CCS boys track dominate at Dundy Co./Stratton

The course was shorter than normal at Thursday’s Dundy County Stratton Cross Country Invite and Chase County’s teams took full advantage.
The Longhorn boys claimed top seven times in the 3,200-meter race, including the top six places for the varsity and the top JV time.
Head Coach Carl Zuege said it was a really nice start for the boys.
“They went out hard and with the shortened distance because of the heat we wanted to use this race to really test them and see where everyone’s fitness level was,” Zuege said.
Haven Hauxwell placed first with a time of 11:03.34, more than 30 seconds ahead of second place finisher Trevin Moreno. Navy Smith was third, followed by Brayan Reyes, Andrew Wiest and Lleyton McDaniel. Spencer Kelley was the top JV finisher, coming in seventh overall.
CCS ran away with the team race, 15-75, over second-place Arapahoe.
“I think after the race we could see that while we certainly need to continue to get stronger, most of our guys are in a pretty good place as far as conditioning. Now we just have to take the next step up to the 5K level (3.1 miles) and see how our fitness looks at that point,” Zuege said.
Hauxwell’s time was 33 seconds better than his freshman 3,200-meter time from the spring. Moreno, a junior, also bested his best cross country 3,200-meter time from last season by 50 seconds. The trend continued across the board with juniors Smith, Reyes and Wiest each knocking off significant time from last season’s 3,200-meter cross country race.
“I would say that the times our kids ran were mostly surprising in a good way. I maybe did not anticipate that we would run that fast this early. Individually, I thought all of our older varsity guys did a really nice job. A few guys that maybe surprised me a bit were Brayan Reyes, Lleyton McDaniel, and Spencer Kelley. Brayan just continues to get stronger, and those two freshmen really came out strong,” Zuege said.
Tessa Smith and Esmerelda Lopez medaled for the girls team, coming in fifth and 13th respectively.
Smith came out with a very strong race, Zuege said.
“Our newest team member Esmeralda Lopez also had a strong opening race finishing in the medals,” he added.
Also on the course were senior Faith Hauxwell and sophomore Paige Nickless. Zuege said both showed really good leadership.
“I know that our girls team will continue to improve over the course of the season. I think this girls team is one that will benefit from the increased distance of 5K at our next meet,” Zuege said.
Practice times fluctuate
CCS, like many teams across the area, has kept an eye on the NSAA’s wet bulb globe temperature readings to protect athletes from the heat.
Zuege said the wet bulb globe temperature takes into account ambient temperature, humidity, sun angle, wind speed and cloud cover.
“The wet bulb reading corresponds to a color zone on a chart developed by the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut. Orange limits practice time to two hours, the red zone cuts it to one hour and black eliminates activities,” he continued.  

Last week’s cross country practices varied based on the WBGT readings as temperatures climbed passed 100 degrees and pushed 105 degrees.
CCS had indoor practice Tuesday and managed to get outside for around 30 minutes Wednesday.
The DCS meet has traditionally been in the evenings, but was moved to the morning to avoid the heat.
Zuege said he liked the early start.
“Early starts are becoming more common at the beginning of the season. With what we know about the effects of the heat, it makes great sense to move the races earlier while the temperatures are so high through August and the first half of September,” Zuege said.
Up next
CCS will head to Cambridge Friday where the Longhorns will see several of the same teams they faced at DCS.
Zuege said his runners will work towards their own goals, rather than who they’ve competed against.
“I think that our teams are always motivated by whatever competition we face in our meets. Every team will improve over last week and we still haven’t proven ourselves at the 5K distance yet this season,” he said.
“We will emphasize setting goals that challenge us against our own times from our time trials this year and from the Cambridge Meet last year for those who competed there last season,” Zuege added.
Both the Cambridge Invite and the Chase County Invite will also be 9 a.m. MT starts.
CCS will host its invite Sept. 7.
DCS Cross Country Invite
Boys team scores—1. Chase County, 15; 2. Arapahoe, 75; 3. Cambridge, 89; 4. Maywood-Hayes Center, 121.
Boys Varsity Top 10 Results—1. Haven Hauxwell, 11:03.34, CCS; 2. Trevin Moreno, 11:35.92, CCS; 3. Navy Smith, 11:37.92, CCS; 4. Brayan Reyes, 11:40.47, CCS; 5. Andrew Wiest, 12:06.10, CCS; 6. Lleyton McDaniel, 12:24.76, CCS; 7. Dash Richards, 12:25.93, South Platte; 8. Tanner McLain, 12:33.17, Hitchcock County; 9. Wyatt Jackson, 12:35.55, Cambridge; 10. Campbell Schutz, 12:39.60, Arapahoe.
Boys JV Top 10 Results— 1. Spencer Kelley, 12:25.78, CCS; 2. Jesus Juarez, 13:11.07, CCS; 3. Connor Einspahr, 13:19.89, CCS; 4. Brandon Chavira, 13:22.31, CCS; 5. Kevin Dannatt, 13:34.23, CCS; 6. Nathaniel Stevens, 14:40.19, Arapahoe; 7. James Bomba, 14:52.88, CCS; 8. Kris Burke, 14:56.18, CCS; 9. Lael Rathbun, 17:17.02, Arapahoe; 10. Colton Gross, 17:52.52, Cambridge.

Girls Team Scores—1. Wallace, 6; 2. Cambridge, 25; 3. Chase County, 31; 4. Hitchcock County, 35; 5. South Platte, 43.
Girls Varsity Results— 1. Ashley Robertson, 13:53.15, Wallace; 2. Dajana Garrison, 14:09.99, Wallace; 3. Ryleigh Hanson, 14:30.14, Wallace; 4. Elliana Robertson, 14:51.06, Wallace; 5. Tessa Smith, 15:04.39, CCS; 6. Chayse Keith, 15:06.22, Hitchcock County; 7. Clara Spargo, 15:08.54, Dundy County Stratton; 8. Rachel Harris, 15:21.98, Cambridge; 9. Brenna Deterding, 15:36.00, Cambridge; 10. JoLie Farr, 15:53.91, Cambridge; 11. River Einspahr, 16:27.17, Arapahoe; 12. Calista Carney, 16:39.72, Hitchcock County; 13. Esmeralda Lopez, 16:39.99, CCS; 14. Jensyn Weiss, 16:57.22, Cambridge; 15. Victoriah Deaver, 17:00.29, Maywood-Hayes Center; Faith Hauxwell, 17:54.67, CCS; Paige Nickless, 19:16.32, CCS.