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HARTINGTON — Cedar Catholic’s Anisten Wortmann is already building one of the more decorated starts to a career in recent program history, collecting six medals at the Nebraska State Track and Field Championships in her first two seasons.
As a sophomore, Wortmann placed second in the 100-meter hurdles, third in the 300-meter hurdles, fourth in the long jump and teamed with Brynn Bernecker, Kally Becker and Lauren Bernecker to finish fourth in the 1,600-meter relay.
“I was leading the 100 hurdles and clipped the second-to-last hurdle with my trail leg,” Wortmann said. “I won’t let that happen again. That was gut-wrenching.”
Wortmann continued competing during the summer, traveling to a national meet in Georgia where she placed ninth in the hurdles and ran on a 400-meter relay team.
“That relay team was a lot of fun,” she said. “There were some really good runners on that team.”
The conditions were also memorable. “It was hot, really hot,” Wortmann said. “They even stopped the meet from noon to five because of the heat, but it was still hot.”
As a freshman, Wortmann also earned two state medals, placing fourth in the 1,600 relay with the same group and sixth in the long jump.
“Anisten really had a good state meet finishing high in both hurdle events and should be right there again this year,” Cedar Catholic track coach Blair Kalin said. “She currently has three school records after two seasons and two to go.”
As she prepares for her junior season, Wortmann said she will begin the year competing in multiple events.
“I’m going to start out the season running the hurdles, the 400 and the long jump in our first meet,” she said. “We’ll see how that goes and take it from there.”
Brynn Bernecker is the other returning Lady Trojan with state experience, having been part of the 3,200-meter and 1,600-meter relay teams.
Cedar Catholic returns two individual qualifiers and five runners from three relay teams that competed at last year’s state meet in Omaha. Jared Rutar returns in the throwing events, while Brady Hochstein will look to improve in the long jump. Kighter Wortmann, Hunter Kuchta, Booker Hochstein, Cooper Hochstein and Mason Baller also return after qualifying in relay events.
Hartington-Newcastle also brings back several state qualifiers on both the boys and girls sides.
For the Lady Wildcats, sophomores Ella Eickhoff (pole vault, 300 hurdles), Vayda Lippert (high jump, 400 and 800) and Hazel Hochstein (pole vault) all return after competing at Burke Stadium. Hochstein is currently dealing with a foot injury.
Jade Ford also returns after qualifying for state in the triple jump as a freshman and sophomore.
On the boys side, Hartington-Newcastle returns three individual state qualifiers along with members of a relay team. Senior Mason Krause and junior Maximus Mc-Cray return in the triple jump, while Will Feilmeier returns in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. All three were also part of the 400-meter relay team that competed at state.
Both Cedar Catholic and Hartington-Newcastle will open the season at the Wayne State Indoor Track and Field Meet on March 20 at the Wayne State Dome.
