OPINION: The Dartings and other locally-connected winners

From the small-world department:

A quick connection to the Manhattan area from the state track meet that you might not otherwise know. We've already reported on the results from the high schools in our area, but just for grins, we can note the results in the 5A division of the boys 100-meter sprint.

The winner: Ty Darting from Basehor-Linwood. He ran a 10.77. Oh, he also won the 200.

If the last name rings a bell, congrats. Good memory. Back to that in a minute.

Ty is the son of Dustin Dreiling, who won a state title in 4A basketball in 1995, and the grandson of Denny Dreiling, who won the equivalent of a 4A title in basketball in 1968.

Denny coached basketball at Westmoreland High from 1977 to 1981; he also won a state title as a track coach at Westy. He later coached his son at Paola, where together they won that '95 title. Among the players on his Westy team: Barry Wilkerson, who as you probably know, is now the Riley County Attorney. Also Mike Zabel, a longtime coach at Rock Creek High School, which is the successor to Westmoreland High after consolidation with St. George.

Aside from that, Denny's brother Ken Darting is the guy who built a basketball juggernaut at Highland Park in Topeka, winning four state titles. He just retired (for the second time) at Shawnee Heights; he coached previously at Silver Lake and was briefly an assistant under Jack Hartman at K-State. He also - little-known fact - was an assistant at Manhattan High under Mike Leahy for one year. The JV team he coached went undefeated; several of the guys on that team went on to lead MHS to the state championship game in 1986. That's the best finish in program history.

Lotsa winning with those Dartings. Including right around here.

Sorta related, another tip of the editorial cap.

This one to Paris Mikinski, the daughter of longtime Mercury photographer Rod Mikinski and Gwen (Wentland) Mikinski. Paris won the NCAA West regionals in high jump, competing for the University of Arizona. She's jumping in the NCAA championships this week.

Paris was born in Manhattan. Her mom, it's worth repeating, was a national champion at K-State in the pentathlon, and a world record holder for the high jump in the pentathlon.

And another hat-tip, also in the subject of NCAA track and field: Sam Hankins, a Manhattan High grad, was named a second-team All-American for Texas A&M as a javelin thrower. That's four such honors in four years. Quite a career.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 5:19 PM.