Minden boys, girls start push toward state cross country meet
MINDEN — Four Minden girls placed in the top 11 Thursday to win the C-4 District Cross Country Meet at the Minden Golf Course.
In the boys' race, the Whippets placed second as a team, paving the way for optimistic performance at the state cross country meet next Friday in Kearney.
The Minden girls scored 24 points to beat runner-up Aurora by 13 points. Adams Central finished third with 53 points, claiming the last team-qualifying spot.
Aurora's Alexis Ericksen won the 5,000-meter race in a time of 20 minutes, 9.83 seconds Minden's Alexa Warner (20:40.67) and Evie Sharkey (21:15.60) finished second and third. Aclynn Osterbuhr was in eighth place and Serena Sharkey in 11th, rounding out the Whippets' scoring entry.
"They got after it. They really did," Minden coach Shawn Wheelock said.
He explained that the team planned to pursue a fast start, partly because of the very windy conditions during the race. The wind tested everyone's determination, but early success had its benefits.
"It's hard to run from behind. It's pretty demoralizing," Wheelock said. "We fizzled a little bit toward the end, but that's the price we paid for the way we got after it at the start."
The Minden boys packed all four scoring runners between sixth and 14th place. Samuel Cederburg led the Whippet group, finishing in 17:43.65 seconds. Caden Jameson (17:50.02) placed ninth, Gage Thull (17:53.86) in 13th and Isaac Reed (17:56.76) 14th.
"It's a strong team. We didn't all have our best day, but we're pretty solid," Wheelock said.
Aurora, the second-place team at the UNK Invitational on Sept. 30, won the district with a team score of 31. Minden netted 42 points for second place, and Milford placed third with 74 points.
"We're right there," Wheelock said. Aurora "ran better of the last thousand (meters) probably, and we've got to finish better.
"I've got three guys that, when they figure out how to run together instead of like ducks in a row, we're going to be powerful. We haven't done that yet. We're like within 8 seconds, but there's strength in that group if they would run together. When we get that figured out, look out."
Minden's girls may have already figured it out, and Wheelock has high hopes for his team at the state meet.
"We're in the conversation. ... I like the Whippets. We're hanging out in the shadows a little bit," Wheelock said.
Gibbon's Darian Doresey placed 11th in the boys' race to give the Buffaloes an individual state qualifier.
Burger, KHS girls celebrate district championships
Kearney's Abigail Burger continued her run of victories, scoring a 32.5-second victory over Papillion-La Vista's Alexis Chadek in the A-3 District at Papillion.
Five other Bearcat girls finished in the top 15 (Augusta Ganz sixth, Dawson Kreycik seventh, Kierra Wilson ninth and Savannah Kelliher 14th) to give KHS 37 points.
Papillion-LaVista finished second with 59 points.
Kearney High's Zach Petzet and Braeden Wall finished fifth and sixth in the boys' race, good enough to qualify for the state meet, but Kearney High finished fourth in the team standings and failed to qualify for the state meet.
The top three qualify from each district. Lincoln Southeast finished third with 73 points, while the Bearcats scored 83 points.
Lexington boys returning to state.
Lexington, which has finished first or second in Class B the last seven years, qualified for another state meet but did not win the district championship.
The Minutemen took second in the B-4 District at Overton, scoring 38 points while Lincoln Pius X netted 15 points.
Isac Portillo-Munoz paced the Minutemen, placing sixth. Herman Rodriguez added an eighth-place finish. Erick Grijalva-Ibarra and Enrique Cano-De Leon also finished in the top 15 for Lexington.
Sophomore Natalie Ramierez was Lexington's only qualifier in the girls' division, finishing ninth.
KCHS girls second at Ogallala
Gothenburg freshman Scout Bell, Holdrege junior Brenna Benjamin and Kearney Catholic sophomore Jaelyn Witter finished 1-2-3 and the C-5 District race in Ogallala.
Bell Led Gothenburg to the team title with Kearney Catholic, the defending Class C state champion, taking second place. The Stars were 23 points behind in the team points despite Hadley McGowen and Maya Moxley winning medals by placing 14th and 15th.
Sidney took the third team-qualifying spot.
In the boys' race, Gothenburg took first place, edging Holdrege 31-33.Chase County finished third with Kearney Catholic sixth.
Tyler Hetz completed a gold medal sweep for the Swedes, as he and teammate Bryson Neels went 1-2.
Holdrege's Sam McQusiton, a freshman, finished fourth. Dusters Christophe Taylor (sixth), Michael Golus (ninth) and Roman Urbom (14th) also won medals.
Kearney Catholic's Miles Sughroue qualified for state, finishing 11th.
Bertrand/Loomis boys go 1-2-3
Marcus Hernandez, Cane Hays and Luke Larson swept the top three spots to win the D-5 District in Cambridge. Teammates Carter Horner (11th) and Quentin Mumm (15th) also medaled, but their points didn't go into the team total as the top three gave the team the minimum score of 6.
Alma (27) was second with South Lou (30) third. Wilcox-Hildreth (43) and Axtell (61) placed fourth and fifth.
Wilcox-Hildreth's Grant Henery and Micah Johnson finished sixth and seventh to qualify for state as individuals. S-E-M's Clayton Scoville (10th) and Axtell's Isaiah Springer (13th) also qualified as individuals.
In the girls' race, S-E-M's lone runner, senior Rilyn Schledewitz, claimed the gold medal with a winning time of 22:02.10. Elm Creek's Amber Hodges (29-19.00) and Cicely Gugelman (22:27.82) finished second and third.
Elm Creek's Emma Graddy sealed the team championship, finishing sixth. With individual entries not figured in the team score, Elm Creek matched the Bertrand/Loomis boys' score. Hi-Line finished second with 33 points.
Axtell finished fourth with 41 points, one point behind Cambridge, which claimed the third state-qualifying spot.
Axtell's Avery Stritt, who placed seventh, and Emma Hall, who placed 14th, qualified as individuals, as did Pleasanton's Audrey Greenwood (eighth), Wilcox-Hildreth's Ara Bunger (12th) and Bertrand/Loomis' Kendra Porteck (15th)
In the D-4 district at Doniphan, Shelton's Mateo Rodriguez qualified for state by finishing 15th.
