Stiff competition seen at Chase Co. meet

    Chase County runners faced a much larger and talented group of runners as it hosted its home cross country meet last Thursday.
    A hot afternoon greeted runners at the Imperial Country Club with temperatures at 92 degrees as the races started.
    Imperial’s top runners on both the boys’ and girls’ sides, freshman Trevin Moreno and senior Jordan Jablonski, went home with medals.
    In team standings, the Lady Longhorns finished fourth, while the boys were sixth.
    On the girls’ side, Coach Carl Zuege said he was happy with all six team members’ times.
    Jablonski, who won the season’s first two outings, finished sixth overall.
    Zuege said she ran a nice race against some of the top runners in this area. Girls’ winner Lindee Henning of Ogallala is ranked No. 2 statewide in Class C, and took the gold 46 seconds ahead of second place.
    Morgan Peterson ran second on the Chase County team in 17th place. Zuege gave her high marks.
    “Morgan probably had as good a race as anyone,” he said.
    “She’s not a distance runner by trade. I’m very happy with her performance.”
    Peterson, also a senior, was just 15 seconds off the medal group.
    McKenzie Vogt continues to get stronger, Zuege said, running third for the team in 26th place. Maddie Hanes was 31st, scoring in the fourth position for Chase County.
    “Maddie had another nice day. She’s a much stronger runner compared to this time last year,” he said.
    Caelyn Long, fighting allergy symptoms in the race, and Matalie Wallin rounded out the girls’ team in 33rd and 47th places.
Boys’ division
    Chase County’s two freshmen finished as the top two scorers for the Longhorns last week.
    In eighth place, Trevin Moreno won one of the top 15 medals.
    “Trevin is still feeling his way” on the course, Zuege said, noting, like Jablonski, he’d won the first two meets of the season.
    Chase County’s meet had about double the runners as the previous two did, and out of the seven who beat Moreno, six were juniors and seniors.
    “There were so many good runners there. Ahead of him were several state cross country medalists,” he said.
    Zuege said one thing is for certain—he doesn’t want Moreno to lose his aggressiveness.
    Navy Smith was 19th overall, missing a medal by four places and about 50 seconds.
    “Those two freshmen continue to lead with a lot of energy,” he said.
    Colin O’Neil was third across the finish for the Longhorns in 36th place. Zuege said he continues to run strong in his first year out for cross country after playing football.
    Mason Tyerman was the fourth scorer for Chase County with 37th overall.
    “It was really good to see Mason up there toward the front,” he said.
    He also credited Nick Rau for a “good race,” noting he just completed his second 5K ever.
    Zuege didn’t believe last Thursday’s heat was a huge factor in how his team performed in both divisions, saying his athletes practice in the warm afternoons all the time.
    “But, it did slow us down, it slowed everyone down,” he said.
    Several runners at the finish went down, but were quickly helped up by race officials.
    In the junior high races, run on a 3K course, Haven Hauxwell bettered the 30 other runners in the boys’ division and took home the gold. Ten medals were awarded in each of the boys’ and girls’ divisions.
    While the others did not medal, Zuege said he was really happy with the junior high group, their preparation and how they competed the entire race.
Hilly course this week
    McCook’s Heritage Hills course will challenge runners Thursday this week at the McCook Invite.
    The girls’ varsity/JV division kicks off the day at 4 p.m. MT, followed by the boys’ varsity/JV at 4:45 p.m.
    Separate girls and boys 2K races for junior high will conclude the day with 5:15 and 5:30 p.m.  MT starts.
    Zuege said the hills on this course are always a challenge, and he’s hoping the forecast in the low 80s holds.

Chase Co. Invitational
Girls Team Results—1, Ogallala 29; 2, NP St. Pat’s 52; 3, Cambridge 68; 4, Chase County 80; 5, Sutherland 123; 6, Bertrand 196.
CCS girls individual results (5K)—6, Jordan Jablonski, 21:48.10; 17, Morgan Peterson, 24:12.50; 26, McKenzie Vogt, 25:39.50; 31, Madelynn Hanes, 27:13.70; 33, Caelyn Long, 27:26.70; 47, Matalie Wallin, 29:38.00. Sixty-one total runners.
Boys team results—1, NP St. Pat’s 39; 2, Ogallala 50; 3, Hershey 72; 4, Sutherland 72; 5, Bertrand 97; 6, Chase Co. 100; 7, Perkins Co., 124; 8, Cambridge 176.
CCS Boys individual results (5K)—8, Trevin Moreno, 18:50.50; 19, Navy Smith, 20:14.90; 36, Colin O’Neil 21:20.80; 37, Mason Tyerman, 21:21.10; 40, Nick Rau 21:23.70; 45, Mason Wallin 21:48.80; 53, Kobe Norman 22:21.60; 59, Andrew Wiest 22:46.30; 60, Peyton Dubas 23:05.90; 65, Gavin Wisnieski 23:32.90; 73, Emmitt Zuege 24:59.40. Eighty-nine total runners.
CCS junior high results (3K)— Boys: 1, Haven Hauxwell, 11:27.60; 25, Alex Nelson 16:26.50; 27, Dominic Harris 17:06.80. Thirty-one total runners. Girls: 14, Paige Nickless 16:15.90; 17, Odessa Zadina 16:44.70. Thirty-two total runners.