After breaking out bright white jerseys for the Class 2 State Meet, the North Platte girls’ track and field team ended the day with sparkling gold medals and the first-place plaque from Jefferson City High School on May 21.
The North Platte girls’ track and field team celebrates winning the Class 2 State Track and Field Championship at the state championship rally at North Platte High School on May 23 after the Lady Panthers clinched the first title in program history at Jefferson City High School on May 21.
The Lady Panthers wore the classic purple uniforms on the opening day, which mostly consisted of prelim races, then swapped them out to bring home the first state championship in program history in style. North Platte started off slow being tied at 20th place with only four points – all from senior Gracie Ramsey’s fifth-place finish in the 800-meter run – on the opening day when Lawson stood in first place with 22 points.
The Lady Panthers made up points in the sprints and relays on day two as they didn’t have a single field event and only three long-distance events, including the ninth place 4x800-meter relay that missed out on medaling by 0.68 seconds. Slightly past the midway point of the day, North Platte surpassed Lawson for the top-spot in Class 2 after a first-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay and never looked back finishing with 71 points, which was 23 points more than the runner-up Lady Cardinals ended with.
“We are really strong in sprints, so that is pretty much all of our points there,” North Platte senior sprinter Haley Sampson. “I’m really glad that we pulled through because it is my last year to get it done; I’m really proud of all of us.”
This is the second consecutive year that North Platte is hanging a banner, following a 2021 campaign when it was the Class 2 Runner-Up with 58 points. STEAM Academy at McCluer South-Berkeley High School – from Ferguson, MO – was the only thing standing in the Lady Panthers’ way of a state title last season when the secondary school won it all with 80 points.
“Yeah, that definitely motivated us. That was the one team that kept finishing ahead of us in like all the events and without them we would have won state, so it feels pretty nice to do it this year,” Sampson said.
North Platte brought home four gold medals – all of which were from Olivia Rogers, two in individual races and two in the relays – and 10 total trips at the podium. The Lady Panthers were state champions in the 4x100 and 4x200-meter relays that finished in 50.86 seconds and 1:44.95.
“We worked really hard last year and finished in second so having the chance to finish first this year, we are all happy,” North Platte junior Olivia Rogers said. “I’m so happy for our team and we all worked so hard, it’s amazing.”
North Platte was less than one second away from another gold medal in the 4x400-meter relay, earning second place with a time of 4:10.65. Rogers won the 100 and 200-meter dashes, while freshman Lindsey Ramsey claimed sixth place in the 200-meter dash in 26.70 seconds and second place in the 400-meter dash in 59.13 seconds.
Sampson was right behind the freshman, claiming a bronze medal with a time of 59.66 seconds. Brianna DeBord took seventh place in the 3,200-meter run in 12:25.66.
The Lady Panthers have been on the rise in the past few years with three consecutive seasons with a top-5 finish at state track, while also being the runner-up in cross-country in 2019 and 2020. North Platte track took fifth place in 2019 and 2015, with the next best finish in team history being in 1987 when it took fourth place.
This was a historical moment for the Lady Panthers, as no North Platte girls’ sports’ team has ever won a state title. The North Platte boys also had two athletes compete at state – Noah Heckman and Liam Servaes – who ended in 14th place in the 3,200-meter run and shot put.