The Ord High School Cross Country teams had their best day of the year at the C-4 district cross country meet last week in Hastings. Nearly every member of both teams had either their best performance of the season or ran at their season average. “I was really pleased with the times our kids turned in on this course”, Coach Derry Trampe stated. “It was very windy, and we still had several kids run their best time ever. It was great to see us hit our peak at the right time of the season. I am very proud of our kids and wished we had a few more competing in the state meet.” The top 15 individuals in each race and the top 3 teams qualify for the state meet.
The Chanticleer girls finished 6th in the team race with 109 points. They had tied Holdrege for 5th but lost on the tie break because they did not have a fifth runner. Minden (23), Aurora (28), and Kearney Catholic (48) were the top 3 teams and earned the right to compete in the state meet. Adams Central was 4th with 52 points. Central City, Fairbury, Fillmore Central, Gibbon, South Central Unified, and St. Paul did not field enough runners to score as a team.
Izzy Jeffres was the top finisher for the girls as she placed 20th in a season-best time of 24:06. Skylar Kokes also posted a season-best time as she finished 28th in 24:53. “I was very pleased with the way that both Izzy and Skylar ran in the district meet”, Trampe said. “They got out and competed early in the race and really dropped their times down from earlier in the season. It was nice to see them have a good race since they have been working through some injuries most of the season.” Koryn Klein and Elisabeth Bengston finished 40th and 41st respectively. Klein completed the course in 31:26 while Bengston finished in a time of 36:37. “Both Koryn and Elisabeth have been working through some injuries that just never got better as the season progressed”, the coach said. “I am proud of the fact that they continued to work hard and ran in every race we had this year.”
The Chanticleer boys came as close as they could to qualifying the team for the state meet. The Chants finished 4th in the team race with 57 points and were just 2 points out of the top 3. “When you are that close to qualifying for the state meet, there are a lot of places where you figure you could drop some points”, Coach Trampe said. “However, we had a lot of boys that ran a lot faster than we have all year so we dropped more points than I thought we would. I thought we would score between 65 and 70 points in the meet going in, so I am pleased with how we did. I am not disappointed in the effort of our team, just disappointed for them that they did not qualify for the state meet.” Holdrege (29), Aurora (31), and Fillmore Central (55) were the top 3 teams that qualified for the state meet. Rounding out the team scoring were Minden (59), Adams Central (114), Kearney Catholic (126), Gibbon (145), St. Paul (157), Fairbury (162), and Central City and South Central Unified did not field enough runners to score as a team.
Despite not qualifying the team for state, the Chants still had two individual boys qualify for state by finishing in the top 15. Garret Severance (5th in 17:58) and Masaki Arisawa (15th in 18:18) earned their trip to the state meet in Kearney. “Garret ran the best race of his life at this meet”, Trampe said. “He got out strong and just kept passing runners after the first mile of the race. Masaki had a solid race this week despite the fact that he had the flu at the end of last week. I was glad he was able to hold on to 15th place so he can experience competing in a state meet.” Also scoring for the Chants were Elijah Pollard (19th in 18:46) and Owen Lane (22nd in 19:02). This was the best time of his career for Pollard. “Elijah ran a great race as well and had a personal best time in this meet”, Trampe said. “I was really happy with the way he competed and the way he finished the race. I also thought Owen had a great day as well. He was not able to compete last week due to an ankle injury and he ran well despite coming off that injury. He worked hard in the last stretch of the race to pass people in the home stretch.” Pushers for the team were Grady Moudry (32nd in 19:22) and Brodie Klimek (38th in 19:48). Both runners ran right at their best times of the season. “I felt that both Grady and Brodie ran very solid races”, Trampe stated. “They were right at their season best times and below their average time for the year. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that from your team. We have a solid group of young runners that will be back next year and hopefully we can break through and get them to state.”
The boys will compete in the state meet at Kearney Country Club on Friday, October 21. The class C boys’ race is scheduled to start at approximately 12:30 pm. All tickets must be purchased online, or they can be purchased at the gate, but you must use a credit or debit card. No cash will be accepted for tickets.