Jayna (Thyer) Benton likes to think her first cash reward went straight to the piggy bank. She likes to think she valued her efforts enough to save her earnings and use them wisely. Osgood-Schlatter disease is a cruel way to sideline athletic talent. Jayna eventually slowed down, believe it or not.
She likes to think that.
But then again, there still remains the equally plausible chance that her newly acquired salary served to soothe her snow-cone sweet tooth — further feeding the classic American tragedy of irresponsible spending.
In truth, it’s difficult to remember the fate of that first fund.
It was back in the summer of 1974.
And Jayna was 5.
“We had these little races out in Blue Mound and you would get money for prizes,” she recalled. “It was on the Fourth of July, I believe. My parents would always sign me up for these races. And I would always get first. I was part of like the 50-yard dash, I think. But I would always get first and I would always get money for it.”
Maybe lauding her as the youngest professional runner in the history of sports is a bit of a stretch. It’s hard to make a running career out of a $3 payout every Independence Day.
But Jayna’s playground prosperity still stands out on her personal timeline of events for one simple reason.
It was a sign.
It was a harbinger, a foretoken, a precursor to what lied down the road for an ambitious young girl from Iola: Success.
Her parents probably recognized Jayna’s inevitable run-in with triumph on the track when they witnessed her first meet as a freshman JV sprinter at Iola High.
“She said she was going to quit track because they put her on the JV team,” said Jay Thyer, her father.
“Then she beat everyone by about 30 yards so they put on her varsity. They put her on varsity right after that race.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone whose eyes didn’t light up seeing Jayna charge around the bend and head down the home stretch.
Iola’s lit up from excitement. Opponents’ lit up from fear.
“She lost one 400 her senior year,” said Marvin Smith, the Mustangs’ current cross country coach and former head of track and field.
“She must have been so excited that she left her warm-up T-shirt on over her singlet during the race … so she was disqualified. But she won the race though. She never really lost.”
But first to see the power Jayna possessed as a runner were Steve Appling and Sam Murrow, also known as the fastest elementary-age boys in town during Jayna’s youth.
At least, that’s what Jayna remembers. She also remembers leaving them in the dust.
“There weren’t any boys that could beat me,” she said in between her reminiscent laughter. “Steve Appling and Sam Murrow were the only two as the fastest elementary-age boys in town during Jayna’s youth.
At least, that’s what Jayna remembers. She also remembers leaving them in the dust.
“There weren’t any boys that could beat me,” she said in between her reminiscent laughter. “Steve Appling and Sam Murrow were the only twoas the fastest elementary-age boys in town during Jayna’s youth.
At least, that’s what Jayna remembers. She also remembers leaving them in the dust.
“There weren’t any boys that could beat me,” she said in between her reminiscent laughter. “Steve Appling and Sam Murrow were the only two boys that were maybe the fastest. And I think I still could beat them.”
Steve Appling and Sam Murrow weren’t the last to fall victim to Jayna on the track.
Not by a long shot.
It’s crueler when your sister is Jayna Benton-Thyer, and you’re left wondering what could have been.
Jennifer (Thyer) Chagaris was diagnosed with the condition when she was 12. The disease is found in young teens experiencing rapid growth spurts, which cause the tendons in the knees to actually pull away from the growth plates.
Exercise only makes it worse.
So when Jennifer would follow her older sister to her track meets, she knew the bleachers were as close to the action as she would get.
“It was very disappointing,” Jennifer said. “I knew I didn’t have (Jayna’s) speed anyway, but yeah of course I looked up to her and would have loved to do what she did. She just had a gift I didn’t have.”
Jayna’s 400-meter dash record of 58.7 seconds still stands as Iola High’s fastest time for a girl. She also placed second at the 4A Kansas All-Class State Track Meet in 1987. Jayna’s gift resulted in scholarship opportunities at Brown University and the United States Military Academy.
Jennifer’s disease took away any hope of those types of gifts.
But it certainly didn’t take away her hope of one day becoming an athlete.
“(Jayna) inspired my love of running,” Jennifer said. “I always looked up to her … I know she was very supportive. She was a great big sister. Still is.”
Jennifer outgrew the disease when her bones finally stopped her incredible growth at 6-feet tall.
And she then overcame the back pain she suffered when she slipped a disc a couple years after her Osgood-Schlatter diagnosis.
With the pain in the past, she began to run — just like Jayna.
Jennifer has competed in three half-marathons and too many 5k’s to count, including Saturday’s Charlie Melvin Mad Bomber Run. She even ran one 5k while seven months pregnant with her second daughter, Kylie.
Final time: 27 minutes.
That’s 27 minutes in 3.1 miles after running for two people.
Her husband, Mark, was active duty in the Air Force and his fellow soldiers would be embarrassed to run beside Jennifer, who became a mother of three.
“They were humiliated to be passed by the pregnant lady pushing a stroller,” Jennifer said.
It’s hard to tell Jennifer and Jayna apart when they recall their racing victories.
Jayna’s over the boys in Iola and Jennifer’s over the Air Force servicemen. Two women cut from the same cloth.
After having run for Allen County Community College for two years, where she placed as high as 10th nationally in the 400-meter dash, Jayna went to Pittsburg State to finish her nursing degree.
She passed up Brown and West Point, by the way, to stay closer to home and save a little money. Her coach at Allen couldn’t believe it.
“I just went to the community college and ran track for Roger Campbell,” Jayna said. “He didn’t really recruit me. He was like, ‘Jayna, I thought you were going elsewhere. I’m so sorry. I definitely want you to run for me but I thought you were going elsewhere not just staying at Allen County.’”
After Allen, she didn’t run at Pittsburg State, at least not competitively.
Running was a big part of her life, just not the whole part.
She had nursing to look forward to and a future husband as well, who she never would have married if she didn’t compete on the same track and field team with him at Allen.
Jayna, now 46, settled down after a stint in the Navy, like her father Jay, and eventually became a registered nurse in Olathe, where she lives today with her husband, Cordell.
She has worked in the mother-baby department at Shawnee Mission Medical Center since January 2013.
The running was tough to keep up with a family and a career.
But with her two kids, Jake and Josh, now grown and out of the house, Jayna has gotten back on track, so to speak. She runs a couple of times a week now as part of her workouts, which include weightlifting.
And, of course, she still keeps in contact with her younger sister, Jennifer.
The two are as competitive as ever.
“She’d always try to arm wrestle me,” Jayna said. “If I hadn’t seen for her a year, she’d want to arm wrestle me. She would be like, ‘I’ve been lifting.’ No, she could never take me. I was a nurse in the military, I was lifting patients, there was no way she could ever take me. She did it once or twice but then she wouldn’t do it anymore.”
These contests weren’t 30 years ago. They arm-wrestled when they had kids of their own, when they had families of their own and when they had jobs of their own.
Adults? Maybe. Sisters? Always.
“They’re both as competitive as ever,” said their father.
Some things never change.
Remember Me? From sprint to marathon
