10/22/25 Nerdsletter
- jayslagle
- Oct 22
- 21 min read
Updated: Oct 23
Contributor: The Nerd
First off, a bit of motivation
Two of our most popular articles are focused on the before and after of the State meet. We recommend sharing these two articles with your athlete if they're looking for motivation or inspiration or a bit of stress relief:
No Room for Fear or Doubt - from October 2021
Drop Your Shield - from October 2023
Preparing for State
The athletes have already begun their taper and may already be bouncing off walls due to their unspent energy. The coaches are in charge of their preparation, and I'm taking responsibility for preparing the rest of you. We're writing this for all of our followers, including those new to cross country, so be sure to share it with friends and family who may love your athlete but may not be familiar with the sport.
Race times
The race times on Friday are as follows:
12:00 Class D girls
12:30 Class C girls
1:00 Class D boys
1:30 Class C boys
2:00 Awards ceremony (this may run past 2:30)
2:30 Class B girls
3:00 Class A girls
3:30 Class B boys
4:00 Class A boys
Keep in mind that some athletes may take longer than 30 minutes to finish. Unlike many meets, the Kearney course design ensures the next race starts on time even if runners from the previous race are still on the course - barring technical issue or medical emergencies.
A few of the State races may include a pre-race gathering of students that isn't authorized by the NSAA or part of the formal meet schedule. During the season we've seen instances, particularly at Class C and D races, where a spontaneous student-led prayer circle may form 5-10 minutes before a race and then dissipates quickly. At the meets I've witnessed it, not all athletes participate. However, it's a nice reminder that a race, even at the State meet, is just one moment in the bigger picture.
Arrival time, tickets and parking
First, plan ahead. This is not a meet where you can expect to arrive five minutes before the start of the race. I'd suggest giving yourself an hour due to heavier traffic, finding a parking place, and walking to the start line. It would be a shame for you to drive hours to Kearney just to miss the race.
Second, bookmark this State meet page on the NSAA website: https://nsaahome.org/nsaa-cross-country-championships-hq/.
You have to buy a ticket to enter the course (NSAA link above) and on-site purchases may face technical issues, so purchasing in advance is recommended. Once you buy your tickets, you should download into your Apple wallet or a similar digital app due to spotty cell reception; they won't accept screenshots of the ticket purchase. The NSAA has also indicated that it will not accept cash at the gate, so plan on bringing a debit or credit card.
The State meet features the most fans of any cross country meet this season - although the junior high State meet two weeks ago is a close second - so parking is more complicated than any meet. The NSAA offers a free shuttle (here are the details) from the UNK parking areas (here's that map) that takes you to within 50 meters of the ticket gate near the Country Club clubhouse. If someone in your party has difficulty walking, the NSAA has volunteers in golf carts who will ferry spectators to the main spectator area. It's 800-1200 meters from the entry gate to the start/finish area.
Course map
The NSAA provides a map of the course at this link. For a simplified visual, picture the course as a hand (my right hand, pointing down, minus the pinky finger for simplicity). While not exact, this analogy helps spectators in the main viewing area (Spectator Central on my Handy map), understand the course layout.
Keep in mind that I'm an irreverent fellow - which is probably why the NSAA doesn't ask me to write their official State cross country preview - so this map isn't something endorsed by the NSAA or anyone else with good taste.
Unless you're an exceptionally fit person, you'll want to stay near Spectator Central to see your athlete run. If you're reasonably mobile, you can see your athlete at the start, near the one-mile mark, after the huge hill around 3400 meters, around 4300 meters, and then from the hillside above the finish line. If you're expecting to go see your athlete at the finish line, prepare to be disappointed. Only athletes, officials and media are allowed in the finish corral, so you'll need to wait until your athlete exits the finishing area.
Course description
Using the hand analogy, here's how the race unfolds on the Kearney course. While not to be taken literally, this guide highlights key sections to help you follow your athlete's progress.
The first 500 meters of the Ring Finger are mostly downhill, tempting athletes to start fast. However, the Kearney course is probably the last place where you want to do that. I've read a number of interviews with winning athletes whose slowest mile was their first mile, and they noted that they purposefully avoided the lead to save themselves for the difficult second half of the race. Consequently, the Ring Finger denotes that the Kearney course and marriage require a lot of patience. Don't burn out your flame before you get a chance to settle in.
The top of the course is flat. It's nothing like I've drawn above, but it's basically a long and well-marked section where you get one chance to see your athlete. The athletes who went out too fast will still feel pretty good right now, but that will soon change.
When the athletes hit the Thumb, they tackle a sharp downhill and head towards the section of the course that is the farthest from the start/finish. If you go here and then want to see your athlete at a point further on in the race, the only way you'll accomplish that is by running a 6:00-minute pace to the next spot. I've seen a few coaches and fit-looking teenagers go out here, but I'd suggest you avoid it.
The Thumb is where the course - which is relatively easy through 2500 meters - gets difficult. At about 2800 meters the athletes take a 180-degree turn and start heading back to civilization. Unfortunately, that involves a 200-meter hill up to the 3K mark, a brief downhill, and then a steep hill - the most difficult of the day - that serves as the conclusion of the Thumb. The athletes who did well in metering their early output will find plenty of competitors to pass as they climb up that hill.
With the Thumb completed, the athletes take a hard left and enter the Index Finger. The roughly 250-meter downhill is a glorious break after the Thumb, and this is where athletes start to push because they get a new burst of energy. Unfortunately, a 180-degree turn around a green throws them into a 250-meter uphill that isn't as steep as the Thumb but can grind down even the fittest athlete. The athletes pass the 4K mark in the middle of that hill, and the final thousand meters are where medals and team trophies are won and lost.
The transition from the Index Finger to the Middle Finger features a quick down and up, and there are times where they'll be running on uneven ground that can alter their stride. As they enter the Middle Finger - the last finger of the course - they encounter rolling terrain and a truckload of lactic acid. The final 600 meters can tell you a lot about an athlete's pain tolerance and motivation - but cramping often trumps both.
With about 300 meters to go, the athletes take one final 180-degree turn around a green, charge down a sharp hill, and tackle the slightly uphill 250 meters to the finish line amphitheater. For the athletes feeling good, the 250 meters of screaming fans goes by in a flash; for those in distress, this final stretch never seems to end.
Photography
As we have for 122 meets this season - 122!! - we'll be on site taking pictures. Each race will have a 'volume' shooter who tries to get photos of as many athletes as they can. Another handful of Nerds will be roaming the course taking 'art' pictures of signs, fans, emotion -- you know, all that squishy stuff that men love but won't talk about. Once all of our photographers have edited their photos, we'll post them to our Facebook page. Keep in mind that we're all volunteers, so it will be several days before we post them.
Signs
One of the great traditions at State is the funny or inspirational signs carried by the fans. If you have a banger sign, we will probably find you.
Results
We'll be focused on photography across the course, where internet access may be limited, but you can access live results through athletic.net, through the NSAA website or Black Squirrel's link, which we'll share on our social media once available.
Race-day commentary
Our focus on race day is photography. If you're looking for timely commentary, all of the major Nebraska newspapers should be at the meet. Marc Zavala of the Grand Island Independent (@markyz99 on X) usually does a good job of announcing winners and sharing results.
Race preview
We're responsible for issuing the weekly rankings for individual athletes and we also republish the coaches' team rankings at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/rankings. In theory, we should have a pretty good idea of who will do well on Friday. Let's test that theory with our race previews in the order of each race.
Class D girls
We first covered the topic of sub-18:00 5Ks in our 9/24/25 Nerdsletter, which summarized the fastest Nebraska girls from each year since the 5K distance was introduced in 2013. Prior to this year, only one girl (Elli Dahl, 17:57, 2021 State meet) had broken the 18:00 barrier during the official high school season. Consequently, it was a shock to the system to see Avery Arens, a freshman at Crofton, go sub-18:00 in all seven of her races this year. While we knew before the season that she would be talented - her sister Jordyn won three Class D State XC titles and seven Class C T&F titles - her consistency has been impressive. Crofton does not run the UNK meet held in September so Friday will be her first crack at the course. Given the forecasted cool temps, I would be surprised if she doesn't break Dahl's course record.
Sage Holtmeier of TriCounty won the huge UNK meet and is ranked 2nd. Delanie Runnels, a junior at Niobrara Verdigre, has won all but three meets in her high school career: two State meets and the loaded Augustana Twilight meet where Arens finished 5th in 17:06. Ranked #4 in Class D, Kayleigh Betka of McCool Junction is the defending champion while teammate and D#5 Leah Dawson won the Class D 1600 and 3200 titles last May. Rarity Cournoyer had a successful first two years in South Dakota before landing at Gordon Rushville this year; she's ranked #11 and suffered her first loss to a Nebraska competitor at Districts when she was ill.
In the team race where the first three athletes for each team are scored, Crofton has a clear edge with Arens. The next two scorers are likely Sophia and Cecilia Wortmann, who have consistently runn between 20:30 and 21:30 this season. Defending champ McCool Junction will counter with Betka and Dawson, with either Natalie Clark or Kayliana Kitto near 21:30-22:00 as their third scorer. TriCounty is ranked third with scoring likely from senior Isabelle Peters (rankings watch list much of the year) and freshman Emma Loxtercamp. Cournoyer led Gordon Rushville to a #4 ranking and their first District title since 2002. If they have strong performances from Kynsleigh Krebs and Brittney Dehning, they could break into the top three - but it's a pretty solid top three.
Class C girls
The Class C girls rankings is dominated by younger girls, with freshmen and sophomores accounting for 10 of the 15 spots. Scout Bell of Gothenburg is ranked #1 after her UNK win; she finished 4th at State in 2024. Avery Heinrich of Columbus Scotus is the top returner, finishing 2nd in 2024, and she is ranked 2nd after finishing 14 seconds behind Bell at the UNK meet. Jaelyn Witter of Kearney Catholic is ranked #3 and has raced consistently all season after winning the Class C 3200 in May. Freshmen Macie Carter (Milford) and Tayla Hurner (Wayne) have come on strong in the second half of the season, and Hurner edged Heinrich by three seconds at Districts.
Auburn is the defending champion but enters State ranked 6th after an injury-filled season. Columbus Scotus has been at the top of the rankings since Week 2. In addition to Avery Heinrich, Scotus' four scorers should be Emilyn Kavan (ranked 10th, placed 10th at 2024 State), Hannah Heinrich (ranked 11th earlier this season) and Mia Fehringer. Chase County and Adams Central are ranked second and third, matching the top-3 order at the huge UNK meet, and should be the biggest challenge for Scotus. Scotus has been plagued by heat-related issues the past two years at State, so this year's cooler forecast is a welcome change.
Class D boys
Perkins County dominated the Class D news last year with Mason McGreer and Eli Goodell taking the top two spots for a second consecutive year and winning their school's first cross country team title. McGreer has graduated and Goodell is now in search of his first individual title. He's undefeated this year despite opting into the Class A race at the UNK meet, which he won in 16:01. If he wins, it will be the second State title for a Goodell this fall; his brother Andrew won the State Junior High C/D title on October 11. Of note, shortly after the meet the Goodells will move to Ohio where their father has accepted a new pastor position.
Kaser Johnson of Doniphan-Trumbull, Jacob Swanson of Nebraska Christian and Coltan Ham of NP St. Patrick's have been consistently ranked in the top five this season, with Johnson winning most of those head-to-head matchups and having the fastest track times of the three. Swanson won the Class D 3200 title last May in 10:07 and looks to add to his two 4th-place and one 5th-place medals from State XC. Just a junior, Ham is looking for this third top-10 finish at State.
The biggest challenge in winning a Class D title is to have a solid third runner. TriCounty has four solid runners who finished in the top seventeen at the UNK meet. Early in the season they were competitive with ranked Class B teams in meets where four runners were scored, and they've held the top ranking in Class D since Week 3. Norfolk Catholic is ranked second and has also competed well against higher-class teams; unfortunately, they're somewhat of a mystery because they didn't attend the UNK meet and they haven't competed against most of Class D's ranked teams. Both teams each have two ranked runners and one athlete on the Nerd watch list, so it should be a tight race. NP St. Pat's finished 2nd at UNK and will likely compete with Doniphan-Trumbull for second place if one of the top two teams falters.
Class C boys
Trevin Opp of Lincoln Christian is the defending champ but didn't race until midseason after recovering from a serious injury. At the UNK meet, he passed Tyler Hetz of Gothenburg in the final 400 meters to regain the top ranking in Class C. Hetz has had an exceptional season, with the UNK meet his only loss to a Class C opponent, and that loss may have been the result of an aggressive race strategy meant to test his limits in a low-risk meet. Mesach Nkurubujango of Mt. Michael is ranked third after finishing 3rd at UNK, the only meet this season where he's lost to a Class C competitor. Bryson Neels of Gothenburg is ranked #4 after a mid-season lull while Sam McQuistan of Holdrege is ranked fifth.
Holdrege won the 2024 title with a serious dose of depth, finishing 19 points ahead of Lincoln Christian. The two teams have only met once this season, at the UNK meet when Holdrege sat out two of their top four runners. Lincoln Christian dominated the UNK meet, scoring 26 points ahead of a three-way tie at 110 points between Holdrege, Gothenburg and Syracuse. We expect Holdrege to be at full strength on Friday; less clear is whether Lincoln Christian will be at full strength, based on what I saw at their District meet. Lincoln Christian placed all six boys in the top fourteen at Districts, but they need Trevin Opp and Nolan Engel to do well to have an edge over Holdrege. Gothenburg, Syracuse and Fort Calhoun are ranked behind these two teams, but we don't expect anyone to bump Lincoln Christian and Holdrege from the podium.
Class B girls
Much like Avery Arens in Class D, Cece Kramper of Omaha Duchesne has lit the Class B courses on fire this season. She finished four seconds behind Arens at the Augustana meet in 17:10, six days after she ran 17:49 at the season-opening Gretna meet. She also dipped below the 18:00 mark at the RCC meet at South Sioux City, winning in 17:52. She's been undefeated since the Augustana meet and has been so dominant that the field let her go after 800 meters during the UNK Class B race. I expect the top competitors to give her less of a gap at State, and certainly Leah Robinson (Elkhorn North) and Sophia Reynolds (Hastings) are ready to take advantage of a misstep by Kramper. By the time she races, Kramper will likely be aware of Arens' time from two hours earlier, but we don't expect Kramper to chase a course record.
Elkhorn North won the 2024 title by six points and is a slight favorite to win this year, largely due to their combination of high-end talent (ranked runners Robinson, Jenna Polking and Paityn Christoffels) and depth. Gretna held the top ranking earlier in the season after winning the Harold Scott Invite over Millard West, Lincoln Pius and Elkhorn North, but Elkhorn North won the UNK and EMC conference meets over Gretna. Pius topped Gretna at the Platte River Rumble so the top three spots are all up for grabs.
Class A girls
Class A features a trio of talented girls, so good that any of them in the absence of the others would be fawned over as the star of Class A. We should appreciate that we have three elite runners in the same year. Emily Hegge of Papio South is undefeated in her freshman year, with all of her times under nineteen minutes. She's five months removed from a 4:55 1600 result as an 8th grader, the fastest girls' time in Nebraska last spring, and she has been tinkering with different race strategies this season. Tatum Nielson (senior, Bellevue West) broke out at the 2025 State T&F meet, medaling and setting PRs in the three distance events, and she's continued that momentum into the fall. All nine of her races have been under nineteen minutes, and she finished just five seconds behind Hegge at the Metro Conference meet after shadowing her for most of the race. Kori McClain of North Platte earned her first State T&F medal last May before taking a huge step up this fall. She ran 17:58 at Augustana and has notched four other sub-19:00 races. She finished 3rd behind Hegge and Nielson at the UNK meet.
Do you like drama? In the team race, Marian's young team (mostly freshmen and sophomores) has held the top ranking in Class A the past two weeks, pushing past pre-season favorites Millard West and Lincoln Southwest. They tied Millard West at the Metro Conference meet despite not having Mabel Henningsen (5th at UNK), who also did not compete at Districts. If Henningsen competes at State and competes well, Marian has a shot at the title. If not, the crazy depth of Millard West and Lincoln Southwest will likely prevail. We have a total of eight Millard West and Lincoln Southwest girls ranked in our top 25. Even if Henningsen competes, it's still a coin flip to see which of these three teams wins the title.
Class B boys
Lincoln Pius has been at the top of the individual and team rankings all season, with David Krier and Joseph Majerus alternating the #1 and #2 positions. Krier and Majerus competed against #3 Axton Stone (Gering), #4 Trevor Zurn (Alliance) and #8 Isac Portillo-Munoz (Lexington) at the B3 Districts, and they've faced most of the other ranked boys. They'll enter State as heavy favorites. There are some other talented boys in the field who are also running well - Derek Rieck-Capellan (Elkhorn North), Ethan Smith (GINW), Jared Schroeder (Waverly) and Lincoln Wolfe (Skutt) - so the gap between #3 and #10 should be small.
Until 2024, Omaha Skutt and Lexington shared the podium for seven consecutive years. Lexington did not qualify this year while Skutt is ranked 7th. Pius is the clear favorite with three ranked runners and several other varsity boys posting solid times. Elkhorn doesn't necessarily have Pius' star power but its depth has carried them to a #2 ranking, perhaps fueled by the disqualification of their top three runners at Nebraska City when they crossed the finish line holding hands. Elkhorn North has inched up to the #3 ranking while GINW is having their best season in decades after winning the UNK Invite and the Central 10 conference title. However, Gretna, Gretna East, Norris and Seward are also in their tier of competition.
Class A boys
Lincoln North Star has dominated the Class A rankings this year with Josiah Bitker, J'Shawn Afuh and Tyler Smith ranked in the top six the entire season. Josiah had not lost to a Nebraska competitor this season until J'Shawn Afuh edged him at Districts, and he's finished under sixteen minutes at six of his seven meets. Afuh and Smith have also raced consistently, with one bad race between them. The Gator boys have yet to cross paths this season with Class A#2 Aiden Gehring of Papio South, who has not lost to a Class A competitor this fall. Gehring's times are slightly slower, generally between 16:00-16:20, but it's difficult to compare times on different courses and in different weather. Speaking of consistency, Liam Gonzalez and David Protzman of Norfolk have been in the top seven of the rankings since Week 1, right after they both ran 15:25 at Augustana. They have been racing and competing well against Lincoln North Star all season, so they should not be ignored.
In the team race, Lincoln North Star is the clear favorite after being ranked #1 all season. Some teams need their athletes to do exceptional things to win a State title; I think the Gators just need to be themselves. They will likely have three medalists, and none of them need to be in the top five to win the team title. Creighton Prep and Lincoln East have both been running well the past four weeks and enter State as the #2 and #3 teams. In their only head-to-head match-up at the Platte River Rumble, Lincoln East beat Prep 93-117 behind Pius' team title. Prep's best win was likely their 36-81-94 result over #7 Millard West and #4 Millard North at the Metro meet, while East was only nine points behind LNS at the LPS meet. I could see Millard North or Fremont stepping up to #2 if both Prep and Lincoln East falter, but on paper that shouldn't happen.
Photos
We made it to all nineteen District meets and the links to those albums can be found on our website at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/2022. We had had a few people ask about the smaller size of the B3 boys album from Overton. We were notified on Thursday morning that the meet had been moved from the late afternoon to noon. We had one Nerd and one guest Nerd scheduled for that meet, plus two back-up Nerds. Unfortunately, the time change reduced our availability. Guest Nerd Tim Brayton shot the girls races and then arranged for Steve Kerr of Go Lex Sports to take a few photos of the boys' races on our behalf. That darned weather...
We appreciate all of our guest Nerds, including Ryan and Kate Mumm who shot the Ogallala District meet.
Odds and ends
How's this for frustrating? Due to a timing system issue, the boys race at the Class D Districts in Norfolk did not have a successful start until the fourth attempt.
We've raved about the Junior High State XC meet for years, and earlier this week I stumbled across the results for the 2021 meet at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/193986/results/781320. Out of the top fifteen boys in the Championship meet that year, nine are currently listed in our high school rankings. The top boys included Isac Portillo-Munoz (Lexington, 3rd), Josiah Bitker (4th), David Protzman (Norfolk, 7th), Axton Stone (Gering, 8th), Jacob Swanson (Nebraska Christian, 9th), Ben Schlegelmilch (Lincoln East, 10th), Joe Majerus (Pius, 11th), David Krier (Pius, 12th), Haven Hauxwell (Chase County, 14th) and Nolan Engel (Lincoln Christian, 15th).
Ethan Anderson, the Associate AD at UNO, shared with us that this is the first time since 2006 that both the boys and girls teams from Millard North have qualified for the State meet. Three of the Millard North boys have older sisters who competed at the State meet at least three times: Beckett Anderson (Ainsley, 2020-2023), Caleb Thome (Lauren, 2020-2023) and Marc Louthan (Allison, 2017-2019).
This was the first year that the NSAA divided the District cross country meets into two days. According to Jon Dolliver of the NSAA, the NSAA was having difficulty finding hosts when the 15 meets were held on the same day. The biggest issue seemed to be the lack of availability of timing systems; moving to two days appears to have resolved that issue. The NSAA previously moved District track meets to two days for the same reason.
We just realized we're eighty-four Facebook followers short of 20,000. What's a Nerd got to do to get a few more friends?
Nerd Ricky Bobby hopes to complete the compilation video of the Junior High State meet by early next week. We can't wait.
A friend was watching the televised State softball championship and texted me with this question: "Will the State cross country meet be televised by 2035?" I believe it will be. Even though we're an all-volunteer group, we had four Nerds shooting drone footage at cross country meets this fall. As broadcasting and drone technology improves, televising the meet should become much easier for the NSAA.
It may take a village to raise a child, but five teams advanced to State despite having only one medalist:
The Malcolm boys qualified at the C4 District and were led by freshman William Kaczor, who finished 13th.
The Creighton boys advanced from the D3 meet with one medalist, 5th-place Connor Rohrer.
In the A4 girls District dominated by Lincoln Southwest and Kearney, Millard North's one medalist was 8th-place Sophia Palmesano, and they edged Bellevue West by four points for the final State berth.
The Bishop Neumann girls advanced out of the C1 District with freshman Madelyn Barnard in 4th place, allowing her team to edge my hometown Falls City Tigers by two points.
Finally, the Cambridge girls finished 2nd (!!!) at the D5 meet with freshman Lydia McGowen finishing 2nd.
Santa Run
If you're looking for a quirky race to break up your winter training schedule, the Omaha Sports Commission's Santa Run on December 6 may be up your alley. The first 200 registrants over age 13 will receive a free Santa suit as part of their $25 registration fee. You can sign up for this 1.5 mile race at https://www.omahasports.org/santa-run.
Collegiate races
The cross country course at Mahoney State Park looked incredible last Friday when we shot the final Platte River Rumble meet of the year. The park is hosting a number of high-profile races over the next three weeks:
Sat, 10/25 - Blazing Tiger NAIA meet
Fri, 10/31 - Big East championships
Sat, 11/1 - Summit Conference championships
Sat, 11/8 - GPAC championships
You can find more information on the Big East and Summit meets at https://www.omahasports.org/events. Doane or College of St. Mary should be posting information about the Blazing Tiger and GPAC meets.
At-large individual spots
We are fans of a proposal to add more individual State berths to the NSAA qualifying system to compensate for those Districts, particularly in Class A and B, that include several dominant teams which nab most of the fifteen qualifying spots. The table below reflects the number of State-bound athletes who did not qualify as part of a team:
The shortage of non-team qualifiers is more pronounced in Classes A and B where there are larger and deeper squads. As observers decry the rampant transfer market in football and basketball, don't forget the potential for this to happen in cross country. Transferring to a strong team increases an athlete's chances of qualifying for State and offers better training partners. Let's minimize that first incentive by guaranteeing five or ten non-team qualifiers at each District.
Wildcard rankings
With the encouragement of other coaches, Axtell coach Joe Philippi is trying to design a wildcard system for cross country that might one day add to the current State qualification system. Here is his summary after the District meets:
I want to take this opportunity to illustrate the wildcard system and how it could be implemented in the future. The current system used in Class C and D is top three in each District qualify for state. In Class C that is 15 teams and in Class D that is 18 teams. These Districts are based on geography in Class C and by number of girls teams then geography in Class D. In Classes A and B, coaches submit the top four (Class A) or two (Class B) fastest times run by individuals that make up their team and then the NSAA uses a serpentine seeding system to assign the teams to each District. While there is no such thing as a perfect system, in particular the Class A approach seems effective at fairly distributing the best teams across four Districts. We're looking for an approach that may work for Class C and D, understanding that comparing average times of disparate courses across the State may not work as well without the geographic proximity of Class A schools.
After some discussion with other coaches, they seem to favor adding teams to the State meet. So the current proposal would add two teams in Class A and B and four teams in class C and D. These teams would come from the wildcard point system, loosely based on the points system used in football and basketball, following the district meets. Below are the teams that did not qualify at their Districts but would receive the wildcard entries into State based my wildcard calculator:
A Boys
Lincoln Southeast
Lincoln High
A Girls
Bellevue West
Lincoln High
B Boys
Lexington
Bennington
B Girls
Scottsbluff
Gretna East
C Boys
Wayne
Boys Town
Battle Creek
Cozad
C Girls
Minden
Columbus Lakeview
Central City
Chadron
D Boys
Wood River
Elkhorn Valley
Wallace
Gordon-Rushville
D Girls
Sandy Creek
Homer
West Holt
Stanton
And that's all folks....
This marks our final scheduled Nerdsletter of the season. While we may post another article after State, we're really tired. In addition, Mrs. Nerd gets back from vacation on Saturday, and I might have promised her that I would be a better husband once the State meet was over.
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First published at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle on October 22, 2025. If you find an error, shoot us an e-mail at jayslagle@hotmail.com and we'll get it fixed.
Like this coverage of the Nebraska T&F and cross country scene? There's more of this at www.preprunningnerd.com. Check out the Blog tab for our frequent stories and the Results tab for every Nebraska high school meet we can find. If you want to see meet photos or just need to kill a few hours on social media, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @PrepRunningNerd or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd.
Finally, if you think runners, jumpers and throwers are the best things on earth, you'll enjoy our two most popular articles. In 2018 we published "The Runner with the Broken Heart" about a high school boy who finished last in nearly every race he ran. In 2022 we published, "The Fall and Rise of Emmett ," a story about a high school triple jumper who became a quadrapalegic after a swimming accident.
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