Contributor: The Nerd
We tracked down nine Nebraska high school meets held last week and they are now posted on our Results tab. There were more than that -for example, we have the East Butler boys results but not the girls. However, the only way we get results is if the meet director uploads them to Athletic.net, someone sends us the link the timing company's online results, or a coach e-mails the results to jayslagle@hotmail.com.
Nerd Senior was on-site at Class of the Metro, so a summary of that meet has already been published at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/class-of-the-metro-8-28-21. Seth Fey of Millard West and Claire White of Westside registered the fastest times of the meet. We can confirm that Seth's time of 16:45 falls short of Seth Hirsch's only Class of the Metro time of 16:38. We've got five albums of pictures from Class of Metro posted at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd.
Nerd Junior headed to the Norris meet after a hard 13-miler, so that marks the first time ever (and perhaps last) that the Nerd staff have covered simultaneous meets. Ellie Thomas (21:01) of Norris won the girls title followed closely by Kennedy Bartee (21:10) of Lincoln High and Kendall Zavala (21:13) of Norris. Zavala is a freshman with impressive junior high marks, and Norris' 5th and 6th runners were also freshmen. Norris won the meet with 16 points followed by Elkhorn, Beatrice and Elkhorn North. Elkhorn North's Ella Ford was 7th in her high school debut and was the 2nd of four EN girls in the top 10.
Daniel Romary won the boys title in 17:13, winning by 78 seconds. We told him after the race that Zack VanBrocklin had the course record of 16:20, and Daniel seemed disappointed to leave that one on the table. Elkhorn North's Michael Grigsby and Jack Sinnot were 2nd and 3rd, leading Elkhorn North to a surprising win over host Norris, 26 to 33. Elkhorn North did not qualify as a team last year but a win over Norris is a good way to start the season. Nerd junior posted pictures from the Norris meet at https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=PrepRunningNerd&set=a.872126083410469.
North Platte won the boys and girls titles at their home meet that featured teams from all four classes (although I'm guessing on that fact). Two-time Class A State medalist Evan Caudy won the boys title in 16:41 followed by Daine Warden of Broken Bow in 17:14. Class C 2020 runner-up Lindee Henning of Ogallala won in 19:33, and both Zarah Blaesi and Marissa Holm of North Platte also broke 20:00.
Two-time Class C defending champ Carson Noecker continued his winning ways by capturing the Hartington Invite title in 16:34; returning State medalist Grant Lander of Homer was second in 18:26. Kairece Morris of Pender took the girls title in 23:23. Battle Creek captured both team titles. Many thanks to the Homer coach for e-mailing me the race results.
Conner Wells of St. Paul, who swept the 400/800 at State in May, won the St. Paul Invite in 15:55, followed by Elijah Swanson of Ravenna. Hannah Swanson (10th at 2020 Class C State) of Nebraska Christian won the girls title in 18:57. Both Conner and Hannah have serious running chops but I think the course may have been a bit short. On a blazing hot meet day, the majority of the top finishers behind Conner and Hannah finished with big PRs; very few didn't set a PR. St. Paul edged out Nebraska Christian for the boys title while Nebraska Christian edged Fullerton for the girls title.
Sidney scored just 18 points to win the boys division of the Panhandle Invite, led by Cameron Brauer in 17:07, and they had three out of the top 5 finishers. Trevor Kuncl of Mullen finished 3rd in 17:36. Trevor was 8th at 2020 Class D State and earned 2nd and 4th place medals at State track this spring. On the girls side, freshman Peyton Paxton of Mullen, whose sister Molly convinced the school board to start an XC program, took the win in 20:38 in her first high school race. Chadron (5th at 2020 State) edged Sidney (7th at 2020 State) for the team title.
It will be difficult to keep up with results as the number of meets expands, but I encourage coaches to send me results sheets if they aren't posted on Athletic.net.
This week the Nerd staff will not be at any high school meets. If all goes according to plan, Nerd Senior will be watching Nerd the Third in Iowa City while Mrs. Nerd treks up to Sioux Falls to cheer on Nerd Junior.