PCS qualifies three for state Class C meet; Wallace qualifies two, relay in Class D

Perkins County and Wallace track teams will be represented this week at the NSAA state track meet set for Omaha’s Burke Stadium.

Perkins County will send three athletes to compete in five events. 

Wallace will send three individuals in five events, along with their 4x800 relay. 

Perkins County Junior Colton Pouk will compete in both the 800 and 1,600. He won the 1,600 at the C-9 district in Sutherland May 13 while finishing second in the 800.

Sophomore Casey Hanson won the 400 at districts to punch his ticket to Omaha. 

Freshman Kailee Potts placed second in both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles to earn her trip. 

Plainsmen Coach Shayne Hite knew the competition in the C9 district would be tough. 

He was hoping they could qualify one or two relays as additional qualifiers but they were just outside looking in.

Triston Hite narrowly missed qualifying in the triple jump, despite a personal best of 39 feet. His mark of 39-0 looked good for second until another competitor out-distanced Hite by 3/4 of an inch on his last jump. 

Hunter Gardner was in position to qualify at 5-9 until a Bayard jumper cleared 5-11 to knock Gardner down to third. 

Coach Hite said losing the track season last year due to COVID-19 didn’t give his kids a chance to experience the pressure of districts. 

Now that some of the kids got that “taste in their mouth,” they know they have to work to get to state, he added. 

The experience his teams have gained this year makes him optimistic about next year. 

Most of the squad will be back. Hite will only lose five seniors to graduation. 

Sophomores lead Wallace

All three of the individual qualifiers for Wallace are sophomores. 

Distance runners Trey Robertson and Mariah Gardner each won their respective races in both the 1,600 and 3,200 at the D-8 district meet in Bertrand May 12. 

Sophomore Kendyl Flaming punched her ticket to state with a first place finish in 300 hurdles.

The Wildcats’ girls 4x800 relay team finished third but qualified for state as an additional qualifier.

In Class C and D, the first two places in each individual event automatically qualify for state. 

In running events, there are an additional six qualifiers with the fastest non-qualifying times in the class. 

Gardner anchors the relay and will be joined by Dajana Garrison, Reagan Pelster and Brooke Bryant. 

Different meet format

The format for this year’s state track meet will be different than the traditional all-class, two-day meet. 

This year, each class will conduct its own two-day meet.

Class D will compete in the morning session on Wednesday and Thursday, with Class A in the afternoons. 

On Friday and Saturday, Class C will compete in the morning sessions with Class B in the afternoons. 

Fans are reminded that no tickets will be sold on-site. Tickets must be purchased online at gofans.co. 

District results for Perkins County and Wallace follow. 

C-9 Districts

PCS Boys

400 Meters—1, Casey Hanson, 52.51PR, Perkins County.

800 Meters—1, Clay Meeske, 2:05.67PR, Chase County; 2, Colton Pouk, 2:07.55a, Perkins County

1600 meters—1, Colton Pouk, 4:53.92PR, Perkins County.

300 meter hurdles—1, Aydon McDonald, 42.69PR, Gordon-Rushville; 4, Blake Garner, 44.53PR, Perkins County

Shot put—1, Isaiah Guerue, 44’6PR, Morrill; 6, Austin Meyer, 38’6, Perkins County

Triple Jump—1, Elijah Jackson, 40’4.25, Gordon-Rushville; 3, Triston Hite, 39’0PR, Perkins County

High Jump—1, Samuel Frame, 5’11PR, Hershey; 3, Hunter Garner, 5’9, Perkins County.

4x100 Relay—1, 45.08a, Chase County; 2, 45.79a, Perkins County, Irvin Reyes, Casey Hanson, Triston Hite, Hunter Garner.

4x400 Relay—1, 3:35.96a, Gordon-Rushville; 3, 3:39.47a, Perkins County., Casey Hanson, Erik Snyder, Antonio Lyon, Colton Pouk.

4x800 Relay—1, 8:52.91a, Gordon-Rushville; 5, 10:18.17a, Perkins County, Antonio Lyon, Casey Uehling, Trevor Cornelius, Erik Snyder.

Team scores—1, Chase County, 108.5; 2, Gordon-Rushville, 71; 3, Hershey, 66; 4, Perkins County, 61; 5, Sutherland Public, 57.5; 6, Morrill, 51; 7, Bridgeport, 41; 8, Bayard, 34; 9, Kimball, 22; 10, Hemingford, 15.

PCS girls

800 Meters—1, Bryn McNair, 2:23.92a, Chase County; 6, Meredith Gloy, 2:44.31PR, Perkins County.

100 Meter Hurdles—1, Jerzee Milner, 15.95a, Chase County; 2, Kailee Potts, 16.61PR, Perkins County; 5, Ava Reese, 17.21PR, Perkins County.

300 Meter Hurdles—1, Jerzee Milner, 48.55a, Chase County; 2, Kailee Potts, 49.79a, Perkins County.

Discus—1, McKinley Grover, 121’3PR, Gordon-Rushville; 6, Dani Burge, 105’8PR, Perkins County.

Triple Jump—1, Kaitlin Heeg, 33’6.50PR, Kimball; 5, Rylee Huff, 31’1PR, Perkins County.

4x400 Relay—1, 4:14.43a, Chase County; 2, 4:35.30a, Perkins County, Hannah Kempf, Rylee Huff, Selah Richter-Martinez, Kailee Potts.

Team scores— 1, Chase County, 186; 2, Bayard, 72; 3, Sutherland Public, 48; 4, Gordon-Rushville, 46; 5, Hershey, 40; 6, Bridgeport, 31; 7, Perkins County, 30; 8, Hemingford, 29; 9, Kimball, 26; 10, Morrill, 19;  Mens Varsity

D-8 District

Wallace Girls

100 Meter Hurdles—1, Sadie Maloley, Bertrand 16.22; 6, Kendyl Flaming, Wallace 18.55.

300 Meter Hurdles—1, Kendyl Flaming, 50.51.

1600 Meter Run— 1 Mariah Gardner, Wallace, 6:04.14

3200 Meter Run—1 Mariah Gardner, Wallace, 12:58.02.

4x100 Meter Relay—1, Maywood Hayes Center, 54.31; 4, Wallace, 56.75, Karlie Finley, Brooke Bryant, Dajanna Garrison, Kendyl Flaming.

4x400 Meter Relay—1, Maywood Hayes Center, 4:24.98; 7, Wallace, 4:56.75, 1, Dajana Garrison, Denay Pelster, Melany Reyes, Reagan Pelster.

4x800 Meter Relay—1 Cambridge 10:33.61; 3, Wallace 10:54.52, Dajana Garrison, Reagan Pelster, Brooke Bryant, Mariah Gardner.

Team Scores—1, Cambridge 133; 2, Loomis 79; 3, Maywood Hayes Center 62; 4, Medicine Valley 51; 5, Wallace 47; 6, Bertrand 39; 7, Dundy County Stratton 30; 8, Hitchcock County 29, 9, Wauneta-Palisade 26. 10, Southwest 19, 11, Arapahoe 12.

Wallace Boys

100 Meter Dash—1 Ethan Klingenberg, Bertrand, 11.29; 4, Carson Glunz, Wallace 11.70.

200 Meter Dash—1, Ethan Klingenberg, Bertrand 23.41; 5, Carson Glunz, Wallace 25.18.

300 Meter Hurdles—1 Serbando Diaz, Dundy County Stratton 42.33; 6, Matthew Lungrin, Wallace, 46.75.

1600 Meter Run—1, Trey Robertson, Wallace, 4:54.82.

3200 Meter Run—1, Trey Robertson, Wallace 10:27.42

Boys Team Scores—1, Bertrand 103; 2, Dundy County Stratton 85 3, Loomis 62; 4, Medicine Valley 57; 5, Hitchcock County 47; 6, Southwest 45; 7, Cambridge 41; 8, Wallace 29; 9, Wauneta-Palisade 24; 10, Arapahoe 18; 11, Maywood Hayes Center 15.