Class D boys season preview
Updated: Aug 29
Contributor: The Nerd
Class D top State returners
’25 State Finish, Name, ‘26 Grade, School, Track PRs
1, Kaser Johnson, 12, Doniphan-Trumbull (1:58, 4:17 mile, 9:27)
3, Colton Ham, 12, North Platte St. Patrick's (2:06, 4:23, 9:27)
5, Samuel Holsing, 12, Tri County (1:57, 4:29, 9:50)
7, Jaiden Anderson, 12, Archangels Catholic (2:16, 4:48, 10:16)
9, Sullivan Jackson, 12, Cornerstone Christian (2:12, 4:39)
10, Carter Hannon, 11, Doniphan-Trumbull (4:56, 10:14)
11, Carter Mierau, 10, McCool Junction (4:44, 10:23)
12, Tobin Klaassen, 12, Cornerstone Christian (2:08, 4:28, 9:47)
14, Hayden Jansen, 12, Freeman (49.54, 1:56, 4:48)
15, Dutch Miller, 11, Arcadia/Loup City (4:40, 10:15)
17, Carter Fritz, 11, Centennial (4:56, 10:28)
18, Austin Benda, 12, Hemingford (2:04, 4:32, 9:51)
20, Gannon Pfister, 12, Ponca (2:04, 4:30, 10:13)
21, Bladen Rainforth, 12, Doniphan-Trumbull (2:05, 4:42, 10:53)
22, Yanathan Perez, 10, Wood River (2:07, 4:51, 10:35)
26, Max Hanson, 12, Wallace (2:05, 4:47, 10:42)
28, Dawson Siems, 10, Tri County (4:57, 10:53)
31, Devon Rasmussen, 11, Tri County (2:06, 4:52, 10:21)
34, Luke Powell, 12, Nebraska Christian 2:05, 4:47, 10:38)
35, Nate Frick, 11, North Central (2:17, 4:55, 11:02)
36, Kaden Arens, 11, Crofton (4:54, 10:50)
37, Christian Brettmann, 12, Elmwood-Murdock (2:19, 4:58, 10:41)
38, Ethan Swesey, 12, Perkins County (2:11, 4:46, 9:59)
2025 Class C finishers now in Class D
28, Ty Freeman, 12, Bloomfield-Wausa (2:13, 4:43, 10:04, Class D in 2026)
Other top returners
William Rasser, 12, Red Cloud (2:12, 4:36, 10:10)
Kyler Kolbo, 10, Axtell (2:17, 4:55)
Micah Houchin, 10, Axtell (5:12, 10:45)
Potential freshman additions
Kellen Nielsen, Elmwood Murdock (2:15, 4:57)
Jack Sullivan, Fremont Bergan (52.97, 2:09, 5:02)
Quenten Roper, Fillmore Central (2:12, 5:21)
Classification changes
In terms of reclassification, Bertrand/Loomis and Norfolk Catholic have moved from Class D to Class C. Conversely, I see seven teams that have dropped from Class C to D: Fillmore Central, Omaha Nation, Bloomfield-Wausa, Madison, Gibbon, Brownell-Talbot and Winnebago. Of those nine teams, only Norfolk Catholic (4th in D) and Bloomfield-Wausa (14th in Class C) were qualifiers in 2025.
Individual outlook
Heading into the season, Kaser Johnson of Doniphan-Trumbull and Colton Ham of North Platte St. Pats are the running royalty of Class D boys. Johnson is the defending Class D XC champ, won the Class C 3200 in 9:27, and was the runner-up to Ham in the Class C 1600 with a 4:24. He kept running after the State track meet, posting times of 4:20.96 (1600) on May 30, 4:17.92 (mile) on June 6 and 4:22.15 (mile) on June 20. Ham finished 3rd in Class D XC last year before winning the Class C 1600 (4:23) and finishing 2nd in the 3200 (9:27), just 0.04 seconds behind Johnson. Barring injury, it’s hard to argue against these boys being the top two runners at Kearney.
Sammy Holsing (1:57, 4:29, 9:50) of Tri-County leads the next tranche of athletes; he’s finished 21st, 9th and 5th in his first three years at State, and is again a favorite for a top-five finish. Of course, the final pecking order among these boys will depend on summer training and injuries. We see bright futures for Tobin Klaassen (2:08, 4:28, 9:47) and Sully Jackson (2:12, 4:39) of Cornerstone Christian, Austin Benda (2:04, 4:32, 9:51) of Hemingford, Gannon Pfister (2:04, 4:30, 10:13) of Ponca, Dutch Miller (4:40, 10:15) and Ty Freeman (4:43, 10:04) of Bloomfield-Wausa. William Rasser (2:12, 4:36, 10:10) of Red Cloud appeared to have his 2025 XC season cut short by injury, but a strong track season suggests he should be a medal contender.
As I’ll note in other previews, it’s rare to have an incoming freshman with a sub-5:00 1600 PR. From our research, only one Class D freshman hit that mark in junior high; Kellen Nielsen of Elmwood-Murdock posted PRs of 2:15 and 4:57. While Kellen’s time is still 20-30 seconds behind the boys mentioned above, it’s been our experience that a sub-5:00 junior high is a talent indicator that allows freshman to progress quickly as they adjust to high school mileage. In addition to his track marks, Kellen finished 3rd at the JH State meet behind two certified studs (Andrew Goodell of Perkins County and Levi Bowen of Fort Calhoun).
As in past years, we’ll be posting individual rankings every Tuesday during the season. As a reminder, we provide rankings to generate increased interest in the sport, and we’re not out to hurt anyone’s feelings. The great thing about cross country is that the State meet represents the only rankings that matter. Even then, that’s just one day and just one race, a snapshot in time, and it in no way reflects an athlete’s future or their chance of success in life. We don’t love distance running because of the medals; we love distance running because it makes us better people. Keep that in mind if you face a few struggles this season.
Team outlook
Doniphan-Trumbull was ranked 5th in the 2025 pre-State coaches rankings before upsetting higher-ranked teams. They will enter 2026 as the team to beat. In addition to Kaser Johnson, they return their #2 and #3 athletes from last year: Carter Hannon (4:56, 10:14) and Bladen Rainforth (2:04, 4:42, 10:53).
Tri County was the top-ranked team for most of the 2025 season before finishing second at Kearney. They return three of their top four boys from last year; in addition to Holsing, they return sophomore Dawson Siems (4:57, 10:53) and junior Devon Rasmussen (2:06, 4:52, 10:210. While we’re not sure who will fill out their varsity spots, in 2025 they had a whopping 18 boys on their roster.
Cornerstone Christian should also be a title contender if Doniphan-Trumbull falters. They return two medalists in Sully Jackson and Tobin Klaassen as well as Benjamin Gutz (4:59, 10:30). Cornerstone has a strong junior high program and should be adding Maddox Dupre, who finished 38th at the State JH XC meet.
McCool Junction had no seniors on its 2025 squad but has lost its 3rd, 4th and 5th finishers to football. McCool Junction returns Carter Mierau, who finished 10th as a freshman and ran 4:44 and 10:23 in the spring, and Ethyn Schade, 50th at State XC with 5:06 and 10:55 marks this spring. They add a strong freshman class that includes Braxton Gerken (2:22, 5:04, 8th at State JH XC), Tripp Probasco (2:21, 5:27) and Luke Sedlacek (sprints). Junior Brayton Clark (5:20) will also be in the mix for one of the five varsity spots.
Other candidates to move into a top-five position are Nebraska Christian, Freeman, Hemingford and Ord.
Nerd predictions
1. Doniphan-Trumbull
2. Cornerstone Christian
3. Tri County
4. McCool Junction
5. Freeman
Errors and omissions
Our season previews are based on prior results and an assumption that underclassmen competing at State in 2025 will run again this year. If you’re aware of an error in the article above, or have information on an impactful runner not listed above, please email jayslagle@hotmail.com so we can determine whether the article should be updated. Our goal as volunteers is to be a resource for fans of Nebraska high school country, but we readily acknowledge that we need feedback from followers and coaches to provide accurate information.
********
Originally written and published in August 2026 at www.preprunningnerd.com.
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 quadriplegic after a swimming accident.
Comments