The Ord High School cross country teams had another successful day this past Saturday at the annual Broken Bow Invitational. In a meet that features some of the top teams in class C and D, the Chanticleers turned in some of their best performances of the season and their career. “I thought our kids ran some great races today”, Coach Derry Trampe noted. “Almost all our kids had one of the best races of their careers. We had a couple of kids that are working through some injuries that slowed them some, but they still had solid races. We have the potential to be a very good team this year.”
The high school girls only had three girls compete in this meet and were unable to score as a team. McCook won the girls meet with 25 points while Minden was second with 43. Rounding out the team scoring were: Doniphan-Trumbull (56), Cozad (77), Broken Bow (94), Hi-Line (109), Gothenburg (134), St. Patrick (141), Valentine (164), Arcadia-Loup City (190), Maxwell (191), and South Loup, Brady, Sandhills Valley, St. Paul, Ord, and Medicine Valley did not field enough runners to score as a team.
The high school boys finished sixth in the field of 19 teams with 117 points. Gothenburg ran away with the meet scoring 18 points while St. Patrick was second with 36 points. Broken Bow and Minden finished 3rd and 4th with 58 and 89 points respectively. Sandhills Valley just edged the Chants for 5th with 112 points. Rounding out the team scoring were: McCook (129), St. Paul (162), Doniphan-Trumbull (165), Medicine Valley (200), South Loup (204), Cozad (208), Arcadia-Loup City (231), Valentine (236), and Ainsworth, Hi-Line, Maxwell, Brady, and Sandhills-Thedford did not field enough runners to score as a team.
Skylar Kokes was the top finisher for the girls’ team as she placed 45th in a season best time of 25:22. “Skylar has improved steadily this season”, Coach Trampe said. “She is working through a hip injury, so I was a little surprised by the time that she ran. I did not expect her to post a time nearly a minute better than her previous best time. She is a tough runner that competes hard.” Koryn Klein took nearly two minutes off her season-best time to record a 76th place finish in a time of 28:30. “Koryn is starting to figure out how to use her strengths as a runner”, Trampe stated. “She is a strong runner, and it is starting to show in her races. She gets better every time she runs a race and I look for her to have a strong finish to the season.” Elisabeth Bengston was the other girl that competed in the race for the Chants. Bengston finished 90th in a time of 33:34 over the 5,000-meter course. “Elisabeth has battled a cold for most of the week and I think that hurt her this week”, Coach Trampe stated. “Her times have been coming down, but she looked a little sluggish during the race and just couldn’t get herself going. As she gets over her cold, I look for her to get that time close to 30 minutes this year. I am proud of the way she is working to get better.”
The Chants had one boy bring home a medal from the meet this week. Masaki Arisawa led the team again this week and finished in 17th place to earn a medal. The top 20 runners in each high school race medal. Arisawa finished the 5,000-meter course in 18:19 to just miss posting a season-best time. “Masaki is a very consistent runner”, Trampe noted. “He gets out and competes, but he looked a little tired at the end of this race. We have been working the kids hard this week and it showed toward the end of the race. However, we must practice with end of the year results in mind.” Rounding out the scoring runners for the Chants were Garret Severance (29th in 18:56), Grady Moudry (35th in 19:09), and Owen Lane (39th in 19:26). “Garret and Grady ran the best races of their careers this week”, Coach Trampe stated. “They got out early and just continued to get stronger throughout the race. They ran as well as I have ever seen them run and I am very proud of their efforts. Owen had a solid race but just seemed to be tired in the end. Again, he put in a lot of miles this week and I think his legs were tired. I am just pleased with how hard he competes.” The two pushers for the team this week were Elijah Pollard (52nd in 19:55) and Brodie Klimek (56th in 20:03). Klimek’s time was a career best time for him. “Brodie is running really well this year”, Trampe said. “He put in a lot of miles this summer and it has paid off for him. I am proud of the progress he has made. Elijah has tendonitis in one of his knees and it bothered him in this race. He still ran a solid time, but if he is injury free, I am sure he would have run under 19 minutes at this meet. He is another runner that has really made a lot of progress.” Also competing for the Chants were Hayden Kluthe (66th in 20:33), Isaac VanLeer (22:40), Gage Sintek (103rd in 22:52), Braden Bruha (105th in 22:55), and Skyler Probst (107th in 23:03). “Hayden ran one of the best races of his career at this meet”, Trampe stated. “He is running well right now which would usually make him one of our top six runners, but we have a deep team this year. I am very pleased with how he is competing in meets and look for him to continue to improve as the season progresses. Isaac had his best race and I think it has a lot to do with him getting over the sickness he has been battling since the first week of the season. He looked strong today and it was good to see him run well and have a good time. Gage had the best race he has had in the last 3 years. He looked like himself again today and looked like he enjoyed competing again. Like the other runners on the day, Braden and Skyler both had their best races of the season. Braden was more than a minute faster than he has been this year and Skyler took off almost 3 minutes from his previous best time. I am very encouraged by how we are competing and how deep we are. If one of our kids has a bad day, it seems like there are 2 or 3 kids there to pick up for them.”
The junior high girls brought home two medals from the meet as Avery Bruha and Allison Wheeler both finished in the top ten. Bruha finished in 8th place in a time of 7:01 while Wheeler was 10th in a time of 7:08 over the 1-mile course. Sophie Zangger finished in 54th place in a time of 9:36. Gavin Whited was the top finisher for the boys as he placed 33rd in a time of 7:09. Conner Krcilek was 48th in a time of 7:31, Jacob Medina was 53rd in 7:44, and Kyptan Scheideler was right behind him in 54th place in 7:48. The girls did not score in the team race while the boys finished 9th with 145 points.