2026 NSAA track and field championships recap

By Tony Chapman and Chris Basnett – For the Nebraska School Activities Association

Cool and cloudy temperatures led to record-setting performances on Wednesday and Thursday at the Class A and Class B state track meet at Omaha Burke Stadium.

It resulted in team titles for the Lincoln North Star boys and Papillion-LaVista South girls in Class A, with conference mates Waverly (boys) and Bennington (girls) taking the Class B title.

In all, 14 state or state meet records were broken over the two-day event which saw crowds of 5,641 and 6,165 over the two-day session.

Class A boys: Lincoln North Star uses team effort to win first title

Maybe it wasn’t quite redemption, but that didn’t make it any less sweet for Lincoln North Star.

The Gators won the first boys state championship in any sport in school history Thursday, outscoring Creighton Prep 77-71.5 to win the Class A state track and field championship.

“You just want to take one event at a time and be so grateful, and that’s one thing that we are,” North Star coach Sara Domeier said. “We’re celebrating every single person that contributed to this, and that’s what I love about them. I could not be more proud of them.”

North Star’s victory came almost exactly seven months after the heavily favored Gators finished second, to Creighton Prep, at the state cross country championships in Kearney, the first meet all season they didn’t win.

Senior Josiah Bitker, after winning individual gold in cross country, led the way again in Omaha. He was Class A’s only triple gold winner, finishing first in the 1,600, 3,200 and running on North Star’s winning 4×800 relay.

“I wouldn’t say this redeems (what happened at cross country), but it softens the blow a little bit. But track is different than cross country,” said Brian Wandzilak, North Star’s distance coach who also serves as head cross country coach in the fall.

“That was a learning experience that’s in the past, and I feel like it served us well. We had some adversity, and we just kept moving forward. You keep efforting something in the future, and you don’t know when it’s going to be, but here we are.”

Three runners from the cross country team did much of the damage for North Star. Right behind Bitker in the 1,600 and 3,200 was senior Tyler Smith, who finished second in both races. Both runners were on North Star’s 4×800 team, and the 4×400 team that scored the clinching points. J’Shawn Afuh, who finished third individually at cross country, was second Thursday in the 800.

But, like many team champions before them, the Gators got unexpected points in key spots.

Senior Jamal Little, a medal hopeful at the start of the day, won the discus with a throw of 164-10 on his second-to-last attempt of the competition. It was his best throw of the day by more than six feet, after he came to Omaha Burke with the seventh-best Class A throw this season.

Senior Jarrett Daniel, outside the top 15 in the 300 hurdles coming into state, took more than two seconds off his personal best to run 39.18 and finish fourth for five more North Star points. It was the first time in Daniel’s career he so much as broke the 41-second barrier, much less 40 seconds, and came after a disappointing run in his stronger event the 110 hurdles, where he failed to advance to the finals.

Senior Luis Welstead popped a personal-best 46-2.25 in Wednesday’s triple jump to finish fifth and grab four more points after he came into state ranked 10th in the event. Junior Nathan Dush was ranked ninth in the shot put and finished seventh.

North Star likely would have been happy with just a few total points out of those events. Instead it got 21.

The two days in Omaha were especially sweet for Bitker, who struggled to get fully healthy until the end of the season before the University of Nebraska commit had his golden finish.

“The nice thing is, all of the mental battles that I used to have with myself have completely stopped. Because when you don’t race for half the season, there’s nothing to compare yourself to,” Bitker said. “So I just get to run, and I think that’s really helped me.”

RECORD SETTERS: Evan Svoboda, Norfolk (400, 47.29; state meet record).

NOTEBOOK: Columbus sophomore Evvann Daniels shook off more than a century of history to win the 100 meters. Daniels was the first Columbus athlete to win the 100 since Ben Tryba all the way back in 1922. Daniels’ time of 10.47 was .06 off the state record, and came after he finished second at state last year as a freshman.

Norfolk junior Evan Svoboda, who spent much of the season battling Daniels, brought home gold medals in the 200 and 400 while finishing third in the 100 and anchoring the Panthers’ 4×400 relay team that finished third. Those results helped the Panthers finish sixth in the team race, their best finish since grabbing third in 2006 and Norfolk’s first time in the top 10 since 2009.

An outstanding meet for Bellevue West’s Pierce Parker ended with a final gold in the 4×400 relay. That came after a two-day stretch in which Parker cleared 7-feet to win the high jump before finishing second in the long and triple jumps. Parker is a Colorado State signee.

Creighton Prep’s Ethan Laux defended his 110 hurdles title, and added his first gold in the 300 hurdles on Thursday. Laux came in with Class A’s best times in each event. He also earned a silver in the 4×400 relay.

Class A girls: Papillion-La Vista South pulls away for third championship in four years

Winning the state championship is becoming a normal event for the Papillion-La Vista South girls track and field team.

So normal, in fact, that the Titans treat it as any other meet. But the state meet is special, as are Papio South’s results.

“Great kids. They show up when they’re supposed to,” said Papio South coach Jerrid Johansen. “We talk a lot about, we just have to be our good selves. We don’t have to worry about being our absolute best.

“And I think that takes a lot of pressure off them. So they just continually show up and perform to their level.”

That level was a few clicks above everyone else in 2026.

Papio South scored in 14 of 17 events, only missing points in the 100, 200, and 400, and finishing in the top five in all three relays.

The Titans scored in the jumps, where Finley Moone won gold in the long jump and silver in the triple jump, and Lyric Judson tied her personal best to finish fourth in the high jump while Kylie Carter was sixth in the pole vault.

They scored in the throws, where Kasi Johnson won the discus and Addison Medeck finished second in the shot put.

And of course the Titans got it done on the oval. Freshman Emily Hegge led the way, winning the 1,600 and 3,200, blazing to a 4:57.88 in the 1,600.

The avalanche of points was far too much for the rest of the class to overcome. Papio South finished with 94 points, well ahead of second-place Kearney’s 68. Omaha Marian finished third, another 16 points behind Kearney.

“You kind of play around with numbers, and mid-70s would have been a really good two days for us, and we’re in the mid-90s,” Papio South coach Jerrid Johansen said. “It was all over the place — discus champion on our last throw; our high jumper getting fourth was remarkable.

“If you go down all the event groups, there is always something that popped up that was just a little above what we expected.”

RECORD SETTERS: McKenna Cleppinger, Millard West and Bailee Hartwig, Lincoln Southwest (pole vault, 12-6; state meet record).

NOTEBOOK: Auburn signee Claire Hellbusch of Lincoln North Star won her second consecutive state high jump championship, clearing 5-6 on her final attempt to hold off Millard West’s Kate Hessel. Hellbusch’s back-to-back golds came after two straight years of finishing second in the event.

Outside of Hegge, there were only two double winners on the girls side. Millard North’s Aaliyah Perry won the 100 and triple jump, while Papillion-La Vista’s Alexis Chadek took gold in the 800 and 4×800 relay.

Class B boys: Old hat; Waverly wins third title in four years

For Waverly, winning state track and field championships hasn’t gotten old. And it might not be going away anytime soon, either.

The Vikings got strong performances on Thursday from sophomore hurdler Braxton Badman (110 and 300 meter champion) and a 1,600 meter title from senior Jared Schroeder to pull away from the strong Lincoln Pius distance crew for a 69-48 win in the Class B team race. Gothenburg finished third.

“It’s just a lot of fun to be around our kids,” Waverly coach Brian Benson said. “We were talking this morning that 10 years ago this weekend, our girls won their first ever championship down here. I think over the last few years we have done a good job of raising expectations.

“But, that does make it a little more nerve wracking when you come down here, too.”

It was the Vikings’ fifth overall title since the first girls title in 2016. Now, the boys have three of the last four championships in Class B.

Benson noted that the start on Wednesday was big for his team. Junior Gavin McMillan won the high jump and Schroeder finished second in the 3,200 meters, getting in between Pius distance stars David Krier and Joe Majerus.

“We hoped for 20 points on Wednesday and thought that would be a good start,” Benson said. “To come up with 27 kind of set the tone for us. It was a good day.”

Then Badman and Schroeder delivered 30 monster points on Thursday and the Vikings also won some key matchups with Gothenburg after the Swedes’ Jax Rickertson won the pole vault.

Schroeder’s mark of 4:17.40 in the 1,600 was his first-ever gold medal in a decorated distance career that had him chasing Division I runners Braden Lofquest, Riley Boonstra, Austin Carrera and Tommy Rice for most of his high school years. The mark was the top time in Nebraska this spring.

“It was nice to have my own shot at it,” Schroeder said. “I got the chance to push the pace and finally get that gold medal. I have been blessed to be on some great teams over the years and getting those team points was big for us, too.”

Badman set state meet records twice in the 110 high hurdles with a 14.00 in the prelims and he topped it off with a 13.95 in the finals, just missing his 13.84 all-time mark. He edged Milford’s Isaac Roth in the 300s.

RECORD SETTERS: Gretna East (400 relay, 41.84; state record); Lincoln Pius X boys (3,200 relay, 7:44.76; state record); Braxton Badman, Waverly (110 hurdles, 13.95; state meet record); Wyatt Dent, Central City (long jump, 23-07.25; state meet record); Blair (1,600 relay, 3:19.55; state meet record).

NOTEBOOK: Braxton Badman’s performance – two golds in the hurdle events – seemed like no big deal to Coach Benson. He has seen the sophomore put in consistent work since he joined the track team last season.

“It just doesn’t seem like he is doing much that is special anymore,” Benson said. “I was really proud of how he ran his 300 race. He knew where we were at (in the team race) and he wanted to get out in front of the Gothenburg kids.”

Central City’s Wyatt Dent had one of the more “surprising” performances on Thursday afternoon. First, he fired off a final long jump of 23-07.25 to win gold and set a state meet record. He had never hit 23-feet in his career and was in fifth place prior to the jump. “It was pure adrenaline and a little bit of luck,” Dent said. “It was nuts.”

For good measure, Dent later won the 100 meter dash from lane one after qualifying seventh. His time of 10.79 edged Scottsbluff’s Charlie Seizer (10.80) at the line.

Class B girls: Depth powers Bennington to second straight title

The depth on Bennington’s girls team was on full display Thursday afternoon; a continuation from near perfect Wednesday for the Badgers.

Buoyed by a new Class B state record in the 400 meter relay, the Badgers easily defended their Class B state championship before they will move up to Class A next season. Bennington outdistanced Elkhorn North, 85-48.5 for the title. The Wolves, which got a final four points in the 1,600 meter relay, passed Gretna for second place and will also move up to Class A next season.

It was a result that left co-coaches Justin Horner and Joslyn Suing with big smiles as the meet came to a close.

“We met with the girls last week and just kind of asked them what they were thinking,” Suing said. “Every single one of them wanted to win a state championship. We wanted to leave Class B on a good note. These girls have definitely delivered.”

In the second track event on Thursday, the Bennington team of Addison Nguyen, Addison Kuntz, Harper Bohaboj and Georgia Behlen zipped around the Burke oval in 47.60 seconds in the 400 meter relay, which broke Grand Island Northwest’s 2022 record of 48.12.

Behlen held off a hard charging Emilia Wieczorek of Gretna as the Dragons (47.89) also beat the class and meet record to finish second.

“We have had that goal for a couple of years,” Suing said of the Badgers’ third straight 4×100 title. “We just kept getting closer and closer. When I saw that 47 on the board, I just started jumping up and down.”

Kuntz later defended her title in the 200 meter dash and was second in the 100 behind Elkhorn’s Mia Cushing. Nguyen, who won four medals at the meet, was also a member of the winning 1,600 meter relay team that ended the meet with the Badgers’ fourth gold.

On Wednesday, freshman Paige Gargano put the Badgers on a good track with a leap of 18-06.5 to win the long jump.

“We knew we had something in Paige,” Horner said. “She has just been so consistent week after week hitting her marks.”

While they won just four events, the Badgers had 12 other medals at Burke which overpowered the field, capping a girls sports year for the school that also saw them win their first-ever state championship in girls basketball.

Their coaches are just glad they get to hang out with them every day.

“We are glad they wear blue,” Suing said. “It’s just been super fun to see them compete against each other. Iron sharpens iron.”

“They are just amazing competitors,” Horner added. “They get pulled in so many directions and they keep excelling. Being a competitor is where it starts. We just try to point them in the right direction.”

RECORD SETTERS: Addi Darnell, Auburn (100 hurdles, 14.23; state record); Emma Steffensen, Waverly (800, 2:07.88, state record); Bennington (400 meter relay, 47.60; state record); Mia Cushing, Elkhorn (100 meter dash, 11.93; state meet record); Darnell (300 hurdles, 43.55; state meet record); Steffensen (400, 55.87; state meet record).

NOTEBOOK: The battles between Waverly’s Emma Steffensen and Hastings’ Sophia Reynolds on the oval brought nearly all of Burke Stadium to their feet on Thursday. Each had their own golds from Wednesday — Steffensen a meet record in the 400 and Reynolds a dominant win in the 3,200.

They met head-to-head in the 800 and 1,600 where Steffensen pulled away in the 800 for a new state record 2:07.88. Reynolds’ second-place time of 2:10.65 would have won Class A by nearly three seconds. Reynolds reversed the decision in the 1,600, running by herself for nearly the whole race and winning in 5:01.64. Steffensen came on strong in the final lap to finish second in 5:05.11.

Auburn’s Addi Darnell continued her stranglehold on the Class B hurdle races winning gold in each and bettering her state record twice in the 100 meters (14.23 seconds). She later set a state meet record in the 300 meter hurdles (43.55 seconds).