Lady Vikes claim District title
HARTINGTON — The Viking girls ran away with the District track title in grand style last week.
The girls racked up 106 team points to easily claim the title, while the boys finished fourth with 72 points.
Both squads will now send a number of athletes to the Class D State meet that begins Wednesday in Omaha.
The girls qualified seven athletes in eight events and the boys will send three boys in five events so the traveling team will be quite impressive once again.
Representing the boys will be Addison Smith (dual champion in both the 1,600 and 3,200 runs), Tyler Baue (double titlist in 110 and 300 hurdles) and Brandon Kristensen (triple jump).
The girls had plenty of champions in Hartington as Abrielle Nelson (two titles in 100 and 300 hurdles), Alexa Cunningham (high jump), Darla Nelson (3,200 run), Christina Martinson (1,600 run) and Morgan Kleinschmit (shot put) all took home top honors.
Nelson (1,600 run), Martinson (800 run) and the 4x400 relay (Brooke Kumm, Leah Bloomquist, Martinson and Nelson) all advanced with second-place finishes.
“As far as our strengths for both teams heading to state have been in the hurdles with Tyler and Abrielle, distance with Darla, Christina and Addison,” Wausa head coach Greg Conn said. “Darla and Addison have been at or in the top three in class D all season long in the 3,200 and it will be one heck of a race for both of them. Abrielle and Tyler both come in with great chances in the 300 hurdles as well and could scratch out a place in the 110’s and 100 hurdles.
“Christina also has a great opportunity in the 800 and both her and Darla can bring home medals in the 1,600. All of these individuals have strong marks going into this week’s state meet.”
Conn also likes Cunningham, Kleinschmit and Kristensen’s chances.
“Field events can be a strange thing at the state meet but I feel like these kids are peaking at the right time and I like their chances,” Conn said. Now comes the 4x400m relay of Brooke Kumm, Leah Bloomquist, Abrielle Nelson, and Christina Martinson who qualified as an additional qualifier in this event. Roll the tape back 2 years ago. We had a girls 4x100 who made it in as an additional qualifier coming in ranked as the 15th seed. Well, these kids lit up the track and brought home a medal in 8th place and Leah Bloomquist was on that 4x100 team and has been telling our kids that we can bring home a medal and I certainly believe they can.”
The state meet is back after the 2020 cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Conn is ready to deal with new schedule changes due to the virus’ impact.
“The NSAA has done a great job of giving the kids an opportunity to have a state meet and we are very excited to be able to compete in Omaha again,” Conn said. “Also, I think the schedule lends itself to how our meets have been set up all season. That being said, I feel very confident that our kids will bring home some hardware. We just have to keep in our minds that we just have to go down and do what we do.
“The turnaround is much quicker in the fact that we compete on Wednesday and Thursday instead of the traditional Friday and Saturday.”
Nelson has been to state before in the 300 hurdles and is back after harboring hopes to go that far a year ago, but alas, it was not to be. She said that in its own way, the COVID-19 pandemic helped her get back there this year.
“During COVID I had hopes we would eventually run, and I kept training, but sadly we didn’t have a season,” Nelson said. “I had a lot of goals and I didn’t get to have that, so it motivated me more to achieve them this year.
“I’ve been pretty happy with my performance so far. I have been able to get personal records through the season and I am always getting better which is a good thing.”
Nelson feels her best bet for a medal is in the 300 hurdles and hopes her level of endurance can help her get there.
There is here and Nelson couldn’t be happier to finish a campaign although her time in high school has been pinched.
“I am sad that I am getting closer to the end since I didn’t have last year so it doesn’t seem like I haven’t been here too long,” she said.
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