Twenty-four Washington County high school runners earned NSAA State Cross-Country Championship qualifications Thursday during district competition.
Eight Blair Bears earned spots during the Class B District 2 Meet at Walnut Grove Park in Omaha, while eight Arlington Eagles and eight Fort Calhoun Pioneers earned their spots during the Class C District 2 Meet at Omaha Concordia.
Blair Bears
Coach Carson Norine’s Blair team qualified eight overall runners for Class B state races Oct. 25 in Kearney. Lane Christensen and Roland Barondeau finished 14th and 15th Thursday in Omaha, respectively, to earn their spots as individuals.
Jade Wickwire, Kate Wulf, Ryen Anderson, Emma Himes, Ryleigh Schroeder and Stevie Avila, meanwhile, earned their qualifications as a team. The Bears took third overall with Jade Wickwire claiming a sixth-place finish in 20:57.1 across 5 kilometers. Wulf earned a top-15 finish, too.
Fort Calhoun Pioneers
Coach Kyle McMahon’s Fort Calhoun squad qualified eight runners for Class C races at state. The boys squad will compete in Kearney as district champs.
Seth Waters led the Pioneers overall in fourth place individually, stopping the clock in 18:11.18. His lineup included sixth-place Merritt Olberding, ninth-place Chris Post-Whiteowl and 10th-place Will Dennis. Matthew Kelly (11th) and Travis Skelton (14th) earned top-15 finishes as well.
Two Calhoun girls also qualified with Raeann Massey securing ninth and Lauren Lammers placing 13th.
Arlington Eagles
Coach Michaela Curran’s Arlington boys took second behind the Pioneers in the team standings, producing six of the Eagles’ eight overall qualifiers.
District champion Kolby Tighe led AHS with a time of 17:35.33, while John Morrison wasn’t far behind in fifth. Ashton Vollmer took seventh, too, and Ethan Hilgenkamp was 22nd ahead of teammates Gus Burns in 25th and Brayden Fuchs in 30th.
Also qualifying as individuals were Hailey O’Daniel and Corinne May. O’Daniel won the 5-kilometer girls race in 20:02.5, while May was seventh in 22:09.9.
What’s next
The NSAA State Cross-Country Championships are Oct. 25 at Kearney Country Club.
The Class B state races begin with the boys at noon before the girls’ race at 1 p.m.
Class C races start with the 3 p.m. boys jaunt followed by the girls’ event at 4 p.m.
For the full story on district cross-country and additional photos, check out Tuesday’s edition of the Washington County Pilot-Tribune. Coverage will appear here at enterprisepub.com/sports that same day.
