2026 State meet recap
Contributor: The Nerd
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926)
As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars (2012)
******
One of our most-read articles dates back to October 2023 when, in the aftermath of a brutally hot State meet, I compared the coach and athlete's months-long preparation to a science experiment.
At its core, cross country is a science experiment. The coach and athlete share the role of Victor Frankenstein, two mad scientists focused on creating the Creature. Over one season or an entire high school career, they tinker with the Creature to maximize the performance of the heart, lungs and legs. They even dive into the soft sciences, tinkering with the Creature’s brain to create that perfect combination of motivation, resilience, strategy and pain tolerance.
"Be comfortable being uncomfortable.” “Leave nothing in the tank.” ... Sometimes the tank runs out sooner than expected.
A few days before the State meet, I was listening to a podcast when I heard the metaphor about how a person goes bankrupt. As I watched yesterday's State meet, I couldn't help but think how the two quotes above aptly described what happened to some of the State's best runners at the Kearney Country Club course. In at least three cases, the best runner in the field was well on his or her way to a title, and then their body went irrevocably bankrupt.
We frequently share stories about the resilience of distance runners who fall, get up and, hopefully, stay up until the finish. Earlier this season I watched Emma Rinne, a freshman at Lincoln East, fall 50 meters from the finish line of her first-ever high school race. In 2021, I documented Brandon Schutt's (Bellevue East) efforts to help a fallen Omaha Burke runner finish the last 100 meters of a District meet. While the Facebook responses to these posts are generally positive, there are always comments from non-runners questioning why an EMT or spectator didn't assist a runner at the first sign of distress.
Of course, there are varying levels of distress in running. I feel distress for the first two miles of every run, in part because my 60-year-old body isn't quite ready to run at 5:30 am. Athletes generally feel distress every time they run intervals or a tempo run; those workouts are meant to stress the body so that eventually, with adequate amounts of recovery, the athletes will become faster. Discomfort is the byproduct of a hard effort, and the nervous system delivers thousands of distress signals to the athlete's brain: "This is hard." The difference between a good and great workout is whether the athlete's commitment to improvement is greater than the body's desire to stop. Eventually, through these workouts and sheer obstinance, the athlete becomes able to run through the nervous system's five-alarm fire when many adults would give up much sooner.
The end result of that mental fortitude is a completely fit athlete who runs until she can no longer run. One moment she's in the lead, running a sub-six minute pace. The next moment, her legs give out and she collapses. She conquered the pain receptors in her nervous system; her muscles could not overcome their exhaustion.
Class D girls, 12:00
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383562?filter_search=
When I arrived at the course at 11:00, the 20-25 mph wind still had a hint of morning coolness. Even though the Internet says yesterday's high temp in Kearney was 82 degrees, it felt much cooler than that in my role as a spectator. It was clear that the southerly wind would be an annoyance for the runners, but there was no hint that the weather would play a prominent role in the day's races.
While comparing cross country times on different courses is a dicey proposition, the athletic.net rankings reflected a clear favorite for this year. Avery Arens (sophomore, Crofton) was the defending champion, the reigning Nebraska Gatorade winner, the course and State meet record holder, and her season-best time of 17:06 was over two minutes faster than any other Class D girl. We viewed her race on Friday as a race against the clock; the athlete who wins the all-class Gold with the fastest time of the day is typically crowned the Gatorade XC winner in the spring.
Avery started quickly, establishing a 10-meter lead over 2nd-place Shylee Gonzales (sophomore, Sandhills/Thedford) after 300 meters, and she led by 75 meters at the 800-meter mark. The race results reflect she clocked a 5:38 first mile, with second-ranked Delani Runnels (senior, Niobrara-Verdigre) 35 seconds back in 6:13 in 2nd place. Delani was followed by a tight pack at 6:17-6:18 that included Stella Steele (freshman, Centennial), Leah Dawson (senior, McCool Junction) and Mazzy Kuchar (senior, Elkhorn Valley).
Our next vantage points were at 2500 and 300 meters - the thumb on my Handy map. This is the quietest place on the course, and it's also where the hardest part of the course begins. At the 2500-meter mark, Arens was running well but it was clear that she was laboring; that wasn't a big surprise since she was likely aiming for a sub-18:00 result. A few hundred yards behind her, Runnels was a few steps ahead of Dawson, with Steele and Kuchar another 15 and 30 meters back, respectively. By the 3k mark Arens looked even more uncomfortable but, again, not unusually so given her level of effort, and she passed the two-mile mark in 11:27. At 3000 meters Runnels and Dawson were running side-by-side, but Dawson turned that into a 4-second advantage at the two-mile mark, clocking a 12:36. Steele clocked a 12:44 and Kuchar a 12:47.
We stay on the south side of the course so we got a glimpse of Arens at 3700 meters when she went around the tip of the index finger. She still looked reasonably good. That would soon change.
Our final shooting point is at 4600 meters, just before the runners make a 180-degree turn to the final straight-away. When we saw Avery next, at roughly 4550 meters, she had been reduced to a slow jog and was listing to the left - likely a product of the sloped course. She had slowed to a walk by the time she passed us. Fifty meters beyond us, she collapsed in a stand of trees two meters to the left of the course. She would eventually stand, fall again, and repeat this cycle countless times. She finished the race in 31:41. Her title dreams unraveled gradually over 850 meters of mostly uphill running, and then suddenly they were dashed.
Dawson had likely been more than a minute behind Arens before Avery began to walk, and Leah passed Avery at about the time that Avery fell. Leah had a substantial lead over Runnels, who in turn had at least a 50-meter lead over Meredith Wortmann (a freshman at Crofton), Steele, and Kayleigh Betka (junior, McCool Junction). Wortmann was able to overtake Runnels in the final 400 meters. The finishing order was Dawson (1st, 19:35), Wortmann (2nd, 19:57), Runnels (3rd, 19:58), Steele (4th, 20:07), Kuchar (5th, 20:10) and Betka (6th, 20:13).
Arens' distress was not celebrated. At roughly the time she fell, the finish line announcer was telling the crowd that Avery would be turning onto the homestretch at any moment. The fans - especially those supporting other schools - that lined the course from 4300 to 4600 meters were urging her on. This just wasn't Crofton's Avery Arens. This was Nebraska's Avery Arens. In cross country we cheer for everyone, especially the great ones.
In the team race, McCool Junction won its third consecutive title with 15 points with sophomore Kayliana Kitto finishing 12th to clinch the title. Kayleigh Betka's 6th place was crucial, particularly given that she did not run her first race of the season until October 2nd. She appeared to be experiencing pain in her right hip during her final push, so it was not a pleasant race for her.
Nebraska Christian finished 2nd with 35 points, led by by sophomore twins McKinley and Adelain Mankin, who finished 8th and 13th, respectively, and who definitely don't look like twins. (Bonus: I got to talk to them at the Jim Ryun event on Saturday). Grace Nokelby, a junior, was their third scorer in 17th place.
Centennial finished 3rd with 39 points led by Stella Steele (this is still a great name for a character in a mystery novel) and Crofton finished 4th with 57 points and two medalists: 2nd-place Meredith Wortmann and 9th place Cecilia Wortmann. Had Arens been able to hold for the win, Crofton would have finished with 12 points to McCool Junction's 18.
Looking ahead to next year, this year's senior medalists were Leah Dawson (1st), Delani Runnels (3rd), Mazzy Kuchar (5th), Maddison Potts (7th, Perkins County), and Lena Spencer (15th, Burwell). Dawson, Runnels, and Kuchar finish their XC careers with three State medals; Kayleigh Betka will aim for a fourth State medal next year. Crofton will return all of its State team and will likely be the preseason favorite.
Class C girls
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383564?filter_search=
We knew this race would be interesting since the UNK meet four weeks earlier featured 14 of the 15 girls in the Nerd pre-State rankings. The top five finishers at UNK were Scout Bell (junior, Gothenburg), Tayla Hurner (sophomore, Wayne), Macie Carter (sophomore, Milford), Addison Hauxwell (sophomore, Chase County), and Mallory Robbins (senior, Plattsmouth). At last year's State meet, Bell, Hurner, Hauxwell and Carter finished 1-2-4-5.
Plattsmouth moved from Class B to Class C this season, and Robbins arguably entered the meet on a hot streak after running a PR to win her Conference meet, and then nearly matching that time to win her District meet. Robbins and Hurner had the early lead at 300 meters, a few steps ahead of Emilyn Kavan (senior, Scotus Catholic) and Gothenburg teammates Scout Bell and Cassidy Reiman (freshman).
Given that the Class D girls' race finished about ten minutes before the start of the Class C race, it's unclear if anyone communicated to the Class C girls that the weather might play a factor in their race.
At 800 meters, a tight pack of Hurner, Bell and Robbins had formed with Reiman 10 meters back. The rest of the field was another 20 meters behind Reiman. The three-girl pack was still intact at the one-mile mark, which they split at 6:00-6:01. Reiman was next at 6:09 followed by Hauxwell and Amelia Buhlke (junior, Central City) in 6:14, then a pack of girls at 6:15-6:16 that included 8th-ranked Neva Bauer of Arlington and 9th-ranked Alexa Warner of Minden.
By the halfway point Bell had established a 50-meter lead over Robbins with Hurner another 10 meters back. Reiman was another 50 meters back, with a 30-meter gap over 4th-ranked Macie Carter of Milford. After the loop around the thumb, I saw the girls again at 3000 meters. Of the top three, I thought Bell looked the worst, Robbins looked the best, and Hurner was a toss-up since her running style doesn't change much whether she's feeling good or bad. Bell passed two-miles in 12:10 followed by Robbins (12:24), Hurner (12:28), Reiman (12:36) and Bauer (12:37).
The hills start in earnest just after the two-mile mark, and that changed the complexion of the race. Hurner and Robbins paid a price for chasing Bell, and they both appeared to hit the wall early into the third mile. They both finished with times over 30 minutes. Hurner will return next year, and hopefully Robbins will run in college.
It is a good thing that there is no gambling on high school running, because I did not expect to see Bell in the lead at my final vantage point at 4600 meters. She had at least a 100-meter lead with 400 meters to go and won her second consecutive title in 19:24. She won in 19:16 last year in significantly better conditions. I know that Scout struggled with confidence as a freshman (4th at State) despite winning the JH State XC title the prior year. After her performance this year, she can certainly shelve any of her self-doubts.
Neva Bauer was fifth at the 2-mile mark, 27 seconds behind Bell. By the finish line she had narrowed that margin to 22 seconds, taking the silver in 19:46. Neva had an exceptional season, winning four meets, and the only two Nebraskans to beat her this year were Robbins (Platte River Rumble) and Bell. Hauxwell gave another clutch performance to finish 3rd, improving from 9th place at the two-mile mark. The bronze medal matches her 3rd-place finish last week at the C5 District meet behind Bell and Reiman. Amelia Buhlke was ranked 10th in the preseason rankings and spent most of the year at 6th or 7th before her #3 spot in the final rankings. She finished fourth, 0.6 seconds behind Hauxwell and 0.5 seconds ahead of Hauxwell's senior teammate, Emily Randall. Seven athletes, 2nd through 8th, finished in a 9-second window, which tells you all you need to know about how competitive Class C was this year.
The final coaches' poll has the top five teams as Adams Central, Chase County, Gothenburg, Minden and Wayne. Chase County edged Gothenburg by 1 point 44 to 45 for the title. The credit for the title has to go to all four scorers: to Hauxwell for improving from 9th to 3rd in the final 1.1 mile, to 13th-ranked Randall for finishing 5th, and to freshmen Bennett Smith and Briella Exum for finishing 28th and 29th. Gothenburg's scorers were 1st, 6th, 23rd and 37th.
Minden was 3rd with 54 points while Adams Central was 4th with 64 points. Both teams had good depth but two medalists seemed to be a requirement to make the Class C podium this year.
There were five seniors among the medalists: Emily Randall (5th, Chase County), Alexa Warner (8th, Minden), Jaelyn Witter (9th, Kearney Catholic), Mayla Sukup (10th, Norfolk Catholic), and Emma Williams (11th, North Bend Central). Williams finishes her high school XC career with four State medals while Witter earned three. Bell will be pursuing her fourth career medal - and a possible threepeat - next fall.
Class D boys
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383568?filter_search=
Entering State, Kaser Johnson (senior, Doniphan-Trumbull) had not lost an in-state cross country meet since finishing second to Eli Goodell of Perkins County on September 4, 2025. Between 9/4/25 and Friday, he'd won the 2025 Class D State XC title, the 2026 Class C State 3200 title, and finished 2nd in the Class C State 1600. He wasn't ducking competition during that time, having repeatedly race the top-ranked boys in this year's Class D field.
That competition frequently included Coltan Ham (senior, North Platte St. Patrick's), who had finished 10th, 5th and 3rd in his first three State meets. Coltan had the misfortune to be in high school at the same time as Mason McGreer (2023 and 2024 champ from Perkins County) and Johnson, both of whom he would call good friends. Despite a #2 ranking this fall and a gold medal in the Class C 1600 last May, he entered Friday's State meet as a sizable underdog.
The first 4940 meters on Friday played out just like we expected. Johnson was ahead of the pack at 300 meters and had grown his lead to 40 meters by the 800 meter mark. Ham was in 2nd place at that point with Dutch Miller (junior, Arcadia/Loup City) a few steps behind. The rest of the field was another ten meters back.
All three boys kept up the tempo through the one-mile mark, splitting 4:53 (Johnson), 5:04 (Ham) and 5:08 (Miller). Sammy Holsing (senior, Tri County) and Austin Benda (senior, Hemingford) followed in 5:13/5:14, and Tobin Klaassen (senior, Cornerstone Christian) and Carter Hannon (junior, Doniphan-Trumbull) led a crowd through at 5:18. Kaser extended the lead by the two-mile mark, cruising through at 9:57. Ham followed in 10:14, Holsing in 10:33, Miller in 10:34, and Carter Mierau (sophomore, McCool Junction) had separation from five chasers with his 10:46.
Johnson posted the fastest one-mile (4:53) and two-mile (9:57) splits of the day. The next-fastest one-mile splits were Liam Gonzalez and Aiden Gehring in the Class A race at 5:00, and Jackson Einspahr had 2nd-fastest 2-mile split of 10:03 in his Class B title run.
Very little changed over the the next 1400 meters. When we saw the boys again at 4600 meters, Johnson was still had a 75-100 meter lead over Ham. Ham in turn had a 100-meter lead over a single-file train of Holsing, Miller and Mierau. Tobin Klaasen and Sullivan Jackson of 2nd-ranked Cornerstone had moved into 6th and 7th by that point. With Hemingford's Austin Benda another 40 meters back, we didn't expect many significant changes before the finish.
Unfortunately, the gradual bankruptcy of Johnson's legs suddenly took a turn for the worse. As documented on X by NTV's Jack Bartlett, Johnson fell multiple times over the final 60 meters due to extreme fatigue. Once he was passed by Ham in the closing meters, Johnson resorted to crawling and rolling, and he eventually lunged across the line. Ham won the title in 16:01, the third-fastest time of the day behind Class B winner Einspahr (15:43) and Class A winner Gonzalez (15:55). Johnson finished 2nd in 16:20. Both Ham and Johnson finish their XC career with four State medals.
Holsing finished 3rd in 16:44 to earn his third career medal (how is it possible he's already a senior?), while Mierau finished 0.3 seconds ahead of Miller in 16:48. That represents the second career medal for the sophomore and junior, respectively. Mierau was one of three sophomore medalists; he was joined by Fletcher Moseman (Hemingford) and Kole Krusemark (Ponca), who both earned their first State XC medals.
Doniphan-Trumbull was the top-ranked team in the Class D coaches' poll all season after their 24-point win in 2025. Their total this year was 26 points with scoring by Ham (2nd), Carter Hannon (10th) and Bladen Rainforth (28th). Tri County finished just two points behind with 28, led by scorers Holsing (3rd), Dawson Siems (17th) and Devon Rasmussen (20th). McCool Junction finished 3rd with 43 points and will return all three scorers next fall.
Eight of the medalists were seniors. The top returning underclassmen will be Carter Mierau of McCool Junction, Dutch Miller of Arcadia/Loup City, and Carter Hannon of Doniphan-Trumbull.
Class C boys
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383572?filter_search=&sort=gunTime+asc
After the drama of the first three races, the Class C boys' race played out somewhat as expected. I suspected the field had been duly warned about the stealth heat, and the slow start reflected that. Teddy Haake (sophomore, Norfolk Catholic) and 8th-ranked Esten Kohl (senior, Platteview) had a slight lead over Archer Ferguson (junior, Ashland-Greenwood) at 800 meters, but most of the top contenders were content back in the pack. Kohl and Haake were the first through the one-mile split in 5:21-5:22, the slowest start of any Class, followed by a pack of ranked runners highlighted by #1 Samuel McQuistan (junior, Holdrege) and #2 Trevin Opp (senior, Lincoln Christian).
At the halfway point, Kohl was alone in front with a 20-meter lead over the train of runners: McQuistan, #4 Tyler Hetz (senior, Gothenburg), Opp and #3 Bryson Neels (junior, Gothenburg). Haake, Ferguson and #9 Nolan Steiner (junior, Lincoln Christian) were in the next group of runners. McQuistan made a significant move over the next 500 meters, and at the 3000-meter mark he had a 20-meter lead over Opp. Kohl was 10 meters further back, with Hetz in close pursuit. At the two-mile split, McQuistan was in 1st at 10:26, Opp 2nd in 10:31, and Kohl and Hetz were next in 10:37/10:38. Grayson Oswald of Aurora had moved up from 8th at the halfway point to 5th at two miles, running just ahead of Neels.
If I recall correctly, Trevin Opp won his first two State XC titles despite not leading until there was less than 400 meters remaining. Trevin suffered a stress fracture this summer and didn't race until September 17th. Perhaps he wanted a little less drama to finish his career, because he had a 30-meter lead by the time he reached us at 4600 meters. McQuistan passed by in 2nd place with no close challengers behind him, while Hetz and Oswald were locked in a tight race for 3rd.
Opp extended his lead over the final 400 meters, winning his third Class C title with a time of 16:13. While it was the slowest winning time of the day, Opp posted the third-fastest split between the one-mile mark and the finish; his 10:49 split was only bettered by Seward's Jackson Einspahr (10:29) and Northwest's Jaxon Cushing (10:48). The rest of the top five finishers didn't change over the final 400 meters; McQuistan was 2nd in 16:33, Hetz 3rd in 16:41, Oswald earned his first State XC medal in 16:50, and Kohl survived a fast start with a 16:53.
Lincoln Christian earned a unanimous #1 ranking in the pre-State Class C coaches' poll, and they showed why with a winning score of just 19 points. Their four scorers were Opp (1st), Amos Glenn (6th), Nolan Steiner (7th) and Griffin Opfer (9th). The first displacer, John Watson, finished 17th, and Lincoln Christian could have won even if Opp wasn't in the race. This marks Lincoln Christian's fifth consecutive year on the podium; after 2nd-place finishes in 2022-2024, they have won the last two years.
Opp and Hetz finish their careers as 4-time medalists. McQuisten and 10th-place Andrew Kastl both earned their third State XC medals, and they'll both be back next fall.
Holdrege finished 2nd with 51 points with scorers McQuistan (2nd), Christophe Widick (13th), Hunter Mueller (21st) and Nathaniel Svoboda (30th). Holdrege won the title in 2024 and has finished 2nd the past two years. Mount Michael had a strong finish to the year and was just off the podium in 3rd, edging perennial contender Gothenburg. As for returners, Lincoln Christian returns all of its State competitors except Opp while Holdrege returns its 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th runners.
Class B girls
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383575?filter_search=
Defending champions and favorites are accorded no special favors at State meets. By the halfway point of Friday's meet, 2025 Class D champions Avery Arens and Kaser Johnson had collapsed when a wide victory seemed imminent, and 2024/2025 Class C champion Trevin Opp had to battle back from a stress fracture, and 2025 Class B champion Cece Kramper of Omaha Duchesne's season ended in early September due to a foot injury that allowed for no running. Indeed, in the Class C race, Scout Bell seemed to have the easiest path to a repeat championship, if you ignore her final 2000 meters of suffering.
Sophia Reynolds (senior, Hastings, USD commit) entered the Class B race as a heavy favorite. She had only lost to one Nebraska girl this season - Class A #1 Emily Hegge of Papio South - and she was on a hot streak after winning the Class B 1600 and 3200 titles in May. However, by the 2:30 gun time, the tide had turned; the weather had replaced her as the most dominant figure in the race. By this point in the meet, we were beginning to consider whether a sit-and-kick strategy was the best approach for top runners.
That was the not option pursued by Reynolds and her chief competitors. At 300 meters she had a one-step lead over #2 Haylen Holliday (junior, Seward) and #3 Lucy Zabloudil (senior, Gretna). Sophia had raced Holliday four times this season before State, topping Haylen by 15 seconds (Aurora), 6 seconds (Harold Scott), 38 seconds (UNK), and 15 seconds (Districts). Reynolds had raced Zabloudil twice: by 104 seconds at UNK when Lucy was getting her fitness back after an early-season injury, and 24 seconds at the EMC meet. In a nineteen minute race on a hot day, those margins could be erased in no time at all.
The trio was still together at 800 meters, Reynolds pushing the pace and the other two girls a few steps back. The rest of the field was at least 50 meters back, led by Sierra Regan (junior, Gretna), Ella Carlson (senior, Norris) and Lydia Dominy (senior, Norris). The three girls hit the one-mile mark in 5:50-5:51, the second-fastest mark of the day behind Avery Arens' 5:38 first mile. 10th-ranked Nina Polk (freshman, Scottsbluff) was next in 6:12, followed seven ranked runners at 6:13.
Reynolds had achieved a bit of separation by the halfway point, leading Zabloudil by 30 meters and Holliday by 40 meters. She increased the gap over the next 700 meters, hitting the two-mile split at 11:54 followed by Zabloudil at 12:06 and Holliday at 12:08. These were three of the six fastest two-mile splits of the day; the others were by Arens (11:27), Emily Hegge (12:03) and Maya Freyer (12:04). The next four Class B girls came through in 12:24 to 12:28: Polk, #6 Rinlee Blomstedt (freshman, McCook), #5 Malia Woosley (senior, Lincoln Pius X), and #4 Lily Philips (junior, Seward). As the guy in charge of rankings, I was feeling pretty good that the top six girls in my final rankings were in the top 7 after two miles. That feeling didn't last long.
The next and final time we saw the girls was at 4600 meters. Reynolds still led and seemed no worse for the wear. However, Zabloudil and Holliday paid a price for chasing her. With 400 meters to go, Zabloudil was caught by a hard-closing trio of Polk, Blomstedt and Woosley, and Holliday had fallen back to 12th. They would both suffer greatly over the final quarter-mile, with Zabloudil finishing 14th in 20:08 and Holliday 19th in 20:31.
Reynolds took the title in 18:52, the second-fastest time of the day behind Maya Freyer. Reynolds finished 2nd in 2025 in 18:31 despite being more fit this year, the one victory the weather was able to extract from her. Polk and Blomstedt used their youthful exuberance to finish 2nd and 3rd in 19:31.7 and 19:32.2. Friday was the 5th time they've raced this season; Polk has now won 2 of the 5 meetings. Woosley finished 4th in 19:34 after missing the first few races of the season as she recovered from a summer injury. She was followed by Lily Philips (junior, Seward), Annah Perdue (senior, York), and Klaira Sander (senior, Lincoln Pius X), whose order of placement didn't change over the final 1.1 miles.
Reynolds finishes her career with four State medals (8th, 5th, 2nd, 1st) while Woosley and Perdue earned their third. Sander and Lexington's Natalie Ramirez go out in style, earning their first career State medals as seniors.
In the team race, top-ranked Lincoln Pius won the title with 28 points followed by Seward at 52 and Gretna with 70. Pius' four scorers were Woosley (4th), Sander (7th), sophomore Emerson Mailander (12th), and senior Grace Uttecht (16th). Their two displacers were junior Emily Sroczynski (18th) and junior Nora Ivanov (20th). Pius was so deep that if they didn't have Woosley and Sander, by my math they still would have tied Seward with 49 points. I suspect this gap is why Holliday 'shot her shot' in going for the title; in the end, whether she finished 1st or 19th, Seward was not going to overtake Pius for the team title.
Pius returns its 3rd, 5th and 6th runners next year, while Seward brings back all six girls. Scottsbluff's top five girls were all freshmen and sophomores, so they are going to be an interesting team to watch in 2027.
Class A girls
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383578?filter_search=
The top two spots in the Class A field was firmed up well in advance of the State meet. Defending champion and top-ranked Emily Hegge had won five of her six 5k races this fall, only falling short at the UNK meet when she faltered at the end due to a pre-race fueling problem. Second-ranked Maya Freyer of Omaha Marian had won five of her six in-state meets, losing only to Hegge at the Metro conference meet two weeks ago.
By 3:00 race time, the Class A coaches were aware of the weather-related carnage in the early races. Even without that warning, we expected a measured start to this race given the level of experience. At 800 meters, a pack of ten girls had established a five-meter lead ahead of a trail of other medal hopefuls. The pack of 10 included #1 Hegge, #2 Freyer, #3 Madison Scott (freshman, Millard West), #5 Alivea Blank (freshman, Millard North), #6 Louise Walker (sophomore, Marian) and #7 Harper Dubas (freshman, Millard West). The pack grew larger by the one-mile split. Freyer, Scott and Hegge passed in 6:09, the slowest start of the four races, and twelve other girls were within five seconds of the three leaders.
The lead pack had winnowed to a column of five girls by the midway point. Hegge, Freyer, Walker, Scott and Blank had created a thirty-meter gap over Dubas and 4th-ranked Ashlyn Carter (Papio South). Fourteenth-ranked Berkely Batten of Millard West and 9th-ranked Caitlyn Olsen were another ten meters back.
At the two-mile mark, Hegge and Freyer had separated from the other leaders, passing in 12:03 and 12:04. They had run the up-and-down first mile in 6:09 and the second net-downhill mile in 5:54, so they were still not being particularly aggressive. Walker, Scott, Blank, Dubas and Carter all passed the two-mile mark in 12:14-12:19.
We next saw the girls at 4600 meters. Hegge had grown her lead to at least 100 meters and passed us with her trademark power stride; she looked absolutely phenomenal - controlled and well within her limits. The same could be said for Freyer about twenty seconds later; she had good momentum going into the final turn and showed no sign of over-exertion. Freyer was followed by a side-by-side Walker and Blank, then Dubas and Carter, and Scott was another ten meters back in 7th place.
Our primary role at State is to take pictures so I'm never at the finish line. Just as I had done for the Class D boys' race, I assumed the top-ranked runner's insurmountable lead would lead to victory. Hegge's legs had other plans; in the final homestretch, she wobbled and eventually fell within 100 meters of the finish. Freyer closed the gap quickly to take the title in 18:43, followed by her teammate Walker in 19:05. Scott rallied from 7th to 3rd in the final 400 meters to finish third in 19:05, just 0.4 seconds out of second place, followed by Dubas and Carter. Hegge somehow found the strength to rise and finished 6th in 19:09, one-tenth of a second behind Carter.
In the team race, Millard West's youth and depth was too much for their opponents. Powered by scorers Madison Scott (freshman, 3rd), Harper Dubas (freshman, 4th), Berkeley Batton (sophomore, 10th), Sadie Osher (senior, 14th, and my neighbor!) and Taia Green (junior, 16th), they scored 41 points compared to Marian's runner-up finish at 87 points. Despite having just one medalist - freshman Emma Osiychuck - Lincoln Southwest finished 3rd with 111 points.
The medalists included six seniors and five freshman. Six of the top seven girls will return next fall. Leah Robinson (Elkhorn North, Wichita State commit) finishes her career with four State XC medals after finishing 9th; she previously finished 6th, 2nd and 4th in the Class B field. Seniors Caitlyn Olsen (Lincoln Southeast), Caitlin Steliga (Omaha Westside) and Selah Carson (Bennington) go out with a bang to earn their first career State XC medal.
Looking ahead to next year, the top three teams - Millard West, Omaha Marian and Lincoln Southwest - all return six of their seven State competitors. Sixth-place Kearney also returns six, including three freshmen.
Class B boys
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383581?filter_search=
It's not typical for a boy unranked in the preseason poll to be the overwhelming favorite for a State title eight weeks later, but Jackson Einspahr (senior, Seward) is not a typical runner. This is his first cross country season since eighth grade, with football breaks his freshman and sophomore year, and a running injury his junior year. We didn't overlook him entirely - he got an entire paragraph in our 2025 XC preview - but he received no mention in this year's preview, in part because he hadn't finished a high school race at any distance since his track and field District meet in May 2025. Despite his limited high school racing, he did post 1600-meter
times of 4:19 as a freshman and 4:23 as a sophomore. More impressively, his athletic.net profile show that out of the 11 XC races he's finished since 3rd grade, the only one he lost was in 7th grade to 8th grader Nolan Engel who, coincidentally, now lives in Seward as a member of the Concordia team.
Despite his #1 ranking, Jackson did not rush to the lead. Gretna East's Liam Haustveit had the lead at 300 meters, presumably to get a bitchin' Nerd photo, with 3rd-ranked Samuel Robinson (senior, Norris) in his shadow. Ten meters back, Jackson sat behind 2nd-ranked Carter Ribble (freshman, Beatrice) and Jaxon Cushing (junior, Northwest). At 800 meters, Robinson was still five meters ahead, and 5th-ranked Sam Schlautman (senior, Lincoln PiusX) joined Ribble, Cushing and Einspahr in the chase pack.
Robinson still held the lead when he passed the one-mile mark in 5:13 but he had plenty of company. Eleven boys passed the one-mile split between 5:13 and 5:17, with Gavin Wehmoff (junior, Scottsbluff) the only unranked boy in the group. When we saw Einspahr at 3000 meters, he had at least a 50-meter lead on second-place Cushing. He passed the two-mile mark in 10:03, the second-fastest time of the day behind Kaser Johnson's 9:57. Cushing posted a 10:12, then Ribble and Schlautman in 10:21, and then Samuel Robinson and Owen Muma (yes, that Muma) of Norris in 10:26 and 10:34.
Einspahr doubled his lead over the final 1.1 miles, winning in 15:43, and earning the all-Class gold. Cushing took 2nd in 16:02, and Ribble took third in 16:15 -- an incredible start for a freshman. Robinson was able to shake off the fast start to finish fourth in 16:16, Ethan Smith (senior, Northwest) was fifth in 16:27, and Schlautman took sixth.
In terms of career medals, the only athlete who picked up a 3rd or 4th career State XC medal on Friday was Isac Portillo-Munoz of Lexington; he finished 9th, 13th, 3rd and 10th in his four meets. This was an age-heavy race, with Beatrice freshman Ribble (3rd), and Seward sophomore Mason Vest (14th) earning the only medals earned outside of juniors and seniors. Six of the top eight boys and eight of the fifteen medalists were seniors, so we'll see quite a few new medalists next year.
Entering the meet, Seward had never had a boys champion or a team championship despite a few close calls. They beat every Class B team in the State field during the season; it's one loss was a one-point defeat to Norris at Mount Michael when Einspahr didn't race. In addition, they also topped highly-ranked teams in Class A (Papio South, Lincoln North Star) and the eventual Class C State champion (Lincoln Christian). Despite that record, the Class B coaches had North Platte as the favorite going into State, in part because the North Platte boys finished 3rd through 7th in their District meet.
Seward captured its first title with 42 points, followed by Norris with 59 and North Platte with 64. Seward scorers were Einspahr (1st), Austin Koch (senior, 7th), Mason Vest (sophomore, 14th) and Mason Luebbe (junior, 20th). Norris had two medalists and its scorers were Robinson (senior, 4th), Owen Muma (junior, 9th), Dominick Frank (senior, 18th) and Brooks Bossard (senior, 28th). North Platte just missed the podium but has the building blocks to be strong next year with four State returners.
Speaking of next year, Seward will return three boys who are all potential medalists. Northwest brings back four of its top five, led by Jaxon Cushing. Beatrice will return its 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, and they should add freshmen who finished 1st and 15th at this year's junior high State meet.
Class A boys
Individual results: https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/kv3vjnqu6hm7zus7/race/383584?filter_search=
Shakespeare wrote, "uneasy is the head that wears the crown" in Henry IV Part 2, and the Creighton Prep felt the weight of high expectations on Friday. Prep won the 2023 title with a tiebreaker against co-favorite Fremont. They won the 2025 title by upset win over heavily-favored Lincoln North Star after the Gators had a cold virus sweep through their team during State week. This year Prep went into State as the heavy favorite, having received all but 2 of 66 first-place votes in five weeks of coaches' polling.
Being the favorite is a different beast. An hour before the meet, two Prep boys were dealing with intestinal issues that were either from an illness or nerves; a third boy hadn't finished a 5000-meter race in eight weeks during to a significant injury.
While that drama played out, coaches and individual runners from most teams were busy assessing what lessons they could take from the first seven races. In the moments before this race, I was standing next to Aiden Gehring's dad, and he asked what many spectators were thinking: "Do you throw caution to the wind and be aggressive, or do you sit back and hope that the early leaders come back to you?"
Second-ranked Aiden Gehring (junior, Papio South) and top-ranked Liam Gonzalez (senior, Norfolk) chose the first option. The were at the front of the field after 300 meters, and by 800 meters they had established a fifty-meter lead over a pack that includes #3 J'Shawn Afuh (senior, Lincoln North Star), #4 Peter Lickteig (sophomore, Creighton Prep), #5 Maddox Helgoth (sophomore, Kearney), #6 Leverett Strickett (junior, Creighton Prep), #7 Elijah Bickley (senior, Millard West) and Watch List athlete Trey Crabtree (senior, Lincoln High). Gonzalez and Gehring went through the one-mile mark at 5:00, the second fastest time of the day behind Kaser Johnson's 4:53 in Class D. Five boys - Afuh, Lickteig, Crabtree, Mitchell Ripley (junior, Lincoln Southwest) and Franky Turek (junior, Lincoln North Star) - crossed the line in 5:10, and seven more boys crossed in 5:11 or 5:12. In total, 27 boys passed the one-mile mark between 5:10 and 5:20.
At the halfway point, Gonzalez led Gehring by a few meters, and he was able to expand the lead to three seconds at the 2-mile mark, which he passed in 10:12. Lickteig and Afuh were 3rd and 4th at the 2-mile split in 10:21 and 10:22, while a pack of five - Ripley, Helgoth, Turek, Westside's Gavin Leeper, and Millard North's Caleb Thome - passed through at 10:28 and 10:29. At this point in the race, Prep had runners in 3rd, 12th, 15th, 21st and 29th.
We met up with the runners again at 4600 meters. Gonzalez had opened a 50-meter on Gehring, who in turn had a 40-meter lead on Afuh, with Lickteigh trying to close a 10-meter gap to Afuh. Sixty meters back, Ripley, Helgoth and Leeper had formed a tight line battling for fifth.
The only placement change over the final four hundred meters was for sixth and seventh, with Leeper able to get past Helgoth. Gonzalez won in 15:55, followed by Gehring in 16:09, Afuh in 16:17, Lickteig in 16:19, and Ripley in 16:24. Gonzalez collected his second State XC medal (he was 4th in 2025) to go along with his 8th-place 3200 medal from last spring. With one year of high school left, Gehring has finished 12th, 2nd and 2nd at State XC, and he'll likely be the preseason favorite next fall. Afuh finishes his high school XC career with three State medals, a remarkable accomplishment for an 800-meter specialist who has only raced two 1600's and zero 3200's during his first three years of T&F.
Despite the pressure, Creighton Prep captured the team title with 71 points, a 14-point win over Papio South. Prep won the title with just one medalist (Lickteig), but their other scorers were junior Leverett Stricklett (16th), freshman Kamden Cupples (19th), senior Aaron Robles (20th) and senior Benny Youell (25th). Papio South's scorers were junior Aiden Gehring (2nd), junior Liam Bell (14th), junior Jack Ryan (23rd), senior Dustin Luther (32nd) and senior Connor Gaul (34th). Lincoln North Star had three boys in the twelve and finished 3rd with 108 points.
In terms of an early look for next year, Prep returns the 1, 2, 3 and 6 runners while Papio South returns its 1, 2, 3 and 7 boys. Lincoln North returns 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, while Fremont returns 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.
Always a good start
I was only near the start line for the first and fifth races, but the tradition of pre-race group prayers continued this year for at least some of the races. The race officials take no part in it; from what I can gather, their only job is to make sure that everyone is on the start line one minute before the gun. I'm not even sure there's a designated prayer leader; the circle starts to form five minutes before the gun, and one or two students simply walk into the middle of the circle for a prayer that lasts no longer than a minute. Kudos to the kids for continuing the tradition.
An ominous tweet
When we get the opportunity, we like to highlight the officials who are working the meets we attend. Those social media posts can get a bit dry, so this year I've just been making up stuff about the officials. For the State meet, I created a fictitious quote from Confucius and gave Don Bartholomew credit for saying it. I'm not sure I've had a more accurate tweet.
Start a tradition, fly the flag
One of my favorite parts of State is running into old friends and meeting new ones, and I ran into Scottsbluff dad Rob Polk at the halfway point of the Class B girls' race. The 'thumb' is essentially the quietest part of the course with few spectators and, as I understand it, Rob's role is to make sure the Scottsbluff runners have a supporter at even the most desolate parts of a race.
We jetted away in our golf cart from Rob's location as soon as the top thirty runners passed the 3000-meter mark, and about ten minutes he later he had made it back to the 4600-meter mark to wave the fly the flag at the last few Scottsbluff finishers. When I asked him how his daughter Nina did, he shook his head. "I don't know yet."
While Rob started his walk to the finish area, I looked up the Class B results. "Mr. Polk," I yelled, "do you want to know what place your daughter got?" He turned around and nodded. I flashed two fingers: Nina, a freshman, had placed second. He threw his hands in the air, started walking towards me, and then suddenly turned the other direction. Thirty seconds later, he back to where Royal Nerd and I were shooting the last few runners. "Thank you for letting me," he said in a cracking voice. "I hardly ever see her finish because my job is to wave the flag." He might have shed a tear. I might have shed a tear. I'm almost certain that Royal Nerd did, because she's really good at those feeling thingies.
Nina, your dad wasn't at the finish line, but he absolutely flew that flag for you.
Help me help OPS
I believe OPS is the biggest school district in Nebraska in terms of student population, and it has 9 of the 34 high schools for each gender. Among the hundreds of priorities that a school system strives to achieve, maximizing the number of State XC meet qualifiers is probably not one of them. But as we've seen in Class A football, a weak OPS contingent hurts the entire Class. Strong OPS cross country programs will improve statewide competition and, more importantly, pull more at-risk kids into a sport that will almost certainly make them more successful students.
The State meet featured six OPS male competitors: Gregory Fong (Central), Silas Wilson (Northwest), Duncan Murphy (Burke), Liam Bodmann (Central), Tony Foster (Burke), and Martin Aringu (Central).
The State meet featured the following OPS female competitors: __. (yes, zero)
In last week's Nerdsletter I wrote quite a bit about mandating a minimum number of at-large qualifiers in each Class. We don't need to increase the number of qualifying teams in Class A and B, given that at least 40% of participating high schools qualify for State. However, I think mandating non-team qualifiers will allow struggling programs like the OPS schools the ability to qualify one student, and then perhaps two, and maybe in a few years an entire team.
On Friday I ran into a veteran Class C coach who thinks that the best solution for Class C and D is to add more team qualifiers rather than mandate a minimum number of non-team qualifiers. Class C has 59 possible cross country teams, and 15 (26%) qualify for State. Class D had 133 eligible schools this year, and 18 (14%) qualify for State. I don't know if that's the answer, but I hope to connect with the coach when we're not so pressed for time.
Why so tired?
I talked to a number of coaches during and after the State meet to get their view on why so many great runners ran into difficulty on Friday. We're accustomed to seeing potential medalists push a bit too hard and go physically bankrupt, but it's unusual to see it happen to three defending champions who have been running well all season. A few thoughts I heard:
While athletes often take the heat into account (82 degrees was Friday's high, I believe), it's more difficult to gauge the effect that winds over 20 mph will have on runners. During the final 2000 meters, the runners were either running north uphill or running south downhill into a strong wind. They simply had no respite.
One coach remarked that their team had trained on quite a few hot days over the past month, but they'd had few hot races since early September since (a) many meets are now scheduled for morning starts and (b) afternoon races scheduled on hot days are often moved to the morning or cancelled.
I read that one coach thought this was the worst racing conditions he'd seen in over 20 years. I would argue that 2017 and 2023 might have been just as bad, but hot races are always a risk when we race in October. The alternative is to risk a snowstorm in November. It would hurt attendance, but the runners would probably like it better.
While we don't know the right answer for why there were so many collapses yesterday, I think all the coaches can agree on one thing: the water sprayers that have become ubiquitous on the course do nothing for the runners' performances.
Best in the biz
The Nerds are an all-volunteer group; we shoot, edit and post photos, publish rankings, and do a bunch of other reporting that newspapers can no longer afford to do. If our coverage can help convince kids that distance running can change their lives, then we've won the day.
On Friday one of the pay-per-click photographers asked one of our Nerds, "What exactly do you get out of doing all of this?" Here's the answer: We're part of a incredible running community that celebrates all runners, even competitors, and especially the ones who will never be on a podium.
In addition to the nine Nerds shown above, we had at least five more Nerds at State who were with their kids during our glamour shot session. Our goal is to start publishing photos by Monday night, so please be patient. The Nerds are about to drop some magical images.
The season is over. You won.
You didn't make varsity.
You didn't qualify for State.
You didn't medal.
You didn't win State.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You won, and you don't even know it.
And for those of you who had a rough Friday
I wrote the article "Drop Your Shield" two days after the 2023 State XC meet seemed to be riddled with unexpected results by athletes and teams that had high expectations. That message seems even more relevant after Friday's heat-related disappointments.
And that's a wrap
The Nerd team has been running hard since we began writing previews on August 19th. While a few Nerds may snap pics at USATF meets or Nike regionals, this season is a wrap for most of our Nerds. I'm headed back to editing the third draft of a novel about a high school runner, and the rest of the Nerds are going to start paying attention to their families again.
It's been great to have all of you along for the ride. Now go spread the word. Distance running changes lives.
********
Originally written and published in October 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.
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