Several area athletes earned a trip to the State Track and Field Championships after qualifying in district competition earlier this week.
In D-3 district action at Hartington, Winside junior Gabe Escalante qualified in three events, winning the 200 and finishing second in the 100 and 400-meter dashes. He will run in preliminary action on Wednesday at Burke Stadium.
In B-4 district competition at Albion, Wayne punched five tickets to state, two going to freshman distance runner Jesus Zavala, who took second in the 1,600 and third in the 3,200. Layne Evans qualified in the 300-meter hurdles, and the girls 3,200-meter relay and boys 1,600-meter relay earned trips to state, with the boys team winning a district title and the girls finishing runner-up.
In C-4 action at Ponca, three area schools earned multiple spots in the state tournament and the Wakefield boys claimed the district runner-up team title.
Blake Brown, Justin Erb and Jordan Metzler all qualified in four events to highlight the Trojans’ day. Brown won the 100, 200 and was part of the winning 400 and 1,600-meter relays along with Erb, who qualified in the 200 and 400, winning the latter. Metzler was runner-up in four events, qualifying in the 400, 300 hurdles, long jump and triple jump.
Also qualifying for Wakefield were Logan Bokemper in the 100, Gabe Lamprecht in the long jump, Cade Johnson in the triple jump as a district champion, and Anna Lundahl as a district champ in the discus.
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge was led by senior hurdler Deagan Puppe, who won the 110-meter hurdles and finished second in the 300 hurdles. Brother Dan Puppe qualified in the 110 hurdles as runner-up. Berniece McCorkindale qualified as runner-up in the shot put, and Erica Wolfgram tied for second to reach state in the high jump.
Tri County Northeast’s qualifiers were all on the girls side. Jordyn Carr won the 100 and long jump and took second in the 200, and was part of the winning 400-meter relay team along with Brynn Schock, Alli Jackson and Brianna Bousquet. Rhyanne Mackling qualified in the 3,20 and Jackson won the triple jump.
Class B and C action will run Friday and Saturday at Burke Stadium.
Complete results in next week's edition of The Wayne Herald.
