Indians run away with title

Daily Sun sports

AUBURN - Pawnee City’s Indians ran away with the D-2 District track and field championship Wednesday in action at Auburn.

The Indians amassed 164 points, while runner-up Sterling finished with 69.

Daykin Meridian was seventh, while Diller-Odell finished eighth and Lewiston was 10th.

Pawnee City started off the district meet by dominating action in the field events, winning five of the six events contested.

Bryan Austin led the early charge for the Indians, winning both the long jump and the high jump.

Alex Wood won the pole vault for Pawnee City, while Ian Slama claimed a win in the shot put and John Musil did the same in the discus.

On the track, the Indians won two relay championships — the 3200-meter and 400-meter.

Additional state qualifiers for the Indians included Austin, who finished second in the 100-meter dash; Bradley Gyhra, who was second in the 400-meter dash; Jace Bausch, who was second in the 1600-meter run; Caleb Wood, who finished second in the pole vault; and Musil, who surpassed the automatic qualifying mark in the high jump.

The runner-up Sterling Jets were led by junior Brandon Nieveen, who won the 800-meter, 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs.

Also qualifying for state for Sterling was Jake Saathoff, who finished second in the discus.

Meridian’s lone state qualifier for the boys was Reid VanWesten, who finished second in the triple jump.

Diller-Odell and Lewiston had no state qualifiers in the boys division.

In the girls division, Meridian won the team championship with 95 1/2 points over second-place Falls City Sacred Heart, which had 83 1/2.

Diller-Odell was fourth, followed by Sterling in fifth, Pawnee City in sixth and Lewiston in ninth.

Meridian won just one event on the day — the 400-meter relay — but had several other state qualifiers.

Mariah Filipi qualified with a second-place finish in the 3200-meter run, while Allison Johnson was second in the 800-meter run, Brianne Hofstetter was second in the triple jump and Kristin VanWesten was second in the discus.

Diller-Odell had one individual state qualifier, Kelly Theye, who won the 400-meter dash for the Lady Griffins.

Sterling was led by freshman Courtney VanGroningen, who qualified for state in all four of her events.

VanGroningen won the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash and surpassed the automatic qualifying mark in the long jump.

Also qualifying for state for the Lady Jets was Adriana Magill, who won the 3200-meter run.

Pawnee City’s effort on the girls side was led by junior Ky’Lee Engelken, who won the 800-meter and 3200-meter runs and was second in the 400-meter dash.

The Lady Indians also won the 3200-meter relay and senior Brooke Burgess qualified with a second-place finish in the pole vault.

Lewiston’s effort was led by double-event state qualifier Maggie Kramer, who won the triple jump and finished second in the long jump.

Some individual runners and relays could still qualify for state as additional qualifiers by time. Those qualifiers will be announced by the Nebraska School Activities Association.