Seabury Academy’s Katie Pottorff won the Class 1A regional last weekend at Leonardville, and Seahawks coach Eric Nelson is eager to see what the junior can do today at the state meet in Wamego.

“She’s hitting her stride,” Nelson said of Pottorff, who ran a season-best time of 13:07 at regionals. “She could be poised to go pretty low in a fast field.”

Pottorff qualified for the Class 2-1A state meet last year as a sophomore but did not finish among the medalists. The Kansas State High School Activities Assn. separated 2A and 1A this year, which reduces the field in both races.

Last week’s victory was Pottorff’s first of the season, but it also was the first time she had run in a race limited to 1A competition

“The expectations for placing have gone up,” Nelson said. “I hope as far as time, she’ll PR (set a personal record). She’s ready to do that.”

Pottorff led Seabury to a third-place finish in the team standings, qualifying the Seahawks for state. Sophomore Erika Hierl (12th) and sophomore Wyn Cromwell (15th) also finished in the top 20, while senior Linaya Newstrom was 26th.

Sophomore Jenn Crawford and senior Banni Singh also will run for Seabury today at state, though senior Amanda Look will miss the race because of a student-council conflict.

Pottorff is the only Seahawk who ran last year at state.

“They’re really excited to get there,” Nelson said. “We ran at Wamego in the first meet of the year against really good 4A competition. I expect our kids to be ready to go. They’re going to be excited, but I think they’re ready to run as fast as they can.”

Freshman Bill Butler was the only Seabury boy to qualify.

“It’ll be a great test for him,” Nelson said. “But it’ll light a fire in him for next year.”