Ponca junior Elsie Keller came in to Friday’s State Track and Field Championships with the second-best throw in the Class C girls discus, and she finished in the same spot at the end of the day.
Keller said she struggled to find her footing early as the event was delayed by rain for about 45 minutes. She threw far enough to qualify for the finals in sixth place and moved up the chart quickly on her first finals throw. The 134-foot toss held up for second place behind the winning throw of 144-3 by Chlesea Kottich of Elm Creek to finish in second place.
The silver medal is Keller’s second state meet placing, an improvement over her third-place finish as a sophomore in 2025.
Ponca’s girls also scored on the track as the rain finally stopped about 45 minutes before the 1:30 p.m. scheduled start time, playing a key role in an exciting Class C girls 3,200-meter race that saw the lead change hands several times before West Holt edged Chase County. by eight-tenths of a second.
Ponca started in the middle of the pack with junior Jaelen Templeman and sophomore Alexa Mcghee keeping the Indians in the hunt, and Olivia Taylor moved Ponca from seventh all the way to first as she came down the front stretch. A wild exchange for the final leg found Ponca in fourth place as Ava Brennan kept Ponca in the mix until the end. Ponca’s time of 9:52.56 was three seconds behind first place and almost two seconds behind the third-place team from Maywood-Hayes Center.
Ponca’s boys 3,200-meter relay competed later and finished 11th, finishing sixth-thousandths of a second behind Exeter-Milligan/Friend with a time of 8:31.85. Ponca’s foursome included three juniors — Gannon Pfister, Broderick Hogan and Casey Chadwick, and freshman Kole Krusemark.
The area saw some good efforts in the girls and boys 3,200-meter runs.
In the girls race, Brennan picked up her second medal of the day with an eighth-place finish, coming home in a time of 11:52.40. Two-time medalist Lilly Harris of Homer finished 23rd in her final race as a Lady Knight with a time of 13:04.64.
On the boys’ side, Pfister ran in the middle of the pack for much of the race and settled for a 15th place finish in a time of 10:26.49.
In preliminary action, Homer’s Aayden Harris and Kiya Tornez of Tri County Northeast both saw action.
Harris finished 14th in the preliminaries of the Class C 110-meter high hurdles, finishing in a time of 15.62.
Tornez was 20th in the Class C girls 100-meter dash, coming in at 12.74 seconds. In the 200-meter dash, the Wolfpack senior placed 21st in 26.93 seconds.
Action resumes Saturday with field events starting at 9 a.m. and track events at 1:30 p.m.
