Runners face continued warm meet conditions

    Weather continues to be hard on the runners, as cross country competition completed its second week over Labor Day weekend.
    For Chase County, a morning meet in Cambridge last Friday didn’t provide much relief, said CCS Coach Carl Zuege. He said it was pretty warm once the races started at 10 a.m. CT.
    On top of that, the varsity divisions were 5K, compared to the afternoon meet the week before when athletes ran two miles at Dundy Co. Stratton.
    “I thought the weather was still pretty hard on the runners” Friday, he said.
    That was evidenced by times, across the board, that were slower than this meet last year.
    While Zuege said it’s hard to compare Cambridge to the opener due to the differing distances, he said some of Chase County’s first-year runners showed nice improvement.
    Salvador Venegas, while running in the JV division, was 20th overall and stood out to the coach, while on the girls’ side, he noted the efforts of McKenzie Vogt, who medaled in 12th, and freshman Paige Nickless, who was 18th.
    Two boys medaled in the varsity division—Navy Smith, who led the Longhorns in 11th, and Haven Hauxwell, in his first contest, squeaked by in 15th place, edging teammate Trevin Moreno in 16th.
    “It was nice to get Haven out there for the first time, and even though he is probably not 100%, he battled pretty well to earn a medal,” Zuege said.
     “Navy Smith led our team once again while earning another medal,” he added.
    Moreno was a little under the weather, but competed well, Zuege said.
Chase County meet
moved to morning
    With weather forecasts near 100 degrees Thursday, Chase County’s home meet was moved to a morning start time, said Activities Director Troy Hauxwell.
    Originally announced with a 3:30 p.m. start time, races at the Imperial Country Club will now begin at 9 a.m. with the girls varsity/JV, followed by the boys varsity/JV and then a girls/boys combined junior high race.
    High school athletes will run a 5K course, while the junior high will follow a 3K route. Top 15 in varsity will receive medals
    “I think the best thing about our home meet is that many people who rarely get to watch our team run are able to make it up to our home meet,” Zuege said.

    Cross country probably doesn’t get the following that some other sports do, he added, so it is fun for the kids to see the support from so many people in the community.
    Given the flatness of the Imperial course, the coach said his runners have a great chance to run PRs, as well.
Cambridge meet results:
Boys’ varsity team scores—1. Axtell A 22, 2. Alma A 68, 3. Chase Co. A 76, 4. Medicine Valley 100, 5. Chase Co. B 116, 6. Arapahoe 135, 7. Cambridge 145, 8. Alma B 158.
Boys’ varsity results—1. Keyton Cole, 18:37.22, Axtell A; 2. Kael Garrett, 18:58.55, Med. Valley; 3. Luc Lopez, 19:02.49, Axtell A; 4. Stemper Griffin, 19:05.08, Alma A; 5. Cooper Miller, 19:10.59, Axtell A; 6. Zach Arner, 19:17.33, Axtell A; 7. Grant Henery, 19:20.32, Wilcox-Hildreth; 8. Micah Johnson, 19:31.58, Wilcox-Hildreth; 9. Cole Barnett, 19:32.67, Southwest; 10. Isaiah Springer, 19:37.32, Axtell A; 11 Navy Smith, 19:39.57, Chase Co.; 12. Jaxon Tischner, 19:42.53, Alma A; 13. Campbell Schutz, 19:43.32, Arapahoe; 14. Isaac Hamilton, 19:49.79, So. Valley; 15. Haven Hauxwell, 19:51.31, Chase Co.; 16. Trevin Moreno, 19:59.80, Chase Co.; 26. Colin O’Neil, 21:06.73, Chase Co.; 38. Andrew Wiest, 22:20.20, Chase Co..
Boys’ JV results—20. Salvador Venegas, 20:53.03, Chase Co.; 25. Brayan Reyes, 21:06.34, Chase Co.; 32. Peyton Dubas, 21:35.46 Chase Co.; 33. Kobe Norman, 21:38.82, Chase Co.; 52. Cole Pankonin, 25:24.19, Chase Co.
Girls’ varsity team scores—1. Hi-Line A 41, Cambridge 43, Hitchcock Co. 61, Chase Co. 63.
Girls’ varsity results—1. Brenna Deterding, 22:52.77 Cambridge; 2. Rachel Harris, 23:10.21, Cambridge; 3. Kori Koeppen, 23:53.55, Cambridge; 4. Whitney Dickau, 24:06.88, Hi-Line A; 5. Avery Stritt, 24:29.02, Axtell; 6. Kallie Linden, 24:37.11, Wilcox-Hildreth; 7. Natalie Malcom, 25:03.89, Hi-Line A; 8. Harper Fennel, 25:09.93, Alma; 9. Payton Muegerl, 25:33. 86, Hi-Line A; 10. Chayse Keith, 25:38.50, Hitchcock Co.; 11. Lizbeth Cardoza, 25:51.88, DCS; 12. McKenzie Vogt, 25:57.04, Chase Co.; 13. Taeylor Samuelson, 26:05.35, Axtell; 14. Tayley Becker, 26:15.08, So. Valley; 15. River Einspahr, 26:29.31, Arapahoe; 18. Paige Nickless, 25:50.20, Chase Co.; 20. Faith Hauxwell, 27:25.85, Chase Co.; 21. Tessa Smith, 27:27.66, Chase Co.; 26. Madelynn Hanes, 28:47.85, Chase Co.
Junior high boys’ results—1. Gage Rupp, 6:19.83, Alma; 6. Connor Einspahr, 6:42.32, Chase Co.; 13. James Bomba, 7:04.58, Chase Co.; 18. Luke Kuenning, 7:26.33, Chase Co.; 28. Alex Nelson, 8:27.76, Chase Co.; 36. Jaxsen Villarreal, 10:28.10, Chase Co.