Contributor: The Nerd
How about them brains?
The USTFCCCA (isn't the primary purpose of acronyms is that they're supposed to be short?) is the national association of track and XC coaches, and each semester they track the average GPAs for each college program. Nebraska XC programs absolutely killed it during the fall semester, with the following programs ranked 1st or 2nd in their NCAA division:
D3 - Nebraska Wesleyan women 1st in division and highest GPA among all divisions
D2 - Wayne State women 1st, Wayne State men 2nd
D1 - Creighton men 1st, and combined men/women GPA 1st
While these three schools were all ranked first, other Nebraska programs were not far behind. Here's the complete list courtesy of the USTFCCCA.
The USTFCCCA also identifies All-Academic Athletes in each division. At the risk of omitting someone with Nebraska ties, these are the names I recognized:
Augustana - Evan Johnson (Lincoln native)
Concordia - Calvin Rohde, Camden Sesna, Rylee Haecker
Doane - Kalen Dockweiler
Hastings - Elizabeth Baade, Madison Gerken, Landry Hinkson, Veronica Pinkerton
Nebraska-Kearney - Ben Arens, Luke Stuckey, Justin Vrooman, Grace Bonsall, Elizabeth Polk, Hannah Pollan, Destiny Reinke
Nebraska-Lincoln - Erika Freyhoff
Nebraska Wesleyan - Norbert Weijenberg, Gabby Thomas
High school kids doing crazy things
During the winter before the start of the official high school track season, athletes are free to enter any number of open meets hosted by colleges. (In case you've missed my tweets, there are still a number of available meets remaining at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/indoor-open-meets). After watching Stella Miner of Westside run a 2:15 a few weeks ago, this weekend I was wondering if she would be allowed to join a boys' race at one of these open meets to get pushed even harder. Is a 2:15 impressive? Well, UNL has hosted three track meets in January, and only two collegiate women ran faster times than 2:15. Her time also places her among the top 20 nationally for all high school girls thus far this winter. So yes, it's impressive.
As I was pondering how Stella could knock that 800 time lower, Jaci Sievers of Elkhorn South found another option - just jump into a collegiate women's race. Jaci ran the mile at UNL's Adidas Classic and finished in 5:03, which converts to a 5:01 1600.
According to my quick search on athletic.net, only four other Nebraska girls have ran faster than 5:01 since 2015: Katie Spencer (4:55 in-season 1600 in 2015), Erin Lee (5:00 in-season 1600 in 2015, 4:49 post-season mile in 2016), Taylor Somers (4:57 post-season mile in 2016), and Elli Dahl (5:00 in-season 1600 in 2021). As of last Saturday, MileSplit.com listed just 12 Class of 2023 high school girls with faster indoor times in January than Jaci. If Jaci, Elli and Stella remain healthy, this spring could be one for the record books.
College meets
You may have noticed that we're covering a bit more collegiate racing than in past years. There's are two primary reasons for that: (a) I've been going to meets where Nerd Junior and Nerd the Third compete and (b) there have been great meets every weekend where we can see a lot of Nebraska athletes compete. We've posted pics and videos (a new venture for us) at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd, and we're trying to improve our coverage so we'll be ready to dive into the high school season. One thing we'd also like to do this spring is hit D2, D3 and NAIA meets, so we'll see if time allows for that. This weekend Nerd Junior will be on the scene for the Frank Sevigne Invite at UNL, and I'll try to hit a different high school or college meet.
If you're desperate for more high school coverage, be patient. With better video capabilities and more involvement from Nerd Junior, we hope to blow you away once track season begins.
High school meet results
Gatorade player of the year
In what have been the least surprising awards of the 2021 XC season, Elli Dahl and Gabe Hinrichs were awarded the Gatorade player of the year awards in January.
Commitments
We waited until May 2021 to post a list of college distance running commitments, but this year we'll try to give updates throughout the spring. So far we have:
Distance - girls
Noelle Abels | Westside | UNK |
Alivia Austin | Papio South | College of St. Mary |
Tyson Baker | Fremont | UNK |
Jozlyn Barnes | Plattsmouth | Wayne State |
Maelee Beacom | Logan View | Wayne State |
Ella Buhlke | Central City | UNK |
Elli Dahl | Fremont | Nebraska |
Morgann Johnson | Boone Central | College of St. Mary |
Ava McGown | Brady | Wayne State |
Corrine Mead | Elkhorn North | College of St. Mary |
Lydia Peters | Sidney | Chadron State |
Reagan Shoemaker | Hastings | Doane |
Madeline Swanson | Beatrice | UNO |
Sammi Vojslavek | Millard West | Concordia |
Calla Wittland | Bennington | Doane |
Distance - boys
Tyson Baker | Fremont | UNK |
Luke Bonifas | Adams Central | Doane |
Evan Caudy | North Platte | UNK |
Tanner Cooper | Norris | UNK |
Mitch Deer | Sidney | UNK |
Seth Fey | Millard West | South Dakota |
Michael Grigsby | Elkhorn North | Doane |
Gabe Hinrichs | Elkhorn South | Notre Dame |
Sam Kirchner | Millard West | Nebraska |
Casey Kruger | Papio South | Morningside |
Trevor Kuncl | Mullen | Concordia |
Carson Lauterbach | Lincoln Southeast | NW Missouri State |
Evan Liewer | Gretna | North Dakota State |
Nolan Miller | Fremont | Nebraska |
Robert Nizzi | Creighton Prep | NW Missouri State |
Daniel Romary | Lincoln Northeast | Iowa State |
Bradey Taylor | Fremont | Tulsa |
Daine Wardyn | Broken Bow | Iowa Western |
Carter Waters | Fremont | Alabama |
Connor Wells | St. Paul | UNK |
Gabriel Wilson | Grand Island | Chadron State |
Sprints/Field
Brad Agostino | Omaha Skutt | UNK | High Jump |
Savannah Bishop | Elkhorn North | Washburn | Hurdles/Pole Vault |
Brea Branic | Sandhills/Thedford | Midlands | Sprints/HJ |
Kaylee Crosby | Aurora | Nebraska Wesleyan | Sprints |
Melanie Driewer | York | UNK | Pole Vault |
Josie Garrett | Columbus | Doane | Hurdles/Sprints |
Tania Gleason | Fremont | UNO | Sprints |
Paul Lampert | Creighton Point | Army | Pole Vault |
Morgan Mahoney | Beatrice | Doane | Sprints |
Hayley Miles | NP St. Pats | Concordia | Sprints/Jumps |
Sadie Millard | Millard West | Wichita State | Sprints/Long Jump |
Grace Mustard | Columbus Scotus | UNO | Hurdles |
D'Andre Ndugwa | Kearney | UNK | Hurdles |
Abrielle Nelson | Wausau | Mount Marty | Hurdles |
Josi Noble | Cross County | Concordia | Sprints/Jumps |
Waylon Sherman | Wahoo | Wayne State | Sprints |
Noah Smith | Gretna | Nebraska Wesleyan | Hurdles |
Payton Taylor | Gretna | Briar Cliff | Pole Vault |
Lauren Wehrbein | Weeping Water | Morningside | Sprints |
Throws
Courtney Covington | Lincoln Southwest | Concordia | Throws |
Kylee Hasselmann | GICC | Hastings | Throws |
Kassidy Hiesterman | Columbus | Concordia | Throws |
Ella Hofer | Fremont | North Central | Throws |
Mia Knigge | Fremont | Doane | Throws |
Josh Oleson | Allen | Wayne State | Throws |
Jordan Shaw | Kearney | Concordia | Throws |
Tyler Thomas | Broken Bow | Concordia | Throws |
Chloe Walker | Columbus Scotus | UNO | Throws |
If you've committed to a collegiate T&F or XC program as a walk-on or scholarship runner, we'd love to hear about it. Shoot an e-mail to jayslagle@hotmail.com or give us a DM on Twitter, FB or Insta. Proud parents and friends are welcome to let us know too.
Like what you see?
Are you a track and field fan who thinks the sport should have greater coverage? If so, send us a DM on Facebook, Twitter or Insta, or shoot an e-mail to jayslagle@hotmail.com, and let us know what you'd like us to tackle.