Contributors: The Nerd team
This is our eighth and final preview of the 2024 Nebraska high school cross country season. While we have connected with some coaches, keep in mind that we may not know about injuries, transfers, lack of summer training, bad break-ups or anything else that might impact athletes this season. If we didn't highlight your athlete, it's not out of spite; it's takes a lot of research to write eight articles and at some point we just got tired. If we've made an error, please DM us or e-mail jayslagle@hotmail.com and we'll get it corrected.
Class A boys
Top returners from 2023 State meet with current grade listed:
1, Juan Gonzalez, 12, Fremont, 15:26.6
7, Easton Zastrow, 12, Lincoln North Star, 16:10.9
9, David Krier, 11, Lincoln Pius, 16:18.1 (to Class B)
14, Gavin Luthi, 12, Gretna, 16:26.6 (to Class B)
15, Ryan Kugler, 12, Omaha Westside, 16:27.3
18, Tyler Smith, 11, Lincoln North Star, 16:43.1
19, Kaden Boltz, 12, Grand Island, 16:45.1
22, Josiah Bitker, 11, Lincoln North Star, 16:51.5
26, Noah Miller, 12, Fremont, 16:57.5
28, Jase Laday, 12, Fremont, 17:03.7
31, Caleb Ruch, 12, Lincoln East, 17:08.3
33, Ruben Caceres Perez, 12, Grand Island, 17:09.5
35, Liam Murphy, 12, Omaha Burke, 17:11.5
36, Connor Boyle, 11, Lincoln Southwest, 17:11.7
37, David Protzman, 11, Norfolk, 17:13.0
38, Michael Nichols, 11, Fremont, 17:13.9
41, Damien Johnson, 12, Lincoln Pius, 17:16.1 (to Class B)
42, Michael Jones, 12, Millard West, 17:16.3
44, Caleb Larsen, 11, Gretna, 17:17.5 (to Class B)
45, Noah Ryan, 12, Papillion-La Vista South, 17:17.5
46, Zachary Petzet, 11, Kearney, 17:18.4
48, Jack Knapp, 10, North Platte, 17:20.5
49, Conor Gross, 12, Omaha Westside, 17:20.6
50, Daren Linscott, 11, Lincoln East, 17:23.1
Top teams in 2023
1. Creighton Prep, 82 points (returns 0 of 7)
2. Fremont, 82 points (5)
3. Papio South, 107 points (2)
4. Lincoln Pius, 127 points (now in Class B)
5. Lincoln North Star, 129 points (5)
6. Millard West, 156 points (4)
Lincoln Pius and Gretna moved from Class A to Class B this fall, while South Sioux City is moving from Class B to Class A. As a reminder, Class A teams can field up to seven athletes in a varsity race, five of whom count towards team scoring.
Liem Chot of Lincoln North Star was the last Class A two-time defending champion, and he earned his third title in 2020 with a six-second win over Gabe Hinrichs. Juan Gonzalez (below) aims for his third XC title this fall and, with all due respect to the other competitors, the title is his unless he has an injury or gets taken out by a golf cart. Since his last XC title, Juan has done the following: (a) qualified for both Nike and Footlocker Nationals, (b) finished 10th at Foot Locker, (c) set State records in the 1600 (4:08.61) and 3200 (8:51.46), and (d) ran an 8:47 3200 at the Running Lane meet one week after the State meet. His results the last two years put him in the same stratosphere as Kearney-great Colby Wissel, the only other Class A boy besides Chot to win three titles. If Juan continues this trend, he'll likely graduate with the title 'Best Ever in Nebraska.'
Lincoln Pius and Gretna are moving from Class A to Class B this fall, and that means that there are only three returning Class A medalists in 2024 – Gonzalez, Easton Zastrow (LNS) and Ryan Kugler (Westside). Zastrow’s track career has been largely focused around the relays and the 800 (1:54.28 PR), and he’s a two-time State medalist in the 800. He only ran the 1600 and 3200 once during the track season but he should be a top-5 contender this fall. Ryan Kugler (PRs of 4:23, 9:32, pictured below) and Conor Gross (1:57, 4:15, 9:16) lead a Westside team that only graduated two boys from its 7th-place squad from 2023. Gross ran his worst race of the year at the 2023 XC meet, but he bounced back for 3rd and 6th-place medals at Burke. We’re hearing that Kugler and Gross have had a great summer of training, so both should be in the mix after Gonzalez.
The best training environment is to have fast teammates, and Lincoln North Star seems to have that advantage. In addition to Zastrow (pictured below), LNS return top-25 finishers Josiah Bitker and Tyler Smith. Both had successful sophomore track seasons: Bitker had PRs of 4:27 and 9:25 (8th at State) while Smith posted PRs of 4:35 and 9:41. LNS should also return Raul Iniguez (1:57 PR, State qualifier) and Trey Lindgren, a consistent top-5 runner for the Gators last fall.
Caleb Ruch (pictured below) is the top returner from a young Lincoln East team who finished 8th in 2023, but they lost only Hudson Davy to graduation and seem likely to move into a top-5 spot this October. Ruch had PRs of 2:01 and 4:27 last spring, and Ben Schlegelmilch ran 4:31 and 9:54. Krithik Pondicherry (4:42), Daren Linscott (4:48) and Chanh Tran (2:03) had productive track seasons, and we expect Coach Kabourek to fill out the top 7 with quality runners.
Kaden Boltz (below) leads a 10th-place Grand Island squad that lost just one State competitor to graduation. Boltz qualified for State in both the 1600 and 3200, setting PRS (4:31 and 9:38) in both. Ruben Caceres Perez also had a strong track season, running 4:36 and 9:45. Other returners include Jorge Carpio (10:15), Trajon Geiser (4:58) and Ashon Willey (2:02).
At first blush, last year’s 2023 State XC results don’t reflect that Lincoln High will be a top-5 contender this season, but we feel otherwise. They were led by two freshman, Trey Crabtree (2:03, 4:33 PRs) and Hutton Rettig (4:48, 10:12), who should continue to improve as they mature. Another Class A coach thinks Lincoln High will surprise a lot of teams this year.
Millard West graduated Jack Witte (UNL) and Porter Bickley (Doane) from their 6th-place team. Michael Jones is their top returner, and he ran 4:46/9:56 in an abbreviated track season. Henry Hansen (#167 below) improved his 1600 PR by 37 seconds, running 4:31 at Districts and State. Logan Dobkins ran 2:07 and 4:50 during track, and then-freshman Eli Bickley ran 2:01 and 4:51. While Millard West doesn’t have star power (yet), the team is quietly confident about their chances to improve on last year’s finish.
Creighton Prep graduated their top 10 boys and their long-time coach (Fr. Robert Tillman), so they’ve got some rebuilding to do. Dan Tietjen, Prep’s long-time head T&F coach, has always coached the distance boys during the spring, so we expect he’s been motivating the boys this summer with the idea that all seven varsity spots are open. While Prep may be a long shot to qualify for State, Coach Tietjen has options: Prep usually has at least 130 boys running each fall.
Papio South graduated five boys from their 2023 third-place team, but don’t count them out. This fall’s squad features a stable of younger boys who saw huge improvements during track season. Noah Ryan (pictured below, 4:33, 9:48), John Strabala (4:30, 9:50), Calen Spady (1:58, three State events), and Dalan Hochstein (1:58, two State events) all caught our eye, but I see at least three more sub-5:00 1600 guys (Dustin Luther, Micah Caverzagie, Gabriel Heath) who are likely to improve this fall. If the student-run StengGang Twitter account is to be believed (the account has a heavy dose of humor), six Titans ran sub-4:45 in a 1600-time trial last Friday, a heady accomplishment in the second week of practice.
Other returners from last fall’s top 50 that should contend for a medal:
Liam Murphy (Omaha Burke) ran 4:35 and 9:55 in the spring, qualifying for State in the 3200. Burke’s drawing area has been depleted by the opening of Omaha Westview, but Burke has great coaches and should have a competitive team.
David Protzman (Norfolk) ran 4:44 and 10:06 last spring, but he loses a great training partner in Isaac Ochoa. Teammate Dylan Hall improved his 1600 PR by 48 seconds to 4:55, and Dominick Blum qualified for State in the 300 hurdles.
Luke Tegtmeier (North Platte, #263 below) didn’t qualify for State XC last fall but he made huge gains in the spring, running 4:31 to cut his PR by 15 seconds. His teammate Jack Knapp finished 48th at State XC and ran 2:04, 4:45 and 10:05 in the spring – heady marks for a freshman. Aiden Hawks ran 1:58 and 4:41 in the spring, giving North Platte a legitimate shot at being a team qualifier.
Finally, we arrive at the Fremont team. In a normal year, losing the prior year’s title on a tiebreaker would give Fremont the extra motivation they need to win the 2024 title. However, when you have the depth and talent that Fremont has, I’m not sure that any extra motivation is necessary. Fremont returns all but their 2nd and 7th runners from last year’s team and, by the way, they’re all pretty good. Noah Miller has been a clutch runner for Fremont the past two years, and his 4:28 and 9:37 marks from the spring reflect that he’s an even better runner this year. Jase Laday ran three 800s this spring under 2:01, Michael Nichols ran 4:53 and 10:20, and Mason Nau ran 4:42 and 9:57. I have zero doubts about Coach McMahon’s ability to find and develop a few more boys to complete his team. Again, barring injury, Fremont is the overwhelming favorite for the team title.
The Class A coaches issued their pre-season rankings on August 23. The top 10:
Our Way-Too-Early team predictions:
Nerd Senior: Fremont, Papio South, Lincoln North Star
Nerd Junior: Fremont, Papio South, Millard West
Nerd the Third: Fremont, Lincoln North Star, Papio South
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First published at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle on August 27, 2024. If you find an error, shoot us an e-mail at jayslagle@hotmail.com and we'll get it fixed.
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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 quadrapalegic after a swimming accident.
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