By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The three-sport high school athlete is fairly common. Rubi Spray, or Rubi Torres as she was known 11 years ago, was the rare four-sport athlete, running track and cross country, swimming, playing soccer, and cheering for Great Bend High School during a busy career. That work ethic paid off in high school, and as a runner and student at Wichita’s Newman University. In February of next year, Spray will be inducted into the Newman Sports Hall of Fame.
In her time at Newman, Spray developed a close relationship with cross country coach Josh Schepis. He recruited her during her senior year and later stepped in for the father-daughter dance at her wedding. He also delivered the news of her induction into the Hall of Fame.
“After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I’m pretty sure I asked him if he was joking,” Spray said. “It’s hard to find the words to describe the emotions that you feel. It’s not really something you ever imagine you would accomplish.
“When I think of the little girl who was beating the boys in PE, you just never realize that’s something you’re ever going to accomplish. I thought it was going to be a big deal just going to college because that was something I never even thought I was even going to be able to do or afford. Then you look back and think, I’m going to be in the Hall of Fame. That’s a little crazy to wrap your mind around.”
Spray got a running start with the Golden Belt track team in elementary school. She always enjoyed running and beat the boys at school in the mile run. In middle school, Josh Lee proved to be more than a math teacher as he guided her into the foreign sport of cross country.
“If it weren’t for him, none of this would have ever been possible," Spray said. "I don’t know that I ever would have given it a shot. It was a couple conversations, a couple class times he was convincing me to try out. I always share that story because it goes to show you the impact our teachers have on us. He is a lot to thank for the success I had because it just would have never happened. I probably would have still been running track.”
Spray did not run cross country as a freshman in 2007, but joined a loaded Lady Panther track team in 2008 and 2009. By her junior year, she won the 1600m Western Athletic Conference title and qualified for state in the 4x800m relay. She medaled at state in both the 1600m run (7th) and the 3200m run (6th) that year. She finished fourth at state in both individual events a year later as a senior.
In her debut cross country season for the Lady Panthers in 2008, Spray made a splash with a fifth-place finish at state. In her junior year, she finished eighth at state to lead her team to a seventh-place finish. She earned all-state honors as a senior with a fifth-place finish at state, setting a new 4K GBHS record that season.
Spray said the race never began until the first mile, at which point she was worried about pacing and strategy. The last 2-plus miles became a matter of the heart.
“At that point, your mind is telling you that you’re tired, you want to quit, this hurts – your lungs feel like they just got shot out of you,” she said. “During that part of the race, that’s when you have to shut everything else out and just go with your heart. I think that’s what drives a lot of cross country runners, and why they put themselves through that excruciating pain, because it’s you and yourself. That’s what you’ve got.”
All her success garnered some attention from colleges. Spray had her eyes set on a Div. I scholarship. Instead, she visited Newman University and fell in love, even though her desired nursing studies meant saying goodbye to her track career due to conflicts between the life of a student and the life of an athlete.
“When Josh Schepis came to me, I let him know I wanted to be a nursing major, and that was my goal,” Spray said. “I wanted to serve others in my career. If you know Newman, you know the program is just well-known. If you tell people and your patients you went to Newman, they just know who you are, and the great school you went to. He told me it’s going to be really hard but we’re going to make it work.”
In her four years at Newman, Spray was a four-time all-conference runner. In 2012, she earned all-academic honors reserved for a select few who meet both academic and performance standards on the cross country course. She ran the top-three 5K times in school history during her senior season, becoming the first and only Lady Jet to break 18 minutes with a 17:59 time on the course in Hays. She ranks second all-time at Newman in the 4K.
But if she loved running, Spray always had ambitions of returning to a small town and serving that community as a nurse. Spray again calls Great Bend home, and she’s worked at Rice County District Hospital for the last four-plus years.
“I am thankful I get to be back in the community that raised me, and now I get to raise my children,” she said. “I work in a small, rural hospital, and I get to serve my patients. I don’t think there’s anything greater than that. I get to go to work and help people feel better, and I’m raising the next generation. Hopefully, my children can pick up on some of the things I’m passionate about.”
Rubi married Kameron Spray in 2018, and together the couple has two children: Theo, 4, and Chloe, 1. Theo already takes after his mother, enjoying a good run on the soccer field or between the bases on the diamond. Rubi hopes to instill some of her lessons and passions in her children.
“I think the biggest takeaway from all of this, for me, is there are going to be a lot of obstacles in your way, and a lot of things you have to overcome,” she said. “But if you stay determined, if you work really hard, and you lean on the people who are always in your corner encouraging you – because there are going to be times you’re just not sure. If you lean on those people who are rooting for you, you can accomplish great things.”
Rubi is the daughter of Zila Cervantes. The 2023 Newman University Hall of Fame class will be inducted on Feb. 4, 2023.