Wayne High will be well represented at next week’s Nebraska State Track and Field Championships, as the girls placed third and the boys finished fifth in Thursday’s B-4 district meet at Kern Stadium.
Wayne’s girls qualified six for the state meet on Thursday, while the Blue Devil boys punched five tickets for next week’s meet in Omaha.
Kylie Hammer accounted for half of the Blue Devil girls’ state qualifying efforts, winning the long jump and taking runner-up honors in the triple jump and 200-meter dash. She easily won the long jump, finishing with a best mark of 17 feet, 11 1/2 inches. In the triple jump, she was edged out for first by two inches by Blair’s Katie Harnack, and also took second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.33 seconds.
Gabi Meyer had a hand in two district titles for the Wayne girls. She won the 800-meter dash in a time of 2:25.13, and was joined by Frankie Klausen, Allison Echtenkamp and Kiara Hochstein on the winning 3,200-meter relay team that recorded a time of 10:10.26.
Jenna Trenhaile earned Wayne’s sixth state bid with a third-place finish in the discus, throwing a best mark of 124-6.
All of the Wayne boys’ state meet bids came in field events, with Grayson McBride earning trips to state in the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
McBride won the high jump with a personal-best leap of 6-7, and also took the triple jump title with a best mark of 42-5. He finished third in the long jump with a best effort of 20-6.
Cody Rogers will join McBride in the triple jump, as he finished third with a best effort of 41-9. Nolan Reynolds qualified in the boys pole vault, placing third with a best effort of 12-10.
Class B action will start at 3 p.m. on Friday, with action continuing through Saturday at Burke Stadium in Omaha.
