Ready or not, we’re Burke bound!

There are times where hustling around to capture moments of our young sports heroes that seemingly nothing can go wrong. Every highlight is documented and the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat, is captured.
There are those other times, like what happened to me in Central City last week, where everything goes haywire.
Wrong place, wrong time.
Aurora’s Jayden Slagle put out the most impressive triple jump in the state of Nebraska this spring --  a 49-6.5 leap that the pits could hardly contain. 
Me? Didn’t see it. 
Kaitlyn Staehr closed within inches of Aurora’s school record triple jump mark during her early attempts, a 38-0.25 effort. 
Me? Didn’t see it. 
Aurora’s three shot putters, Collin Stolpe, Jayden Smith and Derek Russell seemingly had a competition within themselves, ending up 2-3-4, all with throws well over 50 feet. 
You can probably guess by now, the sports guy missed it, too.
Peter Russell took flight with the breeze, clearing 15-3 in the pole vault and into second place on Aurora’s all-time list in the event.
I did see that one. For a kid who’s pretty even-keeled, Peter let out a pretty big yell for his efforts. 
The Huskies will send 12 athletes to the famed Burke Stadium this week and to be frank, every one of them has a real solid chance to bring home some hardware. 
But, we’re far from done there.
How about those Lady Hornets? For the first time since their dominant championship run, the Giltner girls claimed a district championship powered by six state qualifiers.
What a treat it was to see coach Nancy Lockmon back on top once more, holding a district championship trophy. As she explained, they started the day trying to get kids to Omaha, they just wound up with a bit of extra hardware in the process.
She even showed a bit of emotion, too, noting the struggles with some of her athletes to even get to this point, let alone winning a championship and a chance to compete at Burke.
Those Giltner banners are making their way around the turn towards retirement at Burke, but these Hornets can still see them and be proud. 
High Plains is also sending eight kids to the state meet, including two girls relay teams. Two three-sport seniors -- Peyton Hofmann and Gahvi Lesiak -- get to have one last moment in HPC colors. 
Don’t forget about Brodey Spurling, who has an opportunity to come out of the wood work again and defend his state title in the triple jump. The kid just shows up in big moments.
This weekend will also be a first as the H&H Bearcats will take on Omaha Burke for the first time. 
Once Huskies and Hawks, now the Bearcats will run around the track, chasing glory. 
Hopefully, this sports guy doesn’t miss anything. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@ hamilton.net