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Maria Portela's all-time high school Kansas record-setting 100 meter dash time of 11.48 in the 2026 6A state track and field championship finals is a record that is beyond phenomenal, beyond amazing, the culmination of a series of miraculous records achieved by some of the world's greatest Kansas high school athletes of all time.
Maria's story is the culmination of a series of infinitely inspiring athletic miracles in the making directly from the power of God, that all began two years before, when Maria was just a freshmen in high school. That was the year, 2024, when another girl--a lot like Maria--the legendary Hanna Pellant, known as Manhattan's Queen of the Cinder, sprinted like a saint and set the 6A state meet record of 11.59 in what millions thought might forever be the ultimate 100-meter standard of all high school girls in Kansas.
Often the extreme fastest times of the state for high school girls still developing towards their ultimate life's fastest speed potential are measured as 12.00 at the fastest, like when the legendary, Megan "Catch Me" Campbell from Wellington, ran exactly 12.00 twice in the same morning, twice beating all other athletes in the state back to back in the prelims and finals in 2013.
People thought, with good reason, that it was all over for this record for at least 50 more years. Hanna was simply superb beyond superb.
But God had something special again in mind, a double miracle a million times more rare and amazing than a double rainbow.
And like lighting striking twice in the same spot, or like the unique design of each of an infinity of snowflakes, or like the resplendent rings of Saturn, or like any other proof to everyone except fools that God exists, the miracle was made from someone so, so, so special, and not just someone at the exact same school as Hanna, but someone in the exact same grade as Hanna, too.
Hanna Pellant's leadership, inspiration, support, and friendship helped her own teammate, the utterly legendary Harli Omli, to break Hanna's ultimate record by just the tiniest amount of a hundredth of a second, the very next year, setting a new all-time incredible, unbelievable, phenomenal state record of 11.58 seconds.
But God was not done with His miracles yet.
Maria herself was there in Harli's record-smashing 11.58-second race only a heartbeat behind at 11.72, just a flicker of flutter of a hummingbird's wing behind the legendary Delia Gregory at 11.71, who was laying it all out on the track and giving Harli the competition she needed to achieve the impossible a heartbeat ahead of her at 11.58 seconds to win it all.
And God's best miracle of all was saved for Maria just one year later, in the year of 2026, the year of Maria, and the third chapter of Maria's story that was written as a part of the two miracles the two years before.
Maria equaled and broke the generational-level records of Hanna and Harli, not just once, but twice in the same day on a day that will go in history as very special, Saturday, May 30, 2026. And these photos are memories of her, sprinting across the finish line in the finals, etching her name and her speed forever in history, 11.48, which rhymes with great, because she is.
Enjoy a randomized photo collage from the new facilities of state track and field at WSU, courtesy of one of our volunteers.
