Thursday, 06 May 2010 09:50

Catholic school principal runs Boston Marathon
By Christopher M. Riggs
Winston Kenton will celebrate his birthday on 10/10/10, but he’s already given himself a birthday present of sorts.
Kenton, principal of St. Anne Catholic School in Wichita and St. Cecilia Catholic School in Haysville, gave himself a trip to Boston to run its marathon on Monday, April 19.
“It’s my third time at Boston and every time you forget how painful the race is,” he said a few days after returning from the race. “I think that this was probably the most painful I’ve felt crossing the line – but the most gratifying because I ran closer to what I’d hope to run this time.”
Kenton finished the 26-mile race in 3 hours, 14 minutes and 15 seconds.
“I went there with the lofty goal of running under three hours,” he said. “I believe it would be realistic if I wasn’t a Kansas boy who runs on flat land every day. That was the difference in my time, running up the hills.”
He did pretty good for a flatlander, finishing 3,277th out of about 26,000 competitors.

Kenton, who also ran the Boston Marathon in 2003 and 2005, said this time he went back with a vengeance.
“I was in the best shape of my life. I trained seriously,” he said. “It’s not enough to just go run Boston, it’s time to run it at least well enough to qualify again. And that’s exactly what happened. My time was fast enough to make me eligible to return.”
He added that he hopes his race inspires the students at St. Anne’s and St. Cecilia’s in some way. “I think that they’re all behind me now for my next big, lofty goal: to run in the Wichita marathon on his 50th birthday Oct. 10. What a way to celebrate a birthday!”
The Prairie Fire Wichita Marathon on 10/10/10 is sponsored by Via Christi Health to promote physical fitness.
Kenton is in his first year as principal of the two schools. He was a history and government teacher at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School for seven years, before he became a track and cross-country coach at Wichita’s Friends University for five years.
Kenton is also looking past the race this fall. He is working with Mike Wescott, director of the Diocese of Wichita’s Development/Planning Giving Office, for a charitable run in the summer of 2011 for the St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund.
Twenty-six miles just isn’t enough for Kenton. He plans to run the 400-mile width of Kansas, from Missouri to Colorado, border to raise money for the Drexel fund.
Wescott said he definitely won’t be able to join Kenton.

St. Pat’s 8th graders breakfast May 16
WICHITA – St. Patrick School eighth gracers will host a Biscuits and Gravy Breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, May 16, in the school cafeteria as part of the parish’s centennial celebration.
In addition to biscuits and gravy, sausage patty, hash browns, and a beverage will be available for a $5 donation or a $25 donation for a family. Carry out will be available.

BCCHS named runner-up in state journalism contest
Bishop Carroll Catholic High School journalism maintained its tradition as one of the top programs in the state by finishing as runner-up in the Class 5A state contest on Saturday at Kansas University.
This is the fifth straight year that Bishop Carroll has finished in the top two and the 11th time in the past 13 years BC has been in the top three. The contest is sponsored by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
Senior Anna Gunther won an individual championship in Feature Writing. Junior Matt McKernan placed first in Academics Photography, and junior Anna Deines took third in Newspaper Design.
Honorable mention went to Chris Ruder (Ad Design), Maria Eck (Editorial Cartoon), Rebecca Hagan (Editorial Writing), Audrey Garrett (Headlines and Newspaper Design), and Ashleigh Lee (Sports Photography).
In addition, students were awarded a plaque at state in recognition of the school paper, the “Flyer,” being selected as an All-Kansas newspaper.

Bishop Carroll senior earns ACT top score
Bishop Carroll Catholic High School student Alex Johnson earned “A Top Score” of 36 on the ACT exam, awarded April 4.
Johnson is a National Merit Scholarship finalist and member of Bishop Carroll’s State 5A Championship Scholars’ Bowl Team.
He is the son of Rusty and Theresa Johnson of St. Patrick’s Parish, Wichita.