HISTORIC RUN

Topeka High star running back Ky Thomas became the city's all-time rushing leader Friday night at Washburn Rural, capping a four-year assault on the record set more than two decades ago by former Hayden All-Stater and Missouri Tiger Dan Davis.

Thomas, a 6-foot, 205-pound senior, entered Friday night's Centennial League game needing 70 yards to overtake Davis, who rushed for 5,598 regular-season yards from from 1995-98.

Thomas broke the record with a 60-yard touchdown run on his sixth attempt of the night.

By halftime, Thomas had 198 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) as the Trojans scored the final 14 points of the half for a 28-14 lead.

He finished with 271 yards on 32 carries and scored four touchdowns as Topeka High improved to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Centennial League with a hard-earned 42-28 win over the Junior Blues.

The Minnesota recruit said setting the all-time rushing record was never a goal until he closed in on Davis' mark this season.

"I didn't set goals thinking I wanted to be the best," he said. "I knew a couple of former players that I thought were real good and I looked up to them, but I never set that goal.

"I just wanted to be my own person and come in and just have a different type of career. I wanted to come in and make an impact early."

Thomas accomplished that from his very first game in a Trojan uniform, rushing for 1,272 yards as a freshman and adding 1,771 and 1,651 yards (including playoffs) his next two seasons. Thomas entered Friday's game with 1,117 rushing yards over his first five games.

"It's a big honor," Topeka High coach Walt Alexander said of Thomas' record. "Hayden's program has been one of the best in the state for so many years and Dan Davis was a great player.

"For our program to be recognized like this because of a great player like Ky is special. You don't think about it that much unless people bring it up. We never talked about it as a team and Ky really never mentions it too much, but it is a special time for him and his family."

Thomas has been low key about his record chase throughout, but admitted that the record is something he's appreciative of.

"I'm proud of it, but at the same time I'm not satisfied," Thomas said. "I feel like there's a lot more to be done team-wise, how I am as a teammate and how I am as a leader. I'm trying to make an impact every day in practice and starting to pick up on stuff I know I'm going to have to do in college, just little things."

Thomas said he knows he'll cherish the city record and all of the high school accomplishments more as he gets older.

"I'm happy and it means a lot, but right now nothing seems real," he said. "I play games and I've become so used to it, it's just how it is. It's normal.

"I think when I come back and it's all said and done and I'm done playing, I'll look back and see what I did and appreciate it. Even highlights, I'm not impressed by them right now, but I know looking back at it down the road, I'll be shocked."