Less than 24 hours earlier, Ben Randolph was making multiple trips across stage at graduation, receiving recognition for his excellence in the classroom.Among the honors was being named Wright City’s male student of the year.On Saturday, it was Randolph’s turn to distinguish himself as the school’s most accomplished track athlete from the Class of 2014.He became the Wildcats’ only male competitor to advance to state and the first since Deon Bradshaw qualified in 2011.“This is a great way to end my senior year and track in general,” said Randolph. “I’ve worked toward this goal all four years. I’ve inched closer and closer, and if I hadn’t made it, I would’ve been really disappointed in myself.”A personal-best time of 1:59.35 helped Randolph to a third-place finish after a surging kick during the final 200 meters.“I’m just glad I finally broke 2:00, because that was a milestone all year,” said Randolph. “I also beat the kid who beat me in districts. That was another goal I had in order to move on.”He moved from fifth to third after being neck-to-neck with three other runners.“When he started kicking in, he was cruising,” said Wright. “It was awesome to watch.”She believes he is capable of more, with one race remaining.“He knows what he wants to accomplish, and he goes after it,” said Wright. “He epitomizes what you want in a middle distance to distance runner.”And while Randolph endeavors to medal at state, he is more concentrated on a goal that has evaded him for four seasons. Larry Paul owns the school record in the 800 at 1:58, a mark he reached during the state meet.“I’ve been going after this time for four years, and that’s what I’m going to keep chasing,” asserted Randolph.At one point this season Randolph was informed he had indeed broken the record until a deeper look into the history books revealed Paul’s best career time.Now Randolph has one more opportunity on Saturday at 2:45 p.m.This time around he will be able to focus completely on his open race, with Wright City unable to advance in its additional two boys events at sectionals.The 3,200-relay team, consisting of Brendan Geier, Cody Klemp, Nick Mueller and Randolph, ran an 8:55 to finish seventh. Wright felt like the crew had an outside chance of qualifying, but the field proved more challenging than expected.“We just got too far behind in the very beginning,” she lamented. “We hadn’t had a relay get to sectional since we moved to Class 3, so it was still a huge accomplishment.”The Wildcats also competed in the 1,600-meter relay, again taking seventh with a time of 3:38. The group included Alvin Chenoweth, Geier, Mueller and Randolph.“If you feel good about leaving this track today, then you did exactly what you needed to do,” Wright told her athletes following meet.RANDOLPHS BANK STATE BERTHDerrick Forsythe, Record Sports Editor