Nerdsletter 9/16/26
Contributor: The Nerd
Fast times at Ridgemont.... er, high school races
I think next year we can just pencil in Week 3 of the cross country as the "Let 'er rip" week. With cooler weather plus meets at historically fast and mostly flat courses at Sioux Falls (Nike Preview), Fremont, Ashland (Platte River Rumble) and Kearney Meadowlark, we saw some amazing times last Friday and Saturday.
Fremont Twilight - Class A#1 Emily Hegge of Papio South and Class D#1 Avery Arens of Crofton had an epic race under the lights, with Emily placing 1st in 17:27 and Avery close behind in 17:34. On the boys' side, Class A#1 Aiden Gehring of Papio South won in 15:16, a week after running 15:44 on his more difficult (and very hot) home course.
Nike Preview - Class A#2 Maya Freyer of Omaha Marian finished 6th in 17:44, exactly two minutes faster than her time from 2026. Her two previous marks this year were 18:49 at Papio South and 18:25 at Seward. Her teammates A#8 Harper Cowles and A#3 Louise Walker also dipped under 19:00. A#3 J'Shawn Afuh of Lincoln North Star finished 3rd in the boys' race in 15:47, a week after his 16:10 at Seward.
Platte River Rumble - Class A#2 Liam Gonzalez of Norfolk and Class B#1 Sam Schlautman battled in the large school race on the rolling hills of Mahoney State Park, finishing in 15:14 and 15:15, respectively. Liam ran 15:13 at the Sioux Falls course the previous week, while Sam ran 16:12 at Papio South. In the small school race with higher temps and winds, D#1 Kaser Johnson of Doniphan-Trumbull ran 15:23 to win by 80 seconds. In the girls' large school race, B#2 Lucy Zabloudil won in 18:35.
Kearney - A#4 Trey Crabtree of Lincoln High ran 16:12 to improve his PR by 3 seconds and his Meadowlark best by 16 seconds, followed by A#7 Maddox Helgoth of Kearney in 16:14, a 19-second improvement over his Meadowlark time in 2025.
D3 Districts
This year we were able to expand the number of coaches who vote for the Class D team rankings, and all of those team rankings are posted at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/rankings. There has been some reshuffling among Class D district assignments, and one of the unintended results is that four ranked boys' teams - and one formerly-ranked team - will be fighting for the three State berths at the D3 district meet at McCool Junction. Based on the latest coaches' poll, the district meet will include #1 Doniphan-Trumbull, #3 Tri County, #4 McCool Junction, and #8 Freeman, plus Elmwood-Murdock which was ranked #10 in the preseason poll. McCool Junction, Tri County and Freeman just competed at Fairbury, and they finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in an 11-team field that included Class B, C and D schools.
Class C and D district assignments are primarily determined based on geography, whereas Class A and B assignments are mostly seeded based on meet results. If there was a better way to determine Class C and D assignments, a coach probably would have proposed it.
As it now stands, the ranked teams are distributed across the six Class D districts as follows:
D1: Homer, Ponca
D2: Cornerstone Christian
D3: Doniphan-Trumbull, Tri County, McCool Junction, Freeman
D4: Ord
D5: None
D6: Hemingford, Perkins County
Middle School Monday
Labor Day threw us for a loop, so we finally launched Middle School Monday this week. Here's a few outstanding performers identified by the Nerd team:
Giovanni Zotoglo of St. Columbkille won the Platte River Rumble boys' 3K title in 11:03, followed by the Westside duo of James Wallace and Thomas Vacek.
Addison Rainforth (11:58) and Amelia Quist (12:17) of Doniphan-Trumbull were the top two girls at PRR, with Ayla Carda of Papillion in 3rd.
The following night, Ayla Carda won the Fremont 2.5K race in 10:31 followed by Papillion teammate Brilyn Hochstein (10:38, daughter of Royal Nerd) and Lucy Klappenback (10:48) of Concordia/Lifegate.
Levi Bowen of Fort Calhoun has been crushing JH races since he was a 5th grader, and the 8th grader won the Fremont 2.5K in 8:43, followed by Luis Lopez (9:17) of Columbus and Brecken Stahlecker (9:30) of Concordia/Lifegate.
At Tuesday's Bellevue meet, McKenna Mauro of Bellevue Lewis & Clark explored the 3K course in 13:18, just ahead of Audrey Ortiz (13:36) and Anabella Carman (14:00) of LaVista MS.
7th-grader Rory Fitzgerald (12:23) of Liberty won the Bellevue boys' title, edging LaVista teammates Gage Anderson (12:24) and Kash Sporcic (12:26).
Kaylee Steinmeyer (11:13) of Seward and Carter Roy of Northwest (10:12) won the Aurora titles on Friday.
Jaycie Klimek (12:02) led an Ord sweep of the top three girls' spots at the Broken Bow 3K (hometown of the world-famous Broken Nerd) while Raiden Barnes (9:59.4) of Arcadia-Loup City and Blake Hansmeyer (9:59.6) of Ainsworth had an epic finish in the boys' race.
Here are a few kids nominated by our followers:
Quynn Andrews and Erick Mendez of Shelton finished 17th and 7th, respectively, at the 2025 JH State meet, and they're both undefeated through the weekend.
Easton Teets of North Platte has won his last three meets and has gone under 11:00 in each of those 3000-meter races. He finished 19th at JH State as a 7th grader.
Almendra Yanez, also from North Platte, has won her first two races of the year in 12:29 and 12:40.
The Ravenna girls are led by Remi Behrendt (24th at 2025 JH State), Abbie Osten and Raegan Behrendt. They swept the top three spots at the Loup City meet last week, running stride for stride for stride for most of the race.
Nora Beller of Columbus Scotus won the Boone Central 2K and Fremont Bergan 3k, with a 42-second margin of victory at Fremont.
Andy Swesey, a 7th grader at Perkins County, has won the first two meets of the year after finishing 3rd in the 2025 JH State open race. He set the Chase County 3k course record last week with a 10:32, breaking the mark set by 2025 JH State champ Andrew Goodell.
This all leads to the JH State XC championship at Papio South on October 10 where JH athletes test their fitness against athletes from across the state. You can find out more info at https://jhaselhorst.wixsite.com/nestatejhxc
This and that
After seeing the reference to Andrew Goodell, I looked up how he and older brother Eli are doing at their new school in Wellston, Ohio. A senior this year, Eli has won his first three meets of the year, while freshman Andrew has placed in the top ten in each meet.
I ran into starter Bill Scarborough at three Platte River Rumble meets in the last two weeks, and he has a question for all of the other starters out there. Does anyone have a supplier for 22-caliber blanks? If you have any tips, send them to jayslagle@hotmail.com and I'll forward them onto Bill.
The annual Greeno/Dirksen collegiate meet is at the Mahoney Golf Course in Lincoln this Saturday. The two-race meet starts at 10:00 am and will feature dozens of former Nebraska high school athletes. With no high school races on the schedule for Saturday, you have no excuse not to be there.
If you happen to be in Omaha on Saturday, I'd suggest making a trek to Papio South for the Parochial Athletic League junior high meet at 9:00. The PAL meets are always competitive but this one is particularly special. The meet is officially the Ali and Joe Tupper Memorial meet, named in honor of two budding runners who died in June 2022 when a drunk driver driving the wrong way on I-29 hit the car in which they were passengers.
Results
We've tracked down the results for every high school meet held last week in Nebraska, plus two out-of-state meets that included Nebraska teams. You can find links to those results at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/xcresults.
Rankings
We try to update the rankings every Tuesday, although it will probably be Wednesday in two weeks since the UNK meet is held on a Monday. With (a) so few head-to-head matchups, (b) results where runners trade finishing positions, and (c) disparate course difficulty and length, the weekly rankings include quite a bit of subjectivity. We keep a database for the top 30 or so athletes in each class that includes their results for the season. For example, Trey Crabtree's data set is "Nor 2A 16:50, PS 2A 16:23, Kear 1 16:12," which means he was the 2nd Class A boy at Norris, the 2nd Class A boy at the Titan Classic, and he won the Kearney meet.
We're actively tracking over 200 athletes right now. Each Sunday I input the previous week's results, and then use the previous week's rankings as a starting point. I compare head-to-head results and subjectively compare times based on course difficulty and weather. For example, I believe that Fremont and Sioux Falls are the two fastest, legitimately-measured courses that Nebraskans race. Behind that I would put the PRR course and Meadowlark. I know that the Papio South course was faster on 8/29 than on 9/5 due to the heat index, in part because I was at both of those meets.
I also factor in consistency, giving credit to athletes who had good track times and are off to a good start this fall. For example, if two girls are running about the same times this fall but one of them was 20 seconds faster in the 1600 during track season, I assume that the faster 1600 girl may have a higher upside by the end of the season. I could end up being wrong, but that's part of the reason why emerging athletes may move up our rankings a bit more slowly than established athletes. It's not a perfect system by any means, but at this point in the season I doubt anyone has studied these kids more than us.
If you're not a rabid consumer of our social media accounts, you may have missed the commentary that accompanied the release of yesterday's individual rankings. Here's what we wrote for the boys this week:
In Class A, rankings for the top four boys remain unchanged, with Aiden Gehring of Papio South and Liam Gonzalez of Norfolk separating from the other Class A boys with their times of, respectively, 15:16 at Fremont and 15:14 at PRR. The PRR race results led to a reshuffling among Omaha and Lincoln runners, with Central's Martin Aringu rising from #9 to #5 after his 3rd-place finish. Peter Lickteig of Prep saw the biggest jump, rising from #14 to #9 after finishing 5th at PRR. Aden Soto of Fremont re-enters the ratings after finishing as the 2nd Class A runner at his home meet.
In Class B, the top six boys remain the same. Sam Schlautman of Pius reaffirmed his #1 ranking with a blistering 15:15 at PRR, finishing a few steps behind Liam Gonzalez. Second-ranked Jackson Einspahr, a senior at Seward, is now 2-for-2 in career XC races after winning the Aurora meet by 11 seconds over #3 Jaxon Cushing of Northwest. Isac Portillo-Munoz of Lexington ran his best race of the season at Kearney, finishing as the first Class B runner in 16:31. Freshman Carter Ribble of Beatrice has won his first three HS races with his latest victory coming at Fairbury. Erick Grijalva-Ibarra of Lex made the biggest jump this week from #15 to #8 after finishing 2 seconds behind Portillo-Munoz at Kearney. Sam Robinson returns to the rankings at #11 after the 3rd-fastest Class B time at PRR, while Brayden Romero of Elkhorn returns at #15 after being the top Class B boy at Fremont.
With Trevin Opp of Lincoln Christian still sidelined by injury, Tyler Hetz and Bryson Neels of Gothenburg move up to the Class C #1 and #2 spots. While Neels finished ahead of Hetz at Broken Bow, we're giving Hetz the #1 spot based on his sustained excellence and his larger margin over Neels at Minden the previous week. Samuel McQuistan of Holdrege ripped off a 15:57 at Fremont to finish 2nd overall behind Class A #1 Aiden Gehring, with his teammate Christophe Widick moving from the Watch List to #8 after finishing 3rd overall in 16:05. Teddy Haake of Norfolk Catholic makes the biggest jump, from #13 to #6, after winning his home meet in 17:03 ahead of #4 Amos Glenn and #9 Nolan Steiner of Lincoln Christian. We've ranked five Class C boys this week that were on the Watch List or not mentioned last week: Widick, Steiner, #13 Easton Sample of Milford, #14 Gage Thull of Minden, and #15 Mesach Knurubujango of Mount Michael.
In Class D, #1 Kaser Johnson of Doniphan-Trumbull registered the third-fastest time at PRR on Friday, running a solo 15:23 to win the small-school division by 80 seconds. #2 Coltan Ham of NPSP won the Broken Bow meet just ahead of the Class C #1 and #2 athletes from Gothenburg. Dutch Miller of Arcadia-Loup City rises to #3 after finishing 25 seconds behind Ham at Broken Bow, while Jaiden Anderson of Archangels Catholic also moves up three spots to #4 after finishing as the top Class D athlete at Norfolk Catholic. Carter Mierau of McCool Junction continues his ascent in the rankings, starting #14 in the preseason rankings and now at #9 after edging #8 Sammy Holsing of Tri County at Fairbury. Our only new ranked runner this week is Kole Krusemark, a sophomore at Ponca, who debuts at #14 after winning the LCC meet in 17:31.
And here is the girls' commentary:
In Class A, Emily Hegge of Papio South remains #1 after winning Fremont in 17:27 just ahead of Class D #1 Avery Arens; Hegge's time was 60 seconds faster than her Fremont win in 2025. Marian's Maya Freyer was the first Nebraska finisher at the Nike Preview on Saturday, finishing 6th overall in 17:44, and she holds her #2 ranking. Meredith Marsh of LSW moves up two spots to #5 after running 19:10 to finish as the top Class A runner at PRR. Alivea Blank of Millard North jumps three spots to #7 after her PRR finish just behind fellow freshman and #6 Madison Scott of Millard West. Millard West's Berkely Batten is our only new ranked runner at #15 after finishing 6th among Class A girls at PRR.
In Class B, Sophia Reynolds of Hastings and Haylen Holliday of Seward remain #1 and #3 after running 18:55 and 19:09, respectively, at the Aurora meet. Lucy Zabloudil of Gretna holds her #2 ranking with an 18:35 victory at PRR, a 30-second improvement over her PRR time from 2025. Two athletes jumped three spots this week: Annah Perdue of York improves to #6 after finishing 3rd at Aurora while Layla Thomas of North Platte is now #9 after winning the Kearney meet over strong competition from the host school's athletes. Natalie Ramirez of Lexington joins the rankings at #15 after finishing as the 2nd Class B runner at Kearney.
The top seven rankings in Class C remain unchanged this week. #1 Scout Bell of Gothenburg won Broken Bow in 19:12, #2 Tayla Hurner of Wayne did not race due to yesterday's home meet, #3 Mallory Robbins of Plattsmouth was the top Class C finisher at PRR, and #4 Jaelyn Witter of Kearney Catholic was the top Class C finisher at the competitive Aurora meet. Kiarra Kennedy of O'Neill makes the biggest move this week, jumping from #15 to #12 after winning the Norfolk Catholic meet. Ella Desh, a freshman at Palmyra, and Emilyn Kavan of Columbus Scotus join the rankings at #13 and #14 this week. Despite Emilyn's strong performance at PRR, finishing 3rd among Class C girls, I still misspelled her first name on our rankings sheet. Shame on me.
In Class D, we're giving a shout out to Crofton's coaching staff for seeking out tough competition for #1 Avery Arens. The Warriors headed to Fremont on Friday night to race against Class A #1 Emily Hegge, and Arens finished 2nd in 17:34 to go along with her 17:38 from the Augie Twilight meet one week earlier. #2 Delani Runnels of Niobrara-Verdigre won the Boyd County meet by three minutes in 20:36. #3 Leah Dawson of McCool Junction ran her first 5K of the season, winning Fairbury in 20:37, while her teammate Kayleigh Betka remains sidelined. McKinley Mankin of Nebraska Christian made the biggest jump this week, from #9 to #5, after running 19:40 at Fremont to finish 6th overall and ahead of ranked runners from Class A and B. Faith Galvin of Laurel-Concord-Coleridge is the only new face in the rankings, debuting at #14 after winning her home meet in 20:38.
Let's give a shout out for Nerd Junior, a Nerdy CPA who somehow manages to create the cool rankings graphics that we post each week on X, Facebook and Instagram.
Our website at https://preprunningnerd.com/rankings/week1rankings
includes more detail (including team names) on the top 10 listed on our graphics, the top 15 rankings, and the Nerd watch list. We update these individual rankings every Tuesday. The coaches' team rankings are updated on Mondays (or every other Monday, depending on the Class) and are available at https://preprunningnerd.com/rankings
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Photos
Albums are still being uploaded on Facebook for the thirteen meets our Nerds shot last week. You can find their albums - in the order they were posted - on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PrepRunningNerd/photos_albums.
If you're looking for photos from a specific meet, you can go to https://www.preprunningnerd.com/2022 to see if your meet is listed. The website lists the meets in chronological order, so it's a bit easier to know if we've uploaded an album. Just keep in mind that we only update the web page about once per week. Here are examples of albums posted in the last week through Monday evening:
A book in the works
One of the reasons I founded Prep Running Nerd was to get a closer view of the athletes and stories that make high school distance running so great. At some point along this journey, the hobby got out of hand, which is why we now have about forty volunteer Nerds contributing in some manner during the year.
A byproduct of spending so much time in the running arena - in part because I was also cheering on my sons during their competitive careers - was that I eventually decided to write a book. However, I only have time to write during the offseason, so it's taken a while to finish the book. I am currently working on the third draft and, if all goes well, the book will be available next summer.
What's Runner Untitled about? It's a novel about a high school runner from Omaha named Tommy Marron. Here's a short excerpt to whet your appetite.
The boys turned around at the Aksarben amphitheater and began to retrace their steps. They found the Elmwood Park trail considerably busier with adult runners and parents pushing baby strollers, so the team moved onto the grassy areas in the middle of the park.
"All we do is talk about running,” observed Owen. “We talk about it when we’re running, we talk about it at school, we talk about it at home. Someone should write a book about a high school runner; it would be a huge hit.” Owen had never read a book he didn’t like.
Tommy pushed back. “Which exciting parts of our lives would be in the book? Slow runs like this, our frequent bowel movements, that our guilty pleasure is watching videos of old races when we already know who won, or how we don’t shower nearly as often as we should? Or should it be about the monotony of our daily routines?”
Max disagreed with Tommy’s objections. “Owen is onto something. It’s a brilliant idea. If someone wrote a book about you, what would the title be?”
“Here’s one,” said Einstein, drawing on Coach Fitzpatrick’s speeches. “If it was about Hyde, it would be, ‘God Bless Runners, Even the Slow and Lazy Ones.’”
“The Thin Man.” The gaunt Owen fit that description to a T.
Trevor said, “Exercises in Futility,” which perfectly described his high school career.
In a rare moment of humility, Hunter referenced his inexperience at racing. “Which Way is the Finish Line?”
Max offered a second suggestion for Hyde’s book: “The Lead Pack Was Too Crowded So I Slowed Down.”
Owen glanced at Tommy. “Tommy, what’s your title?”
“That’s a tough one. I haven’t accomplished anything significant. My personal bests are crap. I weigh 120 pounds and I’m still growing. Are my best days ahead? I sure hope so. Aside from a 3rd-place medal in a junior high race that only had three runners, I am still a blank page. If you wrote it today, it would have to be ‘Runner Untitled.’”
“I can see it now,” Owen said. “Two UCLA film students will find ‘Runner Untitled’ at a second-hand bookstore and turn it into a screenplay. They’ll cast a 4:05 miler from Oregon and his love interest will be some cute actress who can’t run. The film will become a cult classic for the sixty-three Americans who care about distance running.”
“My book has a love interest?”
********
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.
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