The Olympic torch entered Kansas by horseback Wednesday, as modern-day Pony Express riders carried the flame along a 164-mile route from Nebraska to Missouri.
The torch was handed off about 1:30 p.m. at the Nebraska border near Hollenberg, Kan., and the riders rode eastward toward stops in Marysville, Seneca and Horton.
The Kansas portion of the route passed through Hanover, which has a Pony Express station, before reaching Marysville, site of an original Pony Express barn.
"I've been with the Pony Express for 16 years, and it's the most exciting thing we've ever done," rider Doug Holle of the Kansas Pony Express Association said during a brief stop in Hanover.
"We've been looking forward to it for about a year," said Holle, of Dorchester, Neb.
Several hundred people turned out in Hanover, a town of about 700, to see the torch on a warm, humid and overcast day.
The torch was moving slowly, with horses carrying it two miles at a time along country roads before handing off to other horses and their riders.
More than 300 riders of the National Pony Express Association were carrying the torch 544 miles from Julesburg, Colo. They planned to reach St. Joseph, Mo., the original starting point of the Pony Express, by Thursday morning.
Along with the Olympic flame, riders were passing a mochila, a leather pouch similar to those used to carry the mail on the original Pony Express in 1860 and 1861. The mochila held commemorative letters for school children around the world.
The flame reached Marysville right on schedule at 4:35 p.m., said Randy Meerian, a member of the city's organizing committee.
People lined U.S. 36 leading into town as the torch arrived, and a crowd of about 1,500 turned out for a brief ceremony that included remarks by 1984 Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Jim Hartung and the presentation of a key to the city to Olympic committee representatives.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Meerian said. "I'm proud our community could be part of it."
The rider carrying the flame left promptly at 4:50, heading east toward Seneca.
The torch ceremony at Seneca included high school bands from Nemaha Valley, Centralia and Axtell, a fireworks show and brief remarks by Wes Santee, a former University of Kansas running great and 1952 Olympian. It left the northeast Kansas town about 9:45 p.m.
The torch riders were due to reach Horton, their final stop in Kansas, about 2 a.m. and St. Joseph, Mo., at 7 a.m. The Olympic flame then goes to Kansas City, Mo., before returning to Kansas for overnight stops in Topeka on Thursday and in Wichita on Friday.
Andrea Van Dyke, 18, Atchison, was looking forward to the chance to run with the torchbearers in St. Joseph, Mo. Van Dyke, who set school records in the mile run and 2-mile run at Mount Saint Scholastica Academy this year, was one of 2,000 high school escorts chosen to escort the torchbearers.
"It's kind of hard to believe I'll be running (next to the Olympic torch)," she said. "It's a nice way to close out my career as a runner in high school. I love to run."
Van Dyke was nominated by her school and won a regional competition for the honor. She will run alongside five torchbearers, running about one kilometer.
About 10,000 runners, cyclists, riders, canoers and others are transporting the flame about 15,000 miles, through 42 states, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, where the Olympics begin July 19.
Copyright 1996 By The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.