Lohse blazes her way to three state medals as Lady Cats take sixth

Louisburg senior Emma Lohse earned three state medals Saturday at the Class 4A Kansas State Track and Field Championships at Wichita State.

WICHITA — Emma Lohse has blazed the track for the Louisburg girls track and field team all season, and Saturday at the Class 4A Kansas State Track and Field Championships was no different.

Lohse picked up three medals and helped the 4×100-meter relay to another school record Saturday at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium. In all, the Lady Cats medaled in five events and finished sixth in the team standings with 29 points.

“Coming back from Wichita with three state medals was something I had to work for and was happy about the outcome,” Lohse said. “Leaving Cessna Stadium one last time, I was very proud of the way I competed and proud of what I came home with.”

Lohse was just inches away from winning a state championship in the 100-meter dash. At the finish line, the Louisburg senior was step-for-step with Rose Hill’s Kate Dare.

As the two leaned for the finish line, Dare edged Lohse for first as Lohse ran a time of 12.46 seconds. Dare ran a 12.44.

“Going into the 100, I knew the competition I was about to go against and both of us were very close to each other time wise,” Lohse said. “Going against Kate was probably the best competition I had this year and it just came down to the wire at the end of the race.”

Later in the 200-meter dash, Lohse earned another state medal as she took seventh in 26.77 seconds.

Sandwiched in between those two races, Lohse helped the 4×100-meter relay of Mackenzie Rooney, Suzanna Dansel and Kendall Crossley to a medal of their own.

The Lady Cat relay finished third overall with a time of 49.70 seconds. Andale won in 49.24 and McPherson was second at 49.67.

However, in the preliminaries on Friday, the team broke their own school record for the fourth consecutive time in 49.26 seconds and had the fastest time going into the finals.

‘Breaking the school record for the fourth time this year in the 4×100 was unbelievable, especially with it being at state,” Lohse said. “Even thought the finals definitely didn’t go the way we wanted it to, I still feel like we ran the best we could and were still very competitive to the other teams.”

Along with Lohse’s big outing, the Louisburg girls also had a state champion. Junior Maddy Carpenter-Ross won the pole vault with a clearance of 11 feet. (More on her story can be found here).

The final Lady Cat to find the medal stand was Emma Prettyman. The Louisburg senior put together a strong showing in the discus.

Prettyman earned her first state medal as she finished sixth in the event with a throw of 115 feet, 9 inches.

“I was really glad to get to compete at state this year, especially since it was my first and last time going,” Prettyman said. “I wish I could have gotten a new PR, but in the end I am happy with how I did.”

Several other Lady Cats also competed at the state meet.

Junior Emma Vohs ran in both the 400-meter dash and 1,600-meter run. Vohs finished 13th in the 1,600 in 5 minutes and 55 seconds and 15th in the 400 dash in 1:04.38.

Rooney competed in the 300-meter hurdles and took 12th in 50.73 seconds. Vohs, Rooney, Lohse and Crossley also took part in the 4×400-meter relay and finished 12th overall in 4:17.

Junior Katie Elpers threw the javelin and took 13th at 101-9, while freshman Kenna Lohse was 16th in the shot put with a toss of 31-4.5.

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