Arlington High School cross-country runners earned five top-10 individual finishes Thursday during the Eagles' season-opening meet at Omaha Concordia.
Coach Michaela Curran's team finished second in the boys' standings and third in the girls' rankings, but Hailey O'Daniel finished second to no one. The senior led the way across 5 kilometers, claiming a first-place finish in 21:06.37.
Experienced AHS runners Kolby Tighe (third in 18:01.35) and John Morrison (eighth in 19:03.05) earned top-10 results, too, but so did freshmen Ashton Vollmer and Corinne May in their debuts. They both took fifth in their respective races despite coming into the meet a bit on edge.
“I was nervous all week,” May said.
“I was like, 'I'm not ready,'” Vollmer added.
The latter Eagle finished the boys' race in 18:54.89.
“Everybody had me worried about the hills,” Vollmer said. “But hills weren't really a problem, though.”
Instead, the ninth-grader stepped up and succeeded in his first 5K high school race.
“Very surprised I was able to keep it up for so long,” he said. “Normally, I use up all my energy in the beginning and burn out.”
May, meanwhile, finished the girls' race in 22:44.32. She said her teammates were complimentary of the effort.
“They just told me I did a really good job, had really good finish and that that was a really good race,” May explained.
The freshman felt better about the whole thing after the fact, too.
“I'm just a lot more relieved,” May said. “It just didn't feel as long as I thought it was going to.”
In addition to O'Daniel and May, Whitney Wollberg claimed 18th for the Arlington girls at Concordia. Izzabella Credeur was 29th, too, while Sofie Lewis took 30th.
Gus Burns, meanwhile was 18th in the boys' race ahead teammate Brayden Fuchs, who took 20th. Ethan Hilgenkamp was 22nd as well.
Eagles Henry Lancaster, Rafaele Magnino and Zadyn Lambert earned top-10 junior varsity finishes, too. They were fifth, eighth and 10th, respectively.
7th- and 8th-graders run, too
Arlington junior high runners also started their seasons Thursday in Omaha.
The Eagle girls won the team title at Concordia with Miranda Morrison leading the way in fourth. Kristina Lucas (seventh), Willa Wollberg (eighth) and Stella Stratman (ninth) notched top-10 results, too.
Dominic Morrison, meanwhile, won the boys' 2,600-meter race in 10:20.85. He was followed by top-10 finishing teammate Logan Hilgenkamp, who claimed fifth.
CONCORDIA INVITE
Thursday at Omaha Concordia
BOYS
Team standings: Omaha Concordia 31, Arlington 33, Omaha Westview 35, Cornerstone Christian 47, Ashland-Greenwood 90.
5K race winner: Payton Day, Concordia, 17:34.61.
Arlington results: 3, Kolby Tighe, 18:01.35. 5, Ashton Vollmer, 18:54.89. 8, John Morrison, 19:03.05. 18, Gus Burns, 20:02.67. 20, Brayden Fuchs, 20:11.05. 22, Ethan Hilgenkamp, 20:22.94. Top-10 JV: 5, Henry Lancaster, 21:19.85. 8, Rafaele Magnino, 22:01.97. 10, Zadyn Lambert, 22:10.37.
GIRLS
Team standings: Westivew 31, Concordia 40, Arlington 47, Omaha Mercy 51, Ashland 66.
5K race winner: Hailey O'Daniel, Arlington, 21:06.37.
Arlington results: 1, O'Daniel, 21:06.37. 5, Corinne May, 22:44.32. 18, Whitney Wollberg, 24:58.29. 29, Izzabella Credeur, 27:38.33. 30, Sofie Lewis, 28:00.48.
