Runners heading to SPVA meet; districts to follow

    With the last regular season meet this week, Chase County runners will soon be setting their sights on the post-season.
    The Longhorn cross country teams will be in Grant on Thursday for the SPVA Conference Meet, which will draw some of the state’s top runners.
    Districts come a week later on Oct. 13 in Ogallala.
    Races Thursday start at 4 p.m. at Grant’s Pheasant Run Golf Course. All seven SPVA schools will have runners there. Girls will run first.
    Teams can enter six in the varsity race, with four scoring. Unlimited JV runners can also run the course, but will not be scored.
    Chase County Coach Carl Zuege said they’ll be some good runners in both boys’ and girls’ divisions this week.
    The girls side of the meet should be very competitive. Zuege said Bridgeport would appear to maybe be the favorite.
    “This will once again be the first time on this course for all but two of our runners, so they will be challenged with figuring out this course,” he said.
    Although the course seems fairly flat, runners are always seemingly on a gradual slope or a side slope of some type, Zuege added, and it has traditionally not been a very fast course.
    “I feel like our girls have continued to improve this season, and this would be a great opportunity to finish near the top of our conference,” he said.
    On the boys’ side, Zuege said North Platte St. Pat’s will be the team to beat.
    “They are ranked first in Class D, and have been very consistent,” he said.
    Hershey has also been a team with whom Zuege’s runners have been competitive.
    “I think both of those teams will be right in the top three,” Zuege said.
    There will be some really good individuals in the boys’ race, so it should be a great prep for districts next week, he said.
    Among those top runners are Mason McGreer of Perkins County, ranked No. 2 in Class D, and Jarrett Miles of St. Pat’s, who’s at No. 3 in Class D.
C-5 Districts Oct. 13
    Chase County is among 12 teams that will be at the District C-5 meet Oct. 13 at Ogallala’s Crandall Creek Golf Course.
    Boys will run first at 3:30 p.m. followed by the girls at 4:15 p.m.
    The top three teams qualify for state, along with those top 15 runners who are not part of the top three teams.
    Besides Chase County, other teams in the C-5 are Alliance, Broken Bow, Chadron, Cozad, Gothenburg, Hershey, McCook, Mitchell, Ogallala, Sidney and Valentine.