Kyshin Isringhausen chased a state championship in wrestling for four years. He finally got that elusive title in track and field.
The Branson standout came up short in that quest on the mat but in track and field, the future Drury University wrestler, ended up on top of the podium last month.
Isringhausen won the MSHSAA Class 5 pole vault championship with a jump of 4.48 meters - 14 feet, 8 1/4 inches - to become the sixth boys' individual state champion from Branson.
He is the second to do so in the pole vault.
"I mean, it's it's definitely pretty huge," he said. "It feels really good. I've been to state between two sports seven times. And for years now I've been looking for a state title and I just came up short every year and it feels good to finally get one."
It was down to a two-man competition with Benjamin Sharp of Belton and Isringhausen. Both cleared 4.34 meters. Both missed the first jump at 14-8 1/4 but Isringhausen made it on his second attempt while Sharp missed. Sharp passed on his final attempt to take a shot at 4.55m/14-11. Isringhausen missed on his first attempt at the height, but Sharp got a 3rd straight miss on his first attempt at the new height, giving Kyshin the win.
"It feels pretty good," Isringhausen said. "I'd say it was just it felt like I fulfilled my goal for high school."
Isringhausen took 5th (138 pounds/2023); 3rd (132/3rd); 2nd (126/2nd) and 3rd (113/2020) during his time on the wrestling mat. He was the Pirates' first-ever four-time medalist in the sport.
He never lost more than four matches each season, finishing 165-13 in his wrestling career.
In track and field, he was 7th in the pole vault in his other two trips to state - while his freshman season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In seventh grade, I decided that I wanted to try something new so I went out to track and I was like, well, pole vault looks pretty cool," Isringhausen said. "I joined ... before I knew what I was doing pretty all right."
While doing pole vault, he discovered perhaps the event was in his DNA.
His dad, Seth Isringhausen, told Kyshin that he was also a pole vaulter. His dad won back-to-back Class 3A titles in 1998 and 1999 at Nixa High School. He parlayed that into a scholarship to Missouri Southern State University.
"He never told me so that was pretty huge I found that out," Kyshin said. "I was like, 'Oh cool.' Now I feel like I've followed his legacy a little bit with both of us winning."
His dad is in the MSSU Hall of Fame. Seth was a 15-time All-MIAA honoree and won the 2003 NCAA Division II National Championship in the indoor pole vault. Isringhausen was a seven-time national qualifier and was a five-time All-American earning second-place honors in the indoor pole vault in 2002.
Perhaps what made Isringhausen's success this season more impressive was the pain he fought through. He broke his nose days before the state track finals and had surgery on Wednesday for a meet that started on Friday.
Days after the meet he had surgery on his right shoulder, repairing a torn labrum. A second surgery is coming up on his left labrum.
So, he competed in two sports that rely heavily on upper body strength with shoulder issues and still won a state title.
"It'd been pretty easy to quit and not do it," Kyshin said about doing track and field this spring. "I wanted to try and see if I could get that title, so I went in and fought through that. Finally accomplished that goal at my very last event, I really love that. It's going to be a pretty good story in the future as well."