LEXINGTON – Hundreds of eyes were upon Ray Ehlers Stadium as the B-5 District Track meet was in full swing Thursday afternoon in Lexington.
The Minutemen and Haymakers put on a good show for the crowd that was present, as athletes made their final push for Omaha.
On the girls’ side, the Maids finished in the runner-up position, while the Haymakers took sixth place.
Lindsie Woolley took two silver medals home from districts, taking second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.4 seconds and taking second in the 200-meter dash, running in a time of 26.1 seconds. Adams Central’s Abby Niederklein was the winner in both races, edging out Woolley by less than half of a second. Cozad’s Kylee Griffis finished sixth in the 100 and fourth in the 200 as the Haymaker sophomore punched her ticket to the state track meet.
Freshman Casey Seberger will get her first taste of the state meet in an individual event, as she was crowned district champion in the 400-meter dash. Seberger finished in a time of 1:00.7. Rylee Terry of Cozad finished in tenth place with her time of 1:07.40.
Minutemaid Vanessa Ambriz left everything out on the track Thursday, as she was bound and determined to qualify for the state meet. Ambriz finished in seventh place in the 1600 meter run, with no time recorded. However, Ambriz put up a tremendous fight in the 3200-meter run, as she led through six of the eight laps, taking second place overall. Miranda Karn of Holdrege made her move with two laps to go, passing Ambriz and stealing the gold.
Sophomore Sydney Seberger took two medals in both hurdles events, as the Maid finished fifth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17.2 seconds and also finished in fifth in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 50.2 seconds.
Sophomore Madi McKeone took a silver medal in the 300 with her time or 48.2 seconds, but did not medal in the 100 hurdles, placing eighth.
Lexington’s relay teams were in top form on Thursday, as the 4×100 relay was crowned district champion with their winning time of 49.7, with runner-up Adams Central nearly two seconds behind.
The Maids’ 4×400 relay team took second place overall with their time of 4:12.60. The 4×400 consisted of Sydney Seberger, Casey Seberger, Hailey Mandelko and Lindsie Woolley.
Finally, Lexington’s 4×800 relay team of Vanessa Ambriz, KJ Heusinkvelt, Brooke Schmidt and Aleisha Ziegenbein finished in fourth place, while Cozad’s team of Sandra Pelayo, Jessica Vazquez, Sam Sorge and Jessica Finnegan finished in fifth place.
Jumper Marissa Richman will be going to her final state track meet as she qualified in both the long jump and triple jump. Richman finished third in the long jump with her leap of 16 feet, 5 ¾ inches, while also taking fourth place in the triple jump with a jump of 33 feet, 10 inches.
In the weight events, the Cozad duo of Carlie Pinkelman and Carly Henry finally were upended Thursday, as the duo finished second and third respectively in the shot put. Taylor Johnson of Northwest took the district title with a winning throw of 46 feet, while Pinkelman, with big brother and former Big 12 Conference runner-up Luke Pinkelman watching, finished second with a throw of 43 feet, 4 inches. Henry finished third with a toss of 42 feet, 10 ½ inches.
In the discus, Johnson again was the winner, while Pinkelman again finished second, and Henry finished in fifth place. Pinkelman finished with a toss of 137 feet, 10 inches, with Henry tossing the discus 116 feet, 9 inches.
The Minutemaids finished as district runner-up, taking 85 team points. The Lady Makers finished in the middle of the pack, taking sixth with 33 points.
For the boys’ side, the meet was just as thrilling, as Lexington took another district runner-up finish, while the Haymakers struggled throughout the day, finishing in 11th.
Cozad junior Jed Paulsen captured four of the Haymakers 4.33 points on the day finishing fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.7 seconds. The fourth place finish was good enough to qualify Paulsen for next week’s state track meet.
Lex sophomore Alex Hovie, who was absent in the 100 meters, took part in the 200 meter dash and came away in fourth place in one of the closest races of the day. Hovie finished in a time of 22.7 seconds, as .8 seconds separated first from eighth place. James VanPelt of Aurora won the event in a time of 22.4 seconds.
The 400 meter dash was also had a thrilling finish, as Zach Schmidt finally broke the 50-second barrier for the first time all season. However, the feat was not fast enough, as Conner Hellsten of Northwest edged out Schmidt in the 400 meter final with a time of 49.5 seconds. Schmidt finished in a time of 49.7 seconds.
Andrew Rios will also  pack his bags for Omaha, as the senior placed third in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:03.20.
Distance runner Franklin Ibarra set the bar for the rest of his distance team at the district meet Thursday, as he was crowned a double champion, winning both races. Ibarra won the 1600 meter run with a blazing time of 4:38. He also won the 3200-meter run with a winning time of 10:04. Jerod Schoneman of Holdrege was the runner-up in both races behind Ibarra.
In the hurdle events, Alec Foster was unable to qualify for the state meet this year, as Foster finished 11th in the 110 meter high hurdles and taking ninth in the 300 meter hurdles. Lexington’s Kevin Ward finished 18th in the 110s while taking 15th in the 300s.
Lexington’s 4×100 relay team was a qualifier for the state meet, taking third place with a time of 44.4 seconds. The team consisted of Andrew Rios, Zach Schmidt, Hawken Albus and Alex Hovie.
Also, the 4×400 and the 4×800 relay teams finished in second place. The 4×400 finished in a time of 3:23.40, only .4 seconds from first place Northwest. The 4×800 team fell .1 seconds from the gold medal, as Broken Bow’s Jeremiah Buhlmann edged out Andrew Rios in the final leg of the race.
Senior Hawken Albus also will be heading to Omaha, as a qualifier in both the long jump and triple jump events. Albus took fourth place in the triple jump at 42 feet, 2 inches, while finishing sixth in the long jump at 20 feet, 10 ¼ inches.
The Aurora Huskies took both the girls and boys district titles in dominating fashion, while Lexington finished second in both divisions.
Lexington and Cozad will send their athletes to Omaha Burke for the State Track Meet on Friday May 21. The state track meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

• Cozad Haymakers
• Lexington Minutemen

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