level of HyVee Arena about 10 times during this spring to run on that track - a five lane that was 300 meters.
That will change in the future as the school is building a new facility and in the future the current school building will become a spot for a football stadium and track.
Despite the lack of facilities that many other schools have, the athletes have been able to not only perform well but also rack up high finishes.
Walker, who will run at New Mexico Junior College this upcoming school year, earned all-state honors seven times.
He won the 400-meter dash title (48.44) and added a fourth in the 800 and the triple jump - finishing with a leap of 13.65 meters (44-9 ½).
In the 4x400, he joined John Brown (a Pratt Community College signee), Steven Clark and Shawn Mays Jr. in winning the crown in 3:23.98. Walker ran the final 400 in 47.56 seconds to secure the title.
"The only time I ever ran on a track was at track meets, I thought everyone just ran around the school," Walker said. "It really didn't bother me and it still doesn't bother me. Around my junior year, I started to realize everything I'm doing something great."
Gipson, who goes by Coach Rosey, tried to tailor the team's workout plans to match what each athlete needed. When it came to relays, the team tapped off the exchange zone and set up cones to get the handoffs done in the 30-meter section that was tapped off in the gym.
Hogan Prep's Steven Clark runs the curve in the 4x400-meter relay preliminaries on Friday, May 27, 2022. Hogan Prep would go on to win the prelims in Class 3 and final the following day in 3:23.98.
The only time Walker jumped in a pit was at meets and he never practiced it before his junior year. Gipson got it worked out where Walker could jump in a pit at a neighboring school, but the distance was actually worse than showing up at a meet and jumping.
Shawn Mays Jr, runs a leg of Hogan Prep's winning Class 3 4x400-meter relay team.
Instead, tape was
placed on the gym floor to emulate a track pit, though Walker didn't
practice the event during the year to save his legs for meets.
"We
work on strength and balance, as far as running," Gipson said.
"When you meet a kid like Dyimond who runs the 400 and 800 it
helped him to not have a lot of stress on his legs jumping over and over
again and that helped him compete at a high level. I preach don't
let anything stop you. It doesn't matter what you don't have. It
is what you do with what you do have."
Hogan Prep Charter Academy's (left to right) John Brown, Steven Clark, Shawn Mays Jr, and Dyimond Walker react while receiving their 1st-place Class 3 4x400-meter relay plaque and medals on top of the awards podium at the 2022 MSHSAA Class 3-4-5 State Track and Field Championships.
Walker left the school as the school record holder in the 400, 800, 1,600, 4x400 and 4x800.
He moves to Hobbs, New Mexico, with his sister on Aug. 10 and then starts school shortly after that.
He will still be a 400 and 800 runner at NMJC and will also have a chance for relays and triple jump.
"I'm doing this to make my family proud and make my dad proud - he died on Nov. 13, 2020 - that is why I'm going so far to get the opportunity to get out of Kansas City and make something better."
