WICHITA — Ethan Fulton felt the pressure of being defending state champion. But for just under 15 seconds, he harnessed all that nervous energy and ran one more hurdle race of his high school career.
It wasn’t his fastest time but it was fast enough, 14.95 seconds.
“I was determined to win and defend my championship,” Ethan said following his winning his second straight Kansas Class 4A state high hurdle championship. “I was nervous and had to calm myself down.”
Iola High’s Ethan Fulton is the 2010 Kansas Class 4A State 110-meter high hurdle champion. His twin brother Aaron Fulton captured a medal in the high hurdles also, taking fifth in 15.50 seconds.
Ethan and Aaron claimed state meet medals on Friday in the long jump. Ethan winning the event with a leap of 22 feet, 4 1/2 inches and Aaron taking seventh at 20’7”.
“As a sophomore, I let my nerves get to me. Last year, I wasn’t as nervous because I wasn’t the defending champion. This is awesome,” Ethan said about his high hurdle achievement. “It’s not my best time but it was fast enough today. First is first.”
Second place went to Sean Covalcine of Haven High is 15.27 seconds.
“It just felt good the whole way,” Ethan said.
Aaron wasn’t as happy with his finals race. He said he felt sloppy and “really wanted to run better at state.”
The Fulton brothers hadn’t long jumped since eighth grade. As seniors, the two were the Mustangs’ top long jumpers. They showed why at the state meet Friday.
“I was leading going into the finals and didn’t really jump well after that. I scratched on my first two jumps in the finals and only went 21’10” on the third jump,” Ethan said.
Ethan’s preliminary jump was just enough. Skylar Hawkins of Paola was second at 22’4 1/4”, which he jumped in the preliminaries also.
“It was great to get another state championship this year. I had plenty of time to settle down from the long jump win to focus for today’s hurdle race,” Ethan said.
“I think I was too focused on the long jump to really do well,” Aaron said. “I do better when I’m more relaxed. Sure, I’m happy to get a state medal but thought I’d do better.”
Also on Saturday, Aaron was in the 4A javelin event. He finished 10th in the competition with a throw of 153’2”.
The Fulton brothers were on the Mustang 4×100-meter relay team with senior Shane Snavely and junior Dylan Allen that qualified for the state meet. On Friday, the Mustangs had a good race going but Allen pulled up with an injury during the anchor leg of the race.
Iola’s 4×800-meter relay team of seniors Seth Browning, Ryan Weir and Aaron Chueng and sophomore Christian Kauth finished 13th on Saturday. The foursome ran the race in 8 minutes, 41.89 seconds.
Also for the Mustangs on Friday, sophomore Roman Yocham was 16th in the Class 4A 3200-meter run in 10:35.80. Senior Darin Hutton finished 10th in the 4A discus with a throw of 134 feet.
Ethan Fulton is double state track champ
