Daily Sun sports
SEWARD - Scoring in the field and on the track, Beatrice’s Lady Orange finished as the B-3 District track and field runners-up Thursday in Seward.
The Lady Orange scored 113 points, while champion Seward finished with 119 1/2.
Fairbury’s Lady Jeffs finished fourth with 60 points.
“I was very pleased with everyone's overall performance,” Beatrice coach Missy Mahoney said. “We have 13 girls going to state to compete in 11 events. There were a great deal of personal bests today, and the team race was very close down to the end with Seward.”
Sophomore Gemma Pretzer led the Lady Orange’s effort, winning the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter dashes and running a leg on Beatrice’s state-qualifying 400-meter relay, which finished second.
Beatrice’s only other district championship was won by Kayla Busboom in the triple jump. She also qualified for state in the long jump with a third-place finish.
Other individual state-qualifying performance for the Lady Orange included Kelsie Post, fourth, 100-meter dash; Stephanie Rudder, fourth, 100-meter hurdles; Shelby Walton, second, 300-meter hurdles, and second, pole vault; Lindsey Fujan, third, 300-meter hurdles; and Holly Bishop, third, discus.
Beatrice also qualified its 400-meter relay and 3200-meter relay with second-place finishes. Team members for the 400-meter event include Ambrel Fakler, Kelsie Post, Kasen Lee and Pretzer, while Laura Jantz, Kristina Wilson, Taylor Garton and Kelsey Schlake are on the 3200-meter team.
“I am so excited to have this number of girls going to state to compete,” Mahoney said. “I think that we will be able to place in many of the events we are in.”
Fairbury was led by district championship performances by KiLee Edson in the long jump, Janessa Kobza in the shot put and Kenzie Helmink in the 300-meter hurdles.
Edson also qualified for state in the 200-meter dash with a four-place finish, while Helmink qualified with a second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles.
In the boys division, Beatrice finished third overall behind district champion York and runner-up Crete. The Orangemen had 75 points, while the Dukes scored 108 and the Cardinals had 99.
Fairbury ended up sixth overall with 46 points.
The Orangemen had just one individual district champion in senior Ben Paben, who won the 3200-meter run.
Paben also qualified for state in the 1600-meter run by placing third.
Others qualifying for state for Beatrice were Jordan Rector, who was second in the 3200-meter run; Cory Sugden, who finished second in the high jump; and Tommie Bardsley, who was second in the high jump and third in the triple jump.
Fairbury earned three district championships, two in individual events and one relay title.
Brian Dein won the long jump for Fairbury, while Devan Schmidt claimed the triple jump crown.
The Jeffs also won the 1600-meter relay with Dein, Schmidt, Brent Buchmeier and Colton Stone.
Schmidt also qualified for state in the 100-meter dash, finishing second, while Dein qualified in the 400-meter dash, finishing third.