MANHATTAN, Kan. — The University of Kansas men’s track & field team entered the DeLoss Dodds Invitational ranked 36th in the nation in the USTFCCAA poll.

Based on Sherman native John Swabik’s performance on the Kansas State campus over the weekend, the Jayhawks could very well move up a spot or two.

The 2021 Sherman Central School graduate and former Colorado Buffalo, broke Kansas’ men’s heptathlon record with an eye-popping 5,864-point performance in his first multi-event as a Jayhawk. That effort also set the meet and Cliff Rovelto indoor track facility record against an outstanding field that featured other ranked teams, including Oklahoma, Baylor, Air Force, Iowa State, Nebraska and Kansas State.

Swabik narrowly beat his teammate Tayton Klein, with just three points separating them. On Friday, Swabik scored 861 points in the 60-meter dash, 893 in the long jump, 673 in the shot put and 831 in the high jump. On Saturday, he completed his record setting performance with 932 points in the 60-meter hurdles, 790 in the pole vault and 884 in the 1,000 meter dash, overcoming the 25 point deficit he had to Klein entering the final event. Swabik broke Alexander Jung’s previous record of 5,797 points that he set at the Big 12 Championships in 2025 and set a 424-point personal best and a facility record.

Klein also put on a performance that ranked second in school history, scoring 5,851 points to bring home second place. The senior captain had led throughout most of the meet with scores of 889, 945, 668, 776, 908, 819 and 856. In the end, he set a new 218-point personal best with the second best heptathlon performance in Kansas history.

“It was great to see those two battle it out.” Kansas multi events coach Paul Thornton said. “This [multis] group is really close with each other and so they were able to compete and drive each other to be better and better throughout the meet, and that was really special to see. … Seeing John come in and set a 400-point personal best and school record in his first time wearing a Jayhawks uniform was awesome, and you really never see a multi event come down to just three points, but that speaks to how both guys were spectacular and kept pushing each other throughout the meet.”

For Swabik, now a redshirt senior, the record-setting weekend was a culmination of quite an athletic journey that began as a four-sport letter winner at Sherman, including a two-time state champion in football and the pentathlon. Upon his high school graduation, he enrolled at Colorado where he competed for the Buffaloes from 2021 through 2025 before transferring to Kansas for the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.