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PONCA — The Ponca Community Complex was the site of the Class C-3 District Track and Field Meet on May 15 and the Cedar Catholic Trojans brought home a team title.
Cedar will send 14 athletes to Omaha for the State Track Meet later this week.
The Trojans more than doubled runner-up Homer, 151-75 with Ponca just a point behind the Knights with 74.
The Lady Trojans amassed 59 points on the day in the division won by Pender with 124.33, Wisner-Pilger was second with 76.33, Homer was third with 66 and Ponca was a couple of points in front of Cedar Catholic with 61.
Anisten Wortmann had her hand in on 40 of the Lady Trojan points.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work this spring to try to get better,” the Trojan sophomore said. “I guess that hard work is starting to pay off.”
Wortmann swept the hurdles, easily winning both the 100 and 300 by over a second and a half. She also won the long jump with a leap of 17-09.5 and ran a leg in the Cedar Catholic 4x400 meter relay team which circled the Ponca Athletic Complex track four times in 4:08.17 to grab the automatic ticket to Omaha.
“I really like to run the relays,” Wortmann said. “Its always nice to feel the joy of winning with your teammates, it just makes it that much better.”
Lauren Bernecker, Brynn Bernecker and Kally Becker joined Wortmann in the relay for the gold medal.
The 4x800 team of the Bernecker sisters, Becker and Claire Rolfes overcame some early adversity with a muffed handoff, but still managed to place third in that event and claim a trip to state on their qualifying time.
Lauren Bernecker also placed third in the 800.
Kinleigh Kramer placed fourth in the pole vault while Adelyn Reifenrath doubled up on a pair of sixth-place showings in the long jump and triple jump.
Brynn Bernecker was sixth in the 200.
The Trojans made some hay in the relays as well, winning the 4x100, placing second in the 4x800 and third in the 4x400.
Booker Hochstein, Cooper Hochstein, Mason Baller and Braeden Reifenrath got the baton around the track in 44.40 seconds for first.
Nolan Becker, Kighter Wortmann, Hunter Kuchta and Matthew Loecker did eight laps in 8:30.01 for second and Cooper Hochstein, Becker, Kuchta and Loecker combined for a 3:34.94 for third place in the 4x400.
Braeden Reifenrath handled the sprints, winning the 100 in 11.24 seconds and placing second in the 200 with a time of 23.03.
Jared Rutar punched a couple of tickets to Omaha in the throws placing second in the shot and discus, Graham Potts added team points in the events placing third in the discus and sixth in the shot.
Alex Elks was second in the 1,600 and Brady Hochstein was second in the long jump.
Easton Hochstein was third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump while Landon Rutar placed right behind Easton in the triple jump in fourth.
Cooper Hochstein and Kuchta were third and sixth in the 400.
Keyton Arens, Micah Cattau and Quinn Hochstein placed second, third and fourth respectively in the pole vault to add 18 points to the total.
Nolan Heimes placed third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles Easton Hochstein was fifth in the 110’s with Cattau fifth in the 300’s.
Kighter Wortmann qualified for a trip to Omaha placing second in the 800, Loecker was fifth in the event.
Aaron Wortmann was fifth in the high jump.
The Nebraska State Track Meet is set for May 21-24 with Classes C and D set to compete May 23-24 at Burke Stadium.
