UNK results
Contributor: The Nerd
With the UNK meet falling on a Monday, our normal publishing schedule is thrown off, so we're not issuing a Nerdsletter this week. However, we will knock out a quick analysis of the UNK meet results.
Class A boys
Aden Soto of Fremont may have delivered the biggest surprise of the day in the eighth and final race. A large lead pack was well formed by 800 meters and was whittled down to eight boys at 2600 meters. Soto used the slight downhill on the far edge of the course (the Thumb) to break from the pack that included Martin Aringu (Central), Gavin Leeper (Westside), Logan Nielsen (Fremont), Leverett Stricklett, Peter Lickteig and Kamden Cupples (Creighton Prep) and Maddox Helgoth (Kearney).
My impression was the pack thought Soto would come back to them, but he extended the next 1000 meters and delivered the best outcome of his season to win in 16:14 just nine days after finishing as the third Fremont runner at a mudfest in Pella, Iowa. Leeper of Westside has been a major surprise this season, fully healthy after some setbacks last year, and he was second in 16:21.
Top-ranked Creighton Prep won the team title with 43 points by placing its runners at 3, 5, 10, 14 and 15, while Fremont delivered another surprise in the team race by finishing 2nd with 72 points behind finishers at 1, 7, 9, 23 and 37. Fremont had finished 3rd behind Papio South and Elkhorn South at Fremont's home meet on 9/11, so it will be interesting to see how the Tigers stack up next week in their first Metro Conference meet.
Who wasn't at UNK? Second-ranked LNS ran at their own meet last Thursday, while Millard West (Gans Creek) and Papio South (Rim Rock) had out-of-State meets over the weekend. We didn't get to see the top three boys in Class A: Aiden Gehring of Papio South, Liam Gonzalez of Norfolk and Trey Crabtree of Lincoln High.
Class A girls
Top-ranked Emily Hegge of Papio South and second-ranked Maya Freyer of Omaha Marian had aggressive starts from the gun and achieved separation from the pack by 800 meters. My camera view is deceptive, but I believe Hegge had at least a 50-meter lead by the halfway point. She kept that lead through 4000 meters before Freyer began to claw back ground, eventually catching Hegge with 400 meters remaining. Freyer closed hard for an impressive time of 18:38, her fifth consecutive sub-18:50 result this season after never breaking 19:00 last season en route to an 8th-place finish at State.
Hegge had a rare bad day, struggling over the last 400 and finishing third in 19:07, three seconds behind her teammate Ashlyn Carter. I've confirmed that Hegge is not injured; after an undefeated freshman season that led to a State title, she simply didn't have enough gas for a strong finish. That's not to minimize Freyer's effort, since the Marian junior is having a breakout season. Her UNK win adds considerable intrigue for the State meet on October 23.
In terms of the team race, Elkhorn North has entered the chat - and so has Leah Robinson. Over her first three years, the Elkhorn North senior has shown her range between 400 and 5000 meters, but she's struggled with injuries and had only one result this season prior to UNK. On Monday she ran like the Leah who has three top-six State performances, finishing fifth. Elkhorn North scorers were at 5, 10, 16, 21 and 22, and they won the team title with 74 points, just ahead of Marian (82) and Papio South (95).
Who was missing? Last week Millard West and its four ranked girls competed at Gans Creek while Meredith Marsh and her LSW girls were at Rim Rock. Norfolk and Lincoln Southeast competed at Lincoln North Star on Thursday.
Class B boys
One of my goals yesterday was to get pictures of top-ranked Jackson Einspahr of Seward since I had not seen him race. He's a senior but this is his first season of cross country after playing football his first two years and sidelined by injuries as a junior. Alas, Jackson ran the UNK course like an experienced pro, sitting on the leaders' shoulders at my first four vantage points. He didn't make his move until after the 3000-meter mark, and I finally got an unobstructed photo at 4600 meters on his way to a 15:53. Jackson won the Harold Scott meet a few weeks ago over Class A#1 Aiden Gehring and previously B#1 Sam Schlautman of Pius, and he's the clear favorite for a State title.
Carter Ribble, a freshman at Beatrice, did not win on Monday, in contrast to his first four career races. That's a minor footnote given his impressive 2nd-place finish in 16:10. Ethan Smith of Northwest was third in 16:19, edging teammate Jaxon Cushing, who was probably the most aggressive boy in the field for the first 3000 meters.
As expected, Seward won the team title with 33 points with its four scorers placing at 1, 8, 10 and 14. Seward's displacers were at 23 and 34, so they could have replaced their fourth-place finisher with their sixth man and still won the title. North Platte was a strong second at 53 points and Beatrice led a tight race for third at 86 points.
Who wasn't there? Lincoln Pius was the only team with ranked runners who didn't attend the meet.
Class B girls
Sophia Reynolds of Hastings has been on a roll since she captured the 1600 and 3200 State titles last May, and that continued on Monday. Third-ranked Haylen Holliday of Seward stayed with Sophia for the first half of the race before Sophia pulled away to win in 18:52 followed by Holliday in 19:32. Natalie Ramirez of Lexington was the biggest surprise of this race, finishing 3rd in 19:45.
Second-ranked Lucy Zabloudil of Gretna finished 14th after racing in trainers on Monday, her first race in 17 days due to a minor injury. Likewise, defending champ Cece Kramper of Duchesne has not raced since September 4th, with no timeline set for a return to racing.
Seward won the girls' title with 46 points followed by Gretna (71) and Duchesne (93). Seward had all four scorers in the top twenty, but I get the feeling they expected a lower point total. Scottsbluff finished a surprising 5th after placing two freshmen - Nina Polk and Hannah Wemhoff - in the top eleven.
Who were we missing? Among ranked girls, only Lincoln Pius was missing. However, that's a big missing piece given Pius' win over previous A#1 Omaha Marian at last Thursday's Lincoln North Star meet.
Class C boys
Among ranked runners, the Class C field at UNK was only missing Norfolk Catholic's Teddy Haake, who sits at #6, so we knew we'd see a competitive race. Samuel McQuistan of Holdrege came into the meet ranked 2nd after posting impressive performances against Class A and B athletes at Fremont and Harold Scott, but this was his first meet of the season against most of the other ranked runners. He did not disappoint. While Jack Steinbach of DC West and Esten Kohl of Platteview took an early lead at 800 meters, McQuistan hung back about 20 meters with a pack of Lincoln Christian athletes. He had moved to the front with Kohl by the halfway point, and a strong downhill move towards the tip of the Thumb allowed him to have significant separation at 3000 meters (pictured above) from Trevin Opp of Lincoln Christian and Tyler Hetz of Gothenburg. Opp has a history of winning State titles in the final 400 meters at Kearney, but McQuistan held him off to win by four seconds in 16:18. The Swedes duo of Hetz and Bryson Neels were 3rd and 4th.
With Trevin Opp apparently in good health - he did not race until September 17 - the Lincoln Christian squad is in good position for a repeat State title. They scored just 24 points with their top 6 boys in the top 20 and 4 in the top 9. Holdrege won the State title in 2024 and finished second yesterday with 79 points. Their #2 runner Christophe Widick had a rare off day and we're using our discretion to keep him in this week's rankings. Gothenburg finished 3rd and placed 3 boys in the top 11; they're just missing one more piece to make a run at the podium.
Who were we missing? Norfolk Catholic.
Class C girls
The Class C girls' race was arguably the most competitive, with C#1 and defending State champ Scout Bell of Gothenburg and C#2 Tayla Hurner of Wayne running side-by-side for over 3000 meters. Bell eventually achieved separation and won in 19:23, eleven seconds ahead of Hurner. Macie Carter of Milford and Addison Hauxwell had solo efforts the last half of the race but maintained their places in 3rd and 4th. Class C newcomer Mallory Robbins of Plattsmouth finished 5th in 20:03.
The team race in Class C may be the most interesting one of the eight races. Defending champ Chase County won the meet with 70 points followed by Gothenburg at 77 and top-ranked Adams Central at 78. Adams Central appeared to have an army of girls in the top 50 while Chase County and Gothenburg each put two girls in the top 10. Wayne was fourth with 88 points with Minden fifth with 103.
Who wasn't here? Arlington (Neva Bauer) and Norfolk Catholic (Mayla Sukup) were the only missing ranked runners.
Class D boys
Kaser Johnson of Doniphan-Trumbull has a 14-meet win streak in cross country, last beaten by Eli Goodell of Perkins County during the first race of 2025. He's taken a wrecking ball to Class C and D fields this season, and he won yesterday by 38 seconds in 15:55 - the second fastest time of the day behind Jackson Einspahr's 15:53. He wasn't facing light competition; Coltan Ham of North Platte St. Pat's already has three State top-ten finishes, and Sammy Holsing of Tri County has finished ahead of almost a dozen ranked Class C and D competitors in the past two weeks.
As the picture above depicts, Kaser gapped the field by 800 meters with Dutch Miller of Arcadia-Loup City giving chase. Ham is a traditional slow starter, which is ideal for the tough hills on Kearney's last 2000 meters, and he lived up to his D#2 ranking. Miller paid a price for his early pace and finished 4th, just off his D#3 ranking, three seconds behind Holsing. We're big fans of using midseason meets to try different race strategies, and I'm sure that Dutch learned quite a bit yesterday.
In the team race, Doniphan-Trumbull has been the unanimous top-ranked team the past few weeks, and they won the title with 22 points. Tri County performed extremely well and finished 2nd with 30 points. Those two teams, along with Cornerstone Christian, should fight for the State title.
Who were we missing? Cornerstone Christian has two ranked runners and a solid third man, and they will be competitive. McCool Junction raced at Rim Rock on Saturday and is ranked 4th. We were also missing Ty Freeman from Bloomfield-Wausa.
Class D girls
I consider myself an avid fan of Nebraska cross country running, but the first race of the day threw me for a loop. I had never seen Stella Steele, a freshman at Centennial, in person or in a photograph, so I was confused when a girl I didn't recognize had gapped the Class D field by 800 meters. The Kearney Country Club course has a long history of punishing an aggressive early pace by inexperienced runners, and this was Stella's first time on the course. It did not matter. The 15th-ranked Stella led practically from wire to wire in a solo effort, finishing in 20:12. Sophomore McKinley Mankin of Nebraska Christian eventually broke free from the chase pack and finished nine seconds behind Stella, with Madison Potts of Perkins County and Aysha Neal of Alma taking 3rd and 4th.
In the team race, Nebraska Christian placed three girls in the top 12 to win with 23 points, while Centennial had three in the top 31 to finish second with 41 points.
Who were we missing? Crofton and McCool Junction did not compete at UNK. Crofton's home meet last Thursday was cancelled due to rain, and they have not raced their full varsity team since Fremont on 9/11 with Avery Arens sitting out the recent Norfolk and O'Neill meets. Crofton will remain #1 in this week's rankings under the assumption that Avery is racing less so she'll be fresher for State and NXR. The McCool Junction squad raced Saturday at Rim Rock and is still without Kayleigh Betka, but Leah Dawson ran extremely well in Lawrence.
We also didn't get to watch D#2 Delani Runnels of Niobrara-Verdigre and ranked runners from Aquinas Catholic, Sandhills/Thedford, Elkhorn Valley and Ainsworth.
Other stuff
Prior to the Class D race, I got to meet Grayson Sherman, a senior at Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer who successful petitioned her school board to start a cross country program. According to athletic.net, HTRS has two girls and six boys on their inaugural squad.
I was only at the starting line for two of the eight races, but I believe the students self-organized a sixty-second pre-race prayer circle for at least half of the races. The NSAA doesn't encourage or discourage this activity which, in my opinion, makes the students' organizational efforts even more impressive. Well done, kids.
Pictures
I was the Nerd 'volume' shooter for all eight races, so I've got 11,000 photos to edit and delete. It may be the weekend before the photos are posted on Facebook. Thanks in advance for your patience.
Rankings
Individual rankings will be released on Wednesday, 9/30, and will reflect UNK results.
********
Originally written and published in September 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 Hassenstab," a story about a high school triple jumper who became a quadriplegic after a swimming accident.
Comments