10 Mustangs Punch Their Ticket To State Track

District titles have been few and far between for the Stanton boys. But on Thursday afternoon, the horsepower kicked in for the Mustangs.

Stanton qualified 10 individuals for state and ran away with the boys team title, edging Howells-Dodge by more than 40 points.

"When we sat down and thought about what our kids could do, most of it happened," said Stanton coach Dave Ernesti. "We thought we would get kids into the top two places in several events, and we did. That pretty much happened."

Senior Sutton Pohlman was a quadruple gold medalist, winning the 100, 200 and 400, besides being the second leg on the winning 4x100. Freshman Mitchell Hupp is a three-time qualifier with the 100, 200 and relay. Also on the relay are Connor McCarthy and Brennan Wragge.

"This was polar opposite of conference,: Ernesti said. "At conference, we could not get out of our own way. It was just one thing after another, and we couldn't go a couple of events without having some issue. We were able to put everything together at districts."

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In the distance races, the Mustangs also had a strong showing as Kolter Van Pelt and Abraham Larson went 1-2 in the 1,600. Larson also won the 3,200. 

In field events, Kamden Dusatko qualified in the shot put while Adam Arens leaped a foot past his PR to qualified with a second-place finish in the long jump.

​Ernesti said the spotlight will likely shine on the boys team since it dominated the running events, but Ernesti said he was very proud of the girls, too, who qualified a pair of athletes. Madison Knudsen was the first qualifier, finishing second in the pole vault while Sylvia Cunningham ran a strong 3,200 to qualify with her runner-up finish.

"I'm so proud of the kids and how well they competed," he said. "Both the girls and boys teams worked really hard."

The Mustangs will compete in the Class C state meet on Friday and Saturday at Omaha Burke.

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Look for full results and coach’s comments and athletes quotes in this week’s Register.

State Qualifiers
100: 1. Sutton Pohlman, 11.53; 2. Mitchell Hupp, 11.55.
200: 1. Sutton Pohlman, 23.06, 2. Mitchell Hupp, 23.49.
400: 1. Sutton Pohlman, 51.71.
1,600: 1. Kolter Van Pelt, 4:47.30, 2. Abraham Larson, 4:51.30.
3,200: 1. Abraham Larson, 10:41.84.
3,200: 2. Sylvia Cunningham, 12:59.74.
4x100: 1. Stanton 45.55 (Sutton Pohlman, Connor McCarthy, Brennan Wragge, Mitchell Hupp)
Long jump: 2. Adam Arens, 19-4 1/4.
Shot put: 2. Kamden Dusatko, 48-1.
Pole vault: 2. Madison Knudsen, 7-10.

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