CCS XC looking to build off track success

This year’s Chase County cross country team may look young on paper, but Head Coach Carl Zuege said the teams’ experience is one of their strengths.
CCS only has three seniors on the team, but as a whole, the many Longhorns have been running XC since junior high which gives the team a lot of cross country veterans.
“I would say that we had a really nice track season followed by a good summer of work, so we are looking for that to pay off this fall,” Zuege said.
As far as weaknesses, Zuege said the total numbers on Chase County’s girls’ side is an issue.
“But we are happy that we do have four runners who can score as a team, which always adds to the excitement of the meets,” he added.
A strong group of runners leads the boys team, Trevin Moreno, Haven Hauxwell, Navy Smith, Andrew Wiest and Brayan Reyes.
“We are pretty excited about the opportunities this team has going into this season,” Zuege said.
The differences in the numbers of CCS runners on the boys and girls teams leads to different goals for each team.
“I think for the girls our goals will be to make gains throughout the year and continue to improve. With only four runners there is a lot of pressure on each of the girls, but I know they will attack it with great effort and enthusiasm,” according to Zuege.
The boys team will have a different approach.
“On the boys side I think we can be very competitive in every meet, and a trip to the Class C state meet should be a difficult but attainable goal,” Zuege said.
Everyone is “mostly” healthy heading into the season’s first meet Thursday at Dundy County Stratton.
“We are mostly healthy. Trevin missed track with a foot injury. He is very important to our team so we have to work him back in and keep him healthy. Otherwise, we are beginning the season in pretty good health,” Zuege said.
The Longhorns will be at Cambridge Sept. 1.
Zuege is excited for Chase County’s home invite Sept. 7 at Imperial County Club.
“We will get our first really good look at our team against great competition on Sept. 7 here at the Imperial Golf Course,” Zuege said.
Other meets that stand out are the UNK Invite Sept. 25, SPVA Oct. 5, C-5 district Oct. 12 and state Oct. 20.
Teams joining CCS at districts will be Alliance, Broken Bow, Chadron, Cozad, Gothenburg, Hershey, Holdrege, McCook, Mitchell, Ogallala and Sidney.
Zuege expects McCook to bring a lot of good girls back, and Sidney, Chadron and Cozad should all be right in there, as well.
“On the boys side we probably have the top two teams in Class C with returning champion Gothenburg returning most of their team, and I believe a very strong Holdrege team moves into our district along with Broken Bow and Sidney. It will be tough, but our boys have a chance to be right in that mix,” Zuege said.