The RoundHouse | 4/8/2022 9:59:00 AM

Trey Rios kept sending videos in the spring of 2020, his senior year at Maize South High School. His 3,200-meter times kept improving – from not good enough to almost good enough to just good enough for Wichita State.
 
"Trey was a 10-minute, something, two-miler," Wichita State distance coach Kirk Hunter said. "No way I could recruit him. I advised them to videotape time trials. Send them to me. His first one was OK. His next one was something like 9:30 and we said 'That's good. We'll give him a shot to walk on.' His next one was 9:21. So we said 'Ok, we'll give you a spot.'"
 
Those time trials – videotaped by his dad when NCAA COVID restrictions prohibited in-person recruiting – put Rios on the track and field team at Wichita State. It is the school he always wanted to attend in the city he is already engaged with as a voting member of the District 5 Advisory Board with city council member Bryan Frye.
 
If Rios is mayor one day, it will not surprise his coaches.
 
"He is a strong believer in Wichita," Frye said. "We always want youth to rise up and have a greater voice in how we're going to shape our community, because that's who we need to be thinking about. Trey is one of those people who can help us figure out what we need to do to continue to get people to stay here."
 
Rios grew up cheering at Shocker basketball games with his family and traveling to St. Louis for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. His room featured a large Wu Shock sticker on the black-and-yellow walls. He lists Fred VanVleet as his favorite Shocker.
 
"I really, really love the community I've grown up in," he said. "I wanted to run for my hometown university. I've been a lifelong Shocker."
 
Rios, a sophomore majoring in entrepreneurship, is no longer a runner scrambling for a spot on the team. Last weekend, he ran a time of 30:11.80 in the 10,000 meters to finish sixth in the Hayward Premiere in Eugene, Ore. That time is No. 9 on Wichita State's career list.
 
On Friday, the Shockers continue their home track and field schedule with the K.T. Woodman Classic at Cessna Stadium. College field events begin at 6 p.m. with the distance carnival at 6:10 p.m.
 
Rios points to that COVID-ruined spring as a key point in his growth as a runner. After struggles with sickness and injury, he began to enjoy running more during cross country in the fall of 2019. He finished fifth in the Class 5A meet.
 
COVID took away his senior track season. He did not want the pandemic to end his running career. He made running as a Shocker his goal, in part because of the support and love of the sport that runs in his family. Hector Rios, his father, earned NAIA All-American honors at Southwestern College. Raquel Rios-Reed, his aunt, is a three-time Olympic marathon trials qualifier.
 
"I think I started to appreciate it more," he said. "I realized the talent and potential I had, having seen it run in my family. I thought 'OK, maybe I don't want to let this gift go away.'"
 
Rios contributed as a freshman for the Shockers, placing No. 37 in the American Athletic Conference cross country meet. He planned to redshirt for the outdoor track season before he studied the field in the 10,000 meters for the American championship meet. With his times improving, he believed he could score points for the Shockers. He met with Rainbolt and Hunter to make his case.
 
The request, director of track and field Steve Rainbolt said, was unprecedented. Rios gave up most of his outdoor season to run in the 2021 conference meet to help the team and, Rios said, to preserve his redshirt in case of an injury later in his career. He also wanted the experience of running in a championship meet.
 
Rios ran a 10,000 earlier in the spring unattached and that time of 31:29.91 laid the foundation for considering the move.
 
"He had analyzed the conference and established for himself that he thought he could score," Rainbolt said. "I found it to be selfless and team-oriented and all the things that a coach loves. All the things that a coach admires. Son of a gun, he went down there and scored."
 
Rios placed eighth (the top eight score points) with a time of 31:40.94 to help the Shockers finish second behind Houston.
 
"We saw ourselves as definitely having a chance at striking at Houston at the conference meet and I knew every single point was going to count," Rios said. "I was continually looking at the top times in the conference in the 10K. After running that first 10K what I was capable of, I saw myself in that (scoring) range."
 
The persuasive skills he showed in organizing his thoughts in the meeting with Rainbolt and Hunter are the same skills that he uses on the District 5 Advisory Board and when he contemplates a future as an elected official.
 
Keeping young people in Wichita with good jobs and quality of life is important to Rios. He supports a new fine arts center to replace Century II and sees plans for development on the Arkansas River as a tribute to the city leaders who built Century II. Diversifying industries into areas such as wind and solar power are also important to him. He saw friends and families lose jobs or leave Wichita due to the departure of Boeing in 2014 and those events shape his thoughts.
 
"These past few years have been a turning point in the city," he said. "There are a lot of big issues, like what we do with Century II and the way we go forward with downtown I see as big catalyst decisions that will really impact the future generations. I want to be able to make my voice heard and see the ways I can, hopefully, make this community better."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.