Cougars are 4th at the C-7 District meet in Wood River, begin state events Friday in Omaha
The Sandy Creek girls track and field team has advanced to the 2025 Nebraska State Track and Field Championships, slated to begin Friday morning at Omaha Burke High School, in six events.
The Cougars’ tallied 71 team points en route to a fourth-place team finish, just one point behind Grand Island Central Catholic, while Hastings St. Cecilia outscored St. Paul for the top team finish, 121-100.
Freshman Madison Shaw will be a part of four events in Omaha, as she qualified individually in the 400-meter dash and the 1600-meter run, while also assisting the state qualifying 1600-meter relay and 3200-meter relay.
Shaw teamed up with Emma Fisher, Paige Stengel, and Anna Paus to record the fastest overall time in Class C during district competition in the 3200-meter relay. The Cougar four ran to a time of nine minutes, 48.65 seconds to claim district gold and set the highest standard of a state qualifying team, as Ponca enters state with the second-fastest qualifying time of 9:53.3.
Sandy Creek’s 1600-meter relay team, made up of Shaw, Fisher, Paus, and Carrigan Rempe will take the 10th overall fastest district time to state this weekend. The Cougars qualified as one of the fastest second-place teams out of districts with their time of 4:15.87 seconds. St. Paul upended the Cougars in Wood River with a winning time of 4:11.77 seconds, the sixth overall fastest time among all state-qualifying teams.
Individually, Shaw earned a pair of runner- up and state qualifying times in both the 400-meter dash and the 1600-meter run.
In the 400, Shaw’s time of 59.87 seconds placed her behind Sutton’s Jadlynn Kinney’s winning time of 59.62 seconds to earn a trip to state in the event.
In the 1600 event, Shaw’s time of 5:59.87 placed her second behind St. Cecilia’s Isabella Kvols, who won with a time of 5:51.29.
Paus earned gold in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.13 to outlast second place medalist Tara Buzek of Heartland, who finished the two-lap event in 2:27.39.
Stengel earned her individual trip to Omaha with a runner-up finish in the 3200-meter run, finishing the eight-lap event with a time of 12:36.25. St. Cecilia’s Lily Daly claimed gold with a time of 12:35.29.
Rempe earned a spot at the state meet in the 300-meter hurdles, as her third place district time of 47.2 seconds gained her a spot in the race in Omaha as one of the top seven fastest non-automatic qualifying times in Class C. Winning the hurdle event was St. Paul’s Zaya Lewis with a time of 46.56 seconds, while Central Catholic’s Grace Johnson placed second with a time of 47.1 seconds.
Rempe placed fourth overall in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.62 seconds, missing a chance to compete in the state meet in the event. Lewis claimed gold again for St. Paul in the event with a winning time of 14.86 seconds.
Paus narrowly missed a spot in the state track meet in the pole vault, placing third overall with a vault of 9’4.” Central Catholic’s Juliana Anderson won the event with an 11’7” vault, while Centura’s Lauren Suntych placed second with a vault of 10’4.”
Caitlyn Biltoft tied for fourth place with Sutton’s Addison George in the high jump, as both Clay County jumpers cleared 4’8” in the event.
TEAM SCORES: Hastings St. Cecilia 121, St. Paul 100, Grand Island Central Catholic 72, Sandy Creek 71, Centura 40, Doniphan-Trumbull 30, Wood River 26, Sutton 24, Superior 23, Heartland 20.
