The Nerd team
In 2015, after retiring from high school coaching at Millard South, Dustin Lewellyn founded Nebraska Elite Track Club (NETC) to promote high school distance running. Jay Slagle began writing articles for NETC in 2017. When Dustin began coaching collegiately in 2021, Jay transitioned NETC into Prep Running Nerd. The all-volunteer Nerd team, listed in roughly the order they joined us, now includes:
The Nerd – Jay Slagle has primary responsibility for the Nerd Twitter account, writing the in-season weekly Nerdsletter, preparing Class B-D XC individual rankings, updating the results page and recruiting all of these awesome Nerds.
Nerd Junior – Jack Slagle competed for Creighton Prep and the University of Nebraska and is responsible major website updates, creating the T&F performance database and compiling the weekly Class A XC rankings with Nerd the Third
Nerd the Third – Henry Slagle competed for Creighton Prep and Creighton University. His main priorities are updating our T&F results database, writing pre-season and pre-State articles, managing he Instagram page.
Nerd HD – Jaden Gebeke ran for Elkhorn High and is now a UNL student and working with the UNL T&F and XC teams. He occasionally returns to the minor leagues to help us out.
Dr. Nerd – Troy Bracker was a thrower for Fremont and now works there as a family medicine doctor. If you need a volunteer photographer to perform a tracheotomy with a ballpoint pen, Dr. Nerd may be your best option.
CW Nerd – Holly Benish is almost in Wyoming and doesn't Nerd quite as often since her kids graduated from Leyton. She’s married to the coolest farmer on the planet and is a stay-at-home mom who rarely spends time at home.
Hurdle Nerd - Mike Peterson excelled at hurdles in Gering; he is retired from teaching but continues to coach at O'Neill St. Mary's, specializing in hurdles. More importantly, he’s got a killer photography portfolio.
Broken Nerd – Doug Kuskie was a distance runner at Broken Bow and now covers the area around Wood River as well as going to his son's (Preston) meets with Concordia.
Art Nerd – Tim O’Neill is based on North Platte and traded a long entrepreneurial career for a gig to teach art and coach XC/TF at North Platte St. Pat’s. Art Nerd has been an endurance athlete for over 40 years, and he may have the most impressive post-high school PRs of the Nerd Team – a 4:18 (mile) and 9:08 (2-mile).
High Mileage Nerd - Larry Miles is based in North Platte and is a huge fan of his three track kids, Concordia athletes Jarrett (distance) and Hayley (sprints/jumps) and NPSP athlete Savvy (distance).
Nor'easter Nerd - Adrienne Harris was a medal winner for SSC's 1989 State title team and is now based in Homer in Northeast Nebraska. She is an assistant XC coach for Homer in the fall but will spend the spring shooting meets where Homer and her daughter Lilly competes.
Nerd Dawg - Greg Dawes was a State qualifier in both XC an T&F while at Millard North and now follows his kids who compete at Doane and Burke. He may be our busiest Nerd.
Nerdsam - Sammy Miller was hooper at Lincoln North Star but also dabbled in XC and T&F under Coach Musiel's leadership. She returned to Lincoln after college and is a prolific self-taught photographer at hockey, baseball, basketball and running events.
Nerd Ricky Bobby - Rick Campos is a 1985 Pius grad and is our Lincoln-based drone operator. He has two track daughters - Kate (UNL) and Samantha (Pius). Ricky Bobby has been mentoring a teenage family friend to run Nerd Bird 2, but due to HIPAA rules and national security reasons, we can't talk about Nerd Bird 2.
Nauj Nerd - Christian Naujokaitis is a Millard West XC/TF alum who majors in Sports Media and Broadcast Journalism at UNL. He's crazy busy working for Hurrdat but is gracious enough to edit cross country videos for us if he has time.
Joyful Nerd - Based in Fremont, Tonya Miller is a native Iowan and mother of four. A photography protege of Dr. Nerd, she's been a constant presences at Fremont meets but has branched out now that her son Noah has completed his competitive running career. She loves taking pictures of athletes and hopes to live every day with joy, faith and a love for others.
Nerd Convert - Tony Chapman has been covering high school sports as a hobby for over a decade, most recently with his Harvest Sports newsletter. His 2025 grad Liv introduced him to distance running, and he's been a big fan since then.
Bloomin' Nerd - Melanie Hartung is based in Laurel and was a mid-distance runner at Bloomfield back in the day under the guidance of her uncle Coach Wilken. She has a great eye for sports photography and now gets to watch her son compete in junior high sports.
Word Nerd - Renae Bottom is a retired English teacher living in Grant. She was a sprinter in high school, her husband coaches JH track, two kids ran in college, and her son coaches the Hershey XC team. A former newspaper pro, she was was the copy editor for Running Times for ten years when editor Jonathan Beverly lived in Chase County.
Nerd Stammpede - Based in Benkelman, Diane Stamm and family have a deep history in athletics, and her daughter now competes for York University. She covered Southwest Nebraska high school sports for eleven years and has blown us away with her Nerd work.
Nerd atTack - Ashton Tackwell competed at Hastings and is now a UNK student aiming for a career in sports media. His creative eye and passion for sports have been impressive.
Science Nerd - Deanne Bishop is a teacher, basketball coach and six other things at Perkins County schools in Grant. She was a thrower and jumper back in the day, coached T&F for 10 years and helps her husband run the Eagle Eye timing system for meets around Grant.
Sky Nerd - Joarcy Sanchez is a senior distance runner at Schuyler High School who somehow manages to shoot the same events he's competing in, with a bit of help from a female teammate. Joarcy helps us cover a part of the state that we've neglected, so we love seeing his work.
Mega Nerd - Megan Beals has a sophomore daughter competing on the Lincoln North Star squad. She's a mother of three, a special education para-professional and a fan of all sports.
Nerdennan - Tina Brennan was a member of Ponca's 2024 4x800 State championship squad and now cheers for her daughter Ava, a distance runner for Ponca.
Sun Nerd - Lindsey Escritt lives in Hebron and is the mother of Isabella Escritt, a senior at Thayer Central, and Sydney, a senior at Wayne State. A uniquely-Nebraskan Nerd, Lindsey also knows a thing or two about the grain market.
Nerdy by Nature - Chuck Bitker is the proud dad of Josiah and Titus, respectively a senior and sophomore at Lincoln North Star. He previously owned photo studios but now devotes most of his camera time to chasing his kids at meets.
Distant Nerd - Jessica Miller is based in Kimball, a mere 25-minute drive from both Wyoming and Colorado. She's had years of sports photography as she's followed her kids - two teenagers and a toddler - and this former hooper has found joy in being behind the lens.
Nerdfoot - Nathan Penney is a podiatrist in Omaha who was a state medalist in hurdles and relays at Burke. His high school injuries led him to pursue a medical career, and his son is distance runner at Westside who will join the Midland team next fall.
Nerdtron - Son Tran lives in Lincoln and has over 20 years of experience shooting for dozens of magazines and newspapers in Vietnam. In addition to following his distance-running daughter at Lincoln High, he's a volunteer photographer for the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra.
Nerd 501(c)3 - Charity Wyatt is a photographer based in Gothenburg who seems to go to every nearby sports event, and she's been kind enough to upload her albums so that we can share them with a wider audience.
Young Nerd - Landen Sharer is a student at Wayne High School and joined our team in early 2025. Along with photography, he enjoys graphic design and other creative projects, and he plan to study marketing in the future. He's a golfer so he knows his way around a XC course.
Irish Nerd - Alexander Madsen is a student at Falls City Sacred Heart and won a Nebraska Class C sports journalism award for his article on Carson Noecker. A distance runner for the Irish, he plans to pen a few articles for the Nerd team.
Valley Nerd - Carol Kelly competed at Wilber-Clatonia. A retired art teacher, she is now a part-time sports journalist based in Danbury who works for the Valley Voice in Cambridge. She covers the RPAC as well as anyone in the State.
Disc Nerd - Erin Painter was a 3X NAIA national qualifier in the throws at Concordia who is the managing editor at the Ainsworth Star-Journal. She's also a throws coach at Ainsworth and helps us fill a huge hole in our statewide coverage map.
Nerd Center - If his name didn't give it away, Espn Hall comes from a sports-crazy family. He's a baseball player and student at McCook High School who plans to study journalism (and hopefully play baseball) in college.
Titanium Nerd - Lauren Osborne had a forgettable high school running career but has made lasting impressions in her photography business based in Ainsworth. With femurs partially composed of titanium due to an accident, she's happy to stay behind the sports camera.
Nerd Madness - Maddie Kaperski is a senior at Palmer High School. While she never really fell in love with track (weird, right?), she realized that she loved taking pictures of her teammates. Her goal is to people the beauty and goodness in the world through photography.
Iron Nerd - Maisea Chase is a junior at Bayard High School. While she's never competed in our beloved sports, her older siblings did, so she's been a lifelong sports fan. She hopes to follow this hobby to college - perhaps shooting for the UNL sports media team.
Nerd Burn - Gary Adams retired after 40 years as a spy (the Mission Impossible kind of guy) and admires XC after watching one of his daughters compete. Based in Auburn, his granddaughter competes for Norris junior high so we hope he'll be on the course for many years.
Nerdfall - Denise Daake is a parent of a Falls City runner and married to a self-professed pole vault nerd. She is the first Nerd photographer to be based in Nerd Senior's hometown, so we're excited for her coverage of Southeastern Nebraska.
Volleynerd - Jeanette Branson competed for Kearney High in track but volleyball is her main sport as an athlete and parent. Now based in Shelton, she's a contributor for her local newspaper and loves capturing memories for families.
River Nerd - Based in Niobrara, Cassie Stark was a high school rodeo athlete and yearbook photographer before becoming a parent. Her daughter Taylen is a standout hurdler, and she joined the Nerds because high school athletes deserve to be seen and spotlighted.
Nerdzy - Isabella Escrit is a senior and distance runner at Thayer Central who is joining us for the 2025 XC season while she rehabs from an ACL injury. She's been tag-teaming on photos with her mom, Sun Nerd, since 2024.
Berry Nerdy - Papio South mom Nicole Berry has quite a bit of experience photographing soccer and baseball games, and she's excited to share her images from the cross country course. She's still not quite sure what a tempo run is, but she knows how to spot a race face from 200 meters away.
Donkey Nerd - Ryan Dahlke is a junior at Kearney High School. He retired from track and cross country after middle school and now focuses on the sports photography and videography in the Tri-City region. He comes highly recommended by Nerdell, who now works for HuskerVision while attending UNL.
Royal Nerd - We've been shooting next to Nicole Hochstein, a rabid Papio South fan for years, so we're excited to have her join our team. She has two boys competing for Papio South this year, and she plans to expand our coverage of Unified events during track season.
Registered Nerd - Cassie Banks is a former mid-distance runner and triathlete who now works a nurse practitioner based in Gordon. The mother of Gordon-Rushville athlete Hadley as well as two younger children, her goal is to promote the visibility and benefits of cross country.
Nameless Nerd - Matt Scott is a runner, a parent of a a runner and Communications Chair for USATF Nebraska. He began shooting USATF meets in Spring of 2025 when he was called 'The Nerd to be Named Later." He couldn't fit that onto his business card so we shortened his name.
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All of the Nerds are volunteers, but we're serious about promoting the sport. Team rankings are typically prepared by coaches while we prepare individual rankings. The goal of the rankings is simply to shine a light on the sport, so please don’t take offense. If you have story ideas or information you’d like to share, shoot the Nerd an e-mail at jayslagle@hotmail.com.