Wakefield, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and Tri County Northeast (Allen/Emerson-Hubbard) took their talents to the C-3 District Track & Field Championships on Thursday.
From Ponca, the Wakefield girls finished eighth with 36.33 points while the Wakefield boys took fourth with 58 points as the LCC girls totaled 46 points to place seventh and the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge boys captured a seventh place team finish with 29.5 points.
The Tri County Northeast girls posted a seventh place team finish (50) as the Tri County Northeast boys finished fifth with 53 points.
In the girls division, Pender won the C-3 District title with 124.33 points, Wisner-Pilger followed in runner-up (76.33), Homer took third (66), Ponca placed fourth (61) and Cedar Catholic rounded out the top five teams with 59 points.
A trio of silver medals moved sophomore Boston Brown from Wakefield onto state. She recorded a new personal best in both the 100-meter hurdles (16.27) and 300-meter hurdles (47.81) while also taking second in the triple jump (35′ 2 1/2″).
State qualifiers for Laurel-Concord-Coleridge were led by a gold medal from senior Tali Erwin during the high jump (5′ 2″), junior Kate Tasler qualified for state in the highly competitive one-mile with a third place time of 5:45.73, a new personal best and sophomore Faith Galvin took third in the 3200-meter run (13:11.08), a new personal best.
Head LCC track and field coach, Shannon Benson highlighted the girls state qualifiers.
"Tali has worked so hard this year as she has for all four years. She is so competitive and wants to do well every meet and every jump. High jump has always been something very special to her and I was so happy to see her have her best day at the best time in Districts. Tali has always had high goals for her athletic life and making one last trip to Burke was defiantly on that list. Very proud of her."
"Kate has just spring boarded her track season off a very successful cross county season and it all has helped her set her goal of making a trip to State Track. You could see the switch flip at the midway point of the season and she just continued to work hard and get better and strive to reach her goals. She was the GNAC 1600m conference champion and that really helped her confidence and helped her to know that she is one of the best runners in the area as well as the state."
"All of our coaches knew that Faith had this in her, she is a very strong runner and very determined. She has worked hard all season. She ran a great race at Districts and was very pleased with her time. Faith has been a great teammate and a leader of our distance program so it was great to see her make it to Burke."
During the boys division, Cedar Catholic won the C-3 District title with 151 points, Homer followed in runner-up (75), Ponca took third (74), Wakefield placed fourth (58) and Tri County Northeast (Allen/Emerson-Hubbard) rounded out the top five teams with 53 points.
Wakefield boys state qualifiers were led by district champion in the discus with a new school record by senior Jesse Lundahl (162′ 10″) along with a personal best gold medal from junior Mason Lamprecht for the long jump (20′ 4 1/4″).
The 4×400-meter relay of Lundahl, junior Jacob Borg, Lamprecht and junior Cael Johnson earned a state qualifying spot with a second place finish (3:34.54).
State qualifiers for Laurel-Concord-Coleridge were led by freshman Drey Puppe winning the 110-meter hurdles (15.28) along with a runner-up mark in the high jump (5′ 11″).
Coach Shannon added more on Puppe.
"There isn’t two consecutive days that go by that Drey is not at the track working on his craft. Drey had worked hard everyday at practice and has set very high goals for his season and career. High jump was a great addition to his resume and we both enjoyed his season as a LCC jumper. Drey loves to hurdle and with his Dad by his side as a coach they have continued a great family tradition of running hurdles, running them well and running them at State Track."
Coach Shannon also mentioned LCC had a great District meet and even had some athletes just missed on a chance to participate at the State Meet.
"Jaylen Carpenter, and Taelynn Settje, Carlie Kvols, and a few relays that were close and will be hungry for another chance at making it to the State Track meet next years and the years to follow."
For Tri County Northeast, junior Kiya Tornez qualified for state in the 100 and 200-meter dash events along with the 4x100-meter relay of junior Rachael Bousquet, senior Bre Millard, sophomore Joslyn Mackling and Tornez.
The Wolfpack boys were led by senior Bryan Isom qualifying in the 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and triple jump as well as senior Jackson Belt in the high jump.
The 2025 NSAA State Track & Field Championships will open with Class A/B on Wednesday and Thursday, May 21 – 22 followed by Class C/D on Friday and Saturday, May 23 – 24. Competition will take place at Burke Stadium in Omaha.
