Districts next up for Longhorn cross country runners

    It’s the post-season for Chase County’s cross country team as they head to Ogallala for the C5 District Meet Thursday.
    While both the Longhorn boys and girls may be looking in from the outside for team qualifications, CCS Coach Carl Zuege said all they ask of their runners this week is—Can you run your best race Thursday?
    “We want to see what they can do,” he said.
    The C5 District teams will run the same course Thursday as they did at the Ogallala Invitational in late September at the Crandell Creek Golf Course.
    Thursday’s meet there will also host the Class B4 District Meet like last year.
    Running starts with the girls C5 race at 3 p.m., followed by girls B4 (3:35 p.m.), boys C5 (4:05 p.m.) and boys B4 (4:35 p.m.).
    Race organizers said starting times after the first race are approximate.
    While all the district teams in C5 have competed on the Ogallala course already this season, Zuege believes Chase County has an advantage because it fits his runners’ training schedule.
    “It’s flat and fast,” he said.
    Without a lot of hills in the Imperial area, he said they spend a lot of their time on flat surfaces as they train.
    Besides Chase County, other teams in the C5 District are Alma/Southern Valley, Broken Bow, Chadron, Cozad, Gothenburg, Hershey, Holdrege, Mitchell, Ogallala, Sidney and Valentine.
    Weather forecasts indicate it could be an ideal day for runners with highs only in the mid-50s.
    The top three teams and those individuals in the top 15 whose team didn’t finish in the top three will qualify for state in Kearney Friday, Oct. 22.
Final regular season meet
    The girls finished third and the boys, fourth, at Chase County’s final regular season meet last Thursday.
    The SPVA meet brought all seven conference teams to Perkins County for the afternoon race.
    Individually, Chase County runners earned just one medal in both divisions when Jordan Jablonski finished third in the girls’ race. Trevin Moreno just missed on the boys’ side, crossing in 11th place.
    Only 10 individual medals were awarded.
    Navy Smith and Caelyn Long were both 15th overall in their divisions, as they crossed as Chase County’s second runners.
    Colin O’Neil and Andrew Wiest rounded out the scorers for the Chase County boys, while Morgan Peterson and McKenzie Vogt were third and fourth on the girls’ team to score in the team standings.
    Coach Zuege said teams could run as many athletes as they wished but had to designate the six varsity members for scoring.
    North Platte St. Pat’s dominated the race in both divisions, as the Irish boys placed five in the top seven and the girls from St. Pat’s took first and second overall with three others in the top 16.

SPVA Conference Meet
Boys varsity team results—1. NP St. Pat’s, 15; 2. Hershey, 55; 3. Perkins County, 55; 4. Chase County, 64; 5. Sutherland, 80; 6. Bridgeport, 101; 7. Kimball, 114.
CCS boys varsity individual results (5K)—11, Trevin Moreno, 19:56.92; 15, Navy Smith, 20:34.46; 18, Colin O’Neil, 21:12.91; 20, Andrew Wiest, 21:25.22; 21, Mason Tyerman, 21:38.91; 23, Nick Rau, 21:41.65; 29, Peyton Dubas, 22:27.32; 32, Kobe Norman, 22:54.21; 35, Emmitt Zuege, 23:21.10; 37, Mason Wallin, 23:40.97; 38, Gavin Wisnieski, 23:57.45. 50 runners finished.
Girls varsity team results—1. NP St. Pat’s 22; 2. Bridgeport, 45; 3. Chase County, 47; 4. Sutherland 52; 5. Perkins County, 56.
CCS girls individual results (5K)—3, Jordan Jablonski, 22:42.98; 15, Caelyn Long, 24:48.61; 17, Morgan Peterson, 25:01.35; 18, McKenzie Vogt, 25:08.28; 26, Madelynn Hanes, 28:19.47; 28, Matalie Wallin, 28:44.13. 34 runners finished.