Coached by father with mother’s speed, how Kapaun’s Lillian Harris pulled off 3-gold day

Before Lillian Harris could even dream about becoming a three-time state track champion, she used to sit in the press box at Emporia State as a child and study the runners racing around the track.

Track and field was in her blood: Her father, John David Harris, was a talented 800-meter runner and a coach; her mother, Kayla (Pauly) Kucharski, was a former Kansas high school state champion as a sprinter at Garden Plain; and her grandfather, John Harris, coached track and field at Emporia State and Nebraska for four decades.

“I was always around track athletes every weekend,” Lillian said. “I would sit up (in the press box) and think, ‘When I grow up, I want to do that.’”

Lillian was blessed with the same foot speed as her mother, while her father has coached and trained her to become a champion sprinter since she started racing in the sixth grade.

Despite the obvious familial pull, her parents weren’t always sure Lillian would follow their path on the track.

“She was kind of late to walk as an infant and she never really ran in track clubs or anything growing up,” Kucharski said. “She was more into gymnastics, but when she got to middle school, that’s when we knew something was there.”

While other girls focused on winning the race, Lillian’s goals were more ambitious. She not only wanted to win, she wanted to chase the times of her mother. After all, her mother’s name is still etched in the Kansas high school state track meet record book for Class 2A with her winning time of 12.10 seconds in the 100-meter dash back in 1998.

During the summers, Lillian and her father would run hill repeats, a running workout where she would sprint up a steep hill and then jog back down. During the winters, they would meet twice a week at the Heskett Center on Wichita State’s campus to work on explosiveness drills.

By the time Lillian was a junior at Kapaun Mt. Carmel, she was finally ready to take on her mother’s record. At the 2022 state meet, Lillian won the Class 5A championship in a personal-best time of 11.89 seconds to finally best her mother’s state-winning time.

“We used to joke a lot about her records when she was my age and what times she ran,” Lillian said. “It was a lot of motivation because I look up to her a lot. Plus, I like saying I can run faster than her.”

Kucharski doesn’t mind losing that argument. She says watching her daughter win titles has been more fulfilling than winning her own titles during her career.

“Words can’t describe how special it is to watch your daughter do something like that,” her mother said. “She has blown all of my times away and she’s competing at a higher level than I ever did. I attribute a lot of that to her dad as her coach, but she’s put in the work and it’s way better to watch her winning than when I was out there.”

After sweeping the 100 and 200 at last year’s state meet, Lillian, never one to become complacent, decided with her father to add a third race to her repertoire for her senior season.

So she began training for the 400-meter dash, a race where runners have to sprint a full lap around the track. It’s a combination of speed and endurance that few champions in the 100 possess.

“It’s not easy and it’s definitely not a fun race, but I knew I wanted to try to run it at state,” Lillian said. “I had to learn to strategize the race better and learn when to kick and when to relax on the back stretch. I struggled pushing too hard too soon on the back stretch, so I worked really hard on staying relaxed and trusting when to kick.”

On the first day of the state track meet at Cessna Stadium back in May, Lillian ran the fastest times in the preliminary races for the 200 and 400 to qualify for finals. On Saturday, she won her preliminary heat in the 100 to put herself in contention for a triple-gold day.

The first test was the 100, arguably her best event, but also the shortest distance, which meant any tiny mistake would be magnified more.

Halfway through the race, Lillian was deadlocked with Shawnee Heights senior Ta’Mijha Nichols — her dreams of a three-gold performance in the balance. But her golden kick allowed her to pull away from the field to win by nearly two-tenths of a second in a time of 12 seconds flat.

“The 100 race is so intense and there’s some variables there that make it a little more stressful than the other races,” John David, her father, said. “When she won that one, that’s when I began to think she could have a pretty special day.”

Up next was the 400 race, where Lillian’s trust in her training was put to the ultimate test when she trailed Topeka West’s Ala’jah Brooks by a step rounding the final curve.

Given her inexperience in the race, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Lillian let panic set in and burn out her tank of energy early. Instead, she remained calm, trusted her kick, methodically pulled ahead down the final straightaway and leaned past Brooks (57.77) at the finish line in a winning time of 57.70 seconds.

“I leave the coaching up to her dad, but my only piece of advice to her was to tell her to run through the finish line,” said Kucharski, beaming with pride after the race.

Bolstered by her earlier wins, Lillian had supreme confidence entering the final race of her high school career: a chance to defend her title in the 200 and complete the triple-gold performance.

There was never a doubt, as Lillian pulled away from the field to win in a time of 25.23 seconds to edge the field by nearly three-tenths of a second.

“I’m on cloud nine right now,” said Kucharski, who was given the opportunity to drape the gold medal over her daughter’s neck on the medal stand, the same podium where she stood atop some 24 years ago.

“I can’t really describe it,” Lillian said afterward with all three gold medals around her neck. “I was nervous coming in, but I’m so happy with how everything turned out.”

Lillian’s track career will continue, with a scholarship to a NCAA Division II program at Washburn University, but her time with her father as her primary coach has come to an end.

There’s nothing quite like a bond between a father and a daughter and their shared love for the sport provided so many cherished memories for the two over the last seven years.

“Coaching my daughter has probably been the biggest blessing in my life,” John David said. “I know how much time she has put in and what she did (at state) was pretty special. Sometimes when you’re expected to win, it doesn’t always happen. But she showed up. And I’m just so proud of her.”

Overcome by emotion, the father had to pause for a moment to collect himself as the realization that such a special era in his life had come to a close.

“I’m going to miss it,” John David said as his eyes welled up behind sunglasses. “I’m going to miss it a lot.”