The Ord High School cross country teams hosted their home invitational this past Friday at the Ord Golf Club. The meet featured 19 schools with a mix of Class C and D schools. “We had a beautiful day for a cross country meet with quality competition and the times reflected that”, Coach Trampe said. “The meet had several fast times in all the races making earning a medal in this meet a difficult task. I was pleased with how the meet went and very grateful to the Golf Club for letting us host this meet on our golf course. Several coaches and fans expressed how much they like coming to our meet because it is competitive and the course is challenging.”
The girls finished 6th in the 16-team field in the varsity race. The Chanticleers scored 75 points in the team race. Fullerton won the team title with 34 points while Ravenna was second with 49 points. Rounding out the team scoring were: Ainsworth (54), Battle Creek (57), West Holt (63), Burwell (99), St. Edward (140), and Gibbon, Riverside, Arcadia-Loup City, Wood River, Plainview, Sandhills-Thedford, Centura, and Ansley-Litchfield did not field enough runners to score as a team. “I thought our girls ran well in this meet”, Trampe said. “All of them ran their fastest time of the season and competed hard throughout the race. I felt like our second mile of the race was better this week but that is still the area where we need to continue to improve.” Macy Warner and Izzy Jeffres earned medals in the meet by finishing in 13th and 16th place respectively. Warner finished the 5,000-meter course in 23:27 while Jeffres was not far behind in 23:54. “Macy continues to get faster each race this year and is getting back to where she finished the season last year”, Coach Trampe commented. “Izzy ran her best race of the season and looked as good as she has all year. She really had a good second mile which kept her in contention for a medal.” Also scoring for the Chants were Valeria Chacon-Arellano and Hannah Masin. Valeria just missed earning a medal when she finished 21st in 24:45 and Hannah finished 39th in a season-best time of 27:19. “It was nice to have Valeria back racing again this week”, Trampe said. “She has missed the last couple of meets and I think that slowed her down a little for this meet. However, she ran a competitive race and I look for a lot of improvement from her in the next two weeks. Hannah ran a very good race this week as well. I was not sure if she would be able to finish because her hip has been bothering her, but she ran with a lot of toughness and got through the race. I am really impressed with the toughness our girls are showing this year.” Elisabeth Bengston was the lone kicker for the team as she finished 50th in a time of 31:44. This was her best time of the season by almost 2 full minutes. “I am very happy with the way Elisabeth ran in this race”, Trampe said. “She ran the entire way and competed against the other runners the entire race. I was very happy to see how much time she took off of her previous best race. I am proud of the effort she puts into getting better every week.”
The boys finished 7th in the team standings with 107 points. Battle Creek won the meet with 36 points while Ainsworth finished right behind them with 37 points. Rounding out the team scoring were West Holt (42), Gibbon (69), Arcadia-Loup City (99), Ravenna 9102), St. Edward (1390, Riverside (140), Centura (141), and Fullerton, Plainview, Wood River, Burwell, Sandhills/Thedford, and Ansley-Litchfield did not field enough runners to score as a team. “I was hoping we would have two or three boys finish in the medals and unfortunately, we did not have any medal winners”, Coach Trampe said. “We ran solid times, and our kids were close together, but we need to move ourselves up in the individual race as well. We can be a very good team if we can get our top runners into the top 15 of a race and have our next runners within 30-40 seconds of them. We are close to that, but we just need to get in the medals and compete while we are there.” Elijah Pollard and Garret Severance were the top two runners for the team this week. Pollard finished in 25th place in a time of 20:09 while Severance was 27th in 20:23. “Elijah and Garret ran hard and worked together throughout the race”, Trampe said. “We just need them to be another 20-30 seconds faster to get into the medals. When they do that, we will be a solid team.” Grady Moudry and Brodie Klimek were the other two scoring runners for the Chants. Both runners ran their best races of the season with Moudry taking over 20 seconds off his best time and Klimek taking off almost a minute. Grady finished in 35th place in a time of 20:41 while Brodie was 40th in 21:10. “I was pleased with the way both Grady and Brodie competed in this meet”, Trampe said. “Grady continues to run well every week and Brodie really made a big jump this week in dropping his time below 22 minutes. The hard work they are putting into practice is paying off for them.” Pushers for the team were Hayden Kluthe and Jericho Smith. Kluthe finished 43rd in 21:16 while Smith was 54th in 21:50. “Hayden had a tough day at our meet”, Trampe noted. “He is usually one of our top runners, but he struggled in the last half of the race. I am not sure why this happens to him because he runs so well in practice every day. I am hoping as we start to cut back on the miles and rest our kids, that this will help him run like he is capable of running in meets. Jericho had a very good day as he posted his best time of the season and was under 22 minutes. I am really pleased with the progress he has made since he has been back with the team.” Also competing in the meet were Gage Sintek (65th in 22:57), Skylar Probst (70th in 23:46), and Braden Bruha (71st in 24:05). “Gage and Skylar both turned in their best times of the season”, Trampe said. “Gage was almost a minute faster than his previous best time and Skylar was nearly three minutes faster than his previous best time. I am very happy with the progress they are making this season. Braden is still bothered with a leg injury, but he continues to compete. This was his second fastest race of the season so I am happy with that I just wish we could get him back to full speed.”
The junior high teams did not have any medal winners this week, but they did field enough runners to score in the team standings. The girls scored 91 points to finish 5th in the team race. West Holt won the race with 20 points while Ainsworth was second with 40 points. The boys also finished in 5th place with 93 points while Ainsworth won the race with 25 points and Riverside was second with 30 points. For the girls Avery Bruha finished 23rd in a time of 8:56 over the 2,000-meter course. Allison Wheeler was 26th in 9:06, Victoria Chacon-Arellano was 31st in 9:23, and Aiza Giron was 36th in 9:37. “Our girls got a little too far back in the early stages of the race and were never able to get back into medal contention”, Trampe said. “They rand the last half of the race well but they just could not move up in the individual standings.” For the boys Knox Nelson was the top finisher as he placed 32nd in 8:44. Brody Blair was 35th in 8:45, Jaden Psota was 36th in 8:49, Jayden Trejo was 43rd in 9:10, and Judson Collier was 55th in 10:31. “Like our girls, the boys got too far back in the first half of the race and just couldn’t make up any ground”, Trampe stated. “I am not sure what happened to them at this meet but we just did not seem like we were ready to compete. I felt good about the way Knox competed in the race because he ran one of his best races all year. We just need to be consistent competitors both in meets and in practice.”