Contributor: The Nerd
We're a bit behind on photo editing so this week's Nerdsletter is going to be abbreviated. We apologize in advance.
Nothing else matters
The season is only two weeks old and we've already seen so many great stories. A Southern Valley freshman who finished a 5k two months after he was run over by a combine wheel. The Conestoga middle schooler who handwheeled her way through a difficult 2500-meter course in Weeping Water. The Niobrara-Verdigre junior high boy who used a walker to finish his race. A Clear Lake (IA) boy with Down syndrome who finished the Augustana Twilight 4k race in just over 24 minutes with his mother or grandmother right behind him.
We've also seen amped-up parents pleading/screaming for their kids to RUN FASTER. To catch the FIVE KIDS AHEAD OF YOU at the back of a varsity race on a miserably hot day. Granted, we're not talking crazy-select-baseball-parent behavior, but a few parents' actions seem a bit overdone at this point in the season.
I know this view can be controversial... but the first six weeks of the season simply aren't that important. Many kids are still getting into shape, learning how to pace themselves, hoping to feel good at the end of a race, or simply waiting to feel the runners' high for the first time (it's real, right?). For the parents hoping their kid's performance earns them a college scholarship... most college coaches rely more on track results than trying to adjust for the varying distances and difficulty of cross country courses around the state AND the scholarships given to runners are usually academic or need-based grants.
If these first six weeks of races aren't important, what's the value of cross country?
Developing the self-discipline needed to follow through with summer running.
The simple act of joining a team, a frightening idea for some introverts.
Not quitting the team. Running cross country is likely the most physically demanding thing they've ever done, and yet they come back every day.
Making friends at practice. Few sports bring together a diverse group of students like cross country.
Dropping their shields. Racing against one hundred competitors, with hundreds of fans watching, isn't for wimps. They're probably wearing an unflattering uniform showing more skin than they'd like. They're novices and it will show by the end of the race. They are exposing themselves to unknown amounts of criticism and applause.
Improving their physical health..
Improving their mental health. Various studies suggest that distance running improves memory and focus while reducing levels of anxiety and depression.
Building confidence, especially among new runners. If you're a kid who couldn't run a mile without stopping six weeks ago and now you're finishing 5Ks, wouldn't you have more of a swagger?
Teenagers have a lot to deal with these days. Hard classes, peer pressure, social media, part-time jobs, puberty, hormones on full blast -- and we shouldn't be adding parental pressure and high expectations to that list.
Just let them run. Let them succeed or fail, because they're guaranteed to do both this season. Regardless of the outcome, tell them how proud you are. Applaud and encourage them the entire time.
Cross country running creates better humans. Next time you want to scream, scream that.
Photos
The Nerds were out in force the past week and absolutely killing it with their photos. Here's a sampling of pics you can find on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PrepRunningNerd/photos_albums.
Platte River Rumble
There's a good chance you'll read this Nerdsletter after the Platte River Rumble meet is over, but if not, please check out our article at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/prr2024. You must purchase parking/shuttle tickets in advance due to the size of the meet and the limited parking at Mahoney State Park. This is definitely not a meet where you can roll up ten minutes before the start of the race and hope to find a parking spot.
Rankings
My introductory article said that results don't matter. However, weekly rankings are a way to build interest in the sport and we believe the data we collect puts us in the best position to publish them. We had our first 'why isn't she ranked higher' Facebook comment today, so we're clearly generating interest.
In addition to the individual rankings that we publish every Tuesday, the coaches periodically issue updated team rankings. Our rankings tab at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/rankings provides links to both team and individual rankings.
We had two changes among the top-ranked runners in the eight divisions. Class C top-ranked Tyler Hetz of Gothenburg raced against #2 Avery Carter of Milford at the Minden meet on Saturday. Both Hetz and Carter had raced on Thursday, and on Saturday Carter edged Hetz by four seconds for the win. We've moved Avery to #1 based on the head-to-head matchup but we're already looking forward to their next race.
We may have a guaranteed Class D #1 versus #2 matchup every time Perkins County races. Mason McGreer is a senior and the defending State champ in Class D XC and the Class C 1600/3200, but his sophomore teammate Eli Goodell took a 17-second win in Perkins County's first race of the season at North Platte St. Pats. We've elevated Eli to #1 but we won't be surprised if Mason takes that spot back.
Freshman are tough to rank in the pre-season since we have so little data from 8th grade to reference. We know freshman girls will make an impact but we're never quite sure which ones. This week we have four freshman girls ranked #5 through #8 in Class D and four ranked in the top 15 in Class C. Freshman Mabel Henningsen (Marian) and Hannah Soucie (LSW) are both ranked in Class A.
All of the divisions had new runners break into the Top 15, and the Class B girls had the most with five girls making their rankings debut for this season.
Nerd Junior prepares the Class A rankings and I do the rest. I have not been down-ranking runners for skipping meets the first weeks due to minor injuries, but I have adjusted for runners dealing with significant injuries. Starting next week I'll adjust for athletes ranked in the pre-season who have yet to compete.
Results
With our followers' help, we tracked down meet results for every Nebraska high school cross country meet held last week. The results are linked on our website at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/xcresults/. A few notable results:
Little ol' Class D Hemingford won the Gering Invite girls title by 34 points last Thursday ahead of Class B, C and D teams. They are looking for their third consecutive State title.
Juan Gonzalez ran a 14:34 5k at the fast-and-flat Augustana Twilight meet on Friday. The surprising part wasn't that Juan won but that he won by a whopping 32 seconds. In a field of 430 boys, Kaden Boltz of GI finished 10th in 15:19 and Noah Miller of Fremont was 16th in 15:28. Fremont finished 4th, North Platte 8th, Grand Island 14th, Mount Michael 15th and Creighton Prep 17th in a field of 46 teams.
The Charlie Thorell meet in Seward last Thursday included strong schools from Class A, B and C. The Lincoln North Star boys took 4 of the top 6 spots, led by Easton Zastrow and Josiah Bitker. Ryan Kugler and Conor Gross of Westside took the other two spots in the top six. Calin O'Grady of Bennington was the top Class B finisher while Avery Carter of Milford led Class C athletes.
The girls race featured five girls finishing in under 20:00, led by Mabel Henningsen of Marian and Leah Robinson of Elkhorn North. In a meet that scored only the top 4 finishers for each team, Elkhorn North took the team title with five girls in the top 12; Kearney edged Marian for 2nd place.
David Krier of Lincoln Pius put on a show at the Titan Classic, a five-team meet held at Papio South on Saturday. He bolted out to a 40-meter lead by the 400-meter mark and kept that gap for most of the race, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Lincoln East's Ben Schlegelmilch. Pius edged Lincoln East for a 2-point win. Pius had six boys under 17:33 and moved up to #3 in the Class B coaches ranking released earlier this week.
At the same meet, the 2nd-ranked Lincoln Southwest girls flexed their muscles to sweep the top three spots. Silvy Munn and Merdith Marsh ran together for most of the race before Munn won by one second in 19:46; freshman Hannah Soucie was third in 20:00. Lilly Kenning did not compete on Saturday and we learned this morning that she will not compete this fall due to an injury, a tough break for both Lilly and the LSW team. Marissa Garcia of Papio South ran a gutty race and took a brief lead just past 3k before finishing 4th in 20:10.
And no, if you were wondering, I still haven't finished editing the Titan Classic photos. I have learned that shooting three meets in five days is too much.
The Plattsmouth meet last Tuesday featured five returning State medalists from Class B and C. Amalia Doty of Omaha Gross topped them all, winning in 20:34 ahead of Cece Kramper (20:40, Duchesne), Mallory Robbins (20:48, Plattsmouth) and the Crotty cousins from Auburn. On the boys' side, we'd heard pre-season speculation that Mount Michael's Mesach Nkurubujango might battle Michael Rodgers for the team's top spot. Mesach won the Plattsmouth title in 17:17, but Michael returned the favor three days later with a higher finish at Augustana. Andrew Gimble of Plattsmouth finished 3rd in 17:31; he was previously not on our radar.
Scout Bell, a freshman at Gothenburg, won the Overton and Minden meets last week in convincing fashion. The Minden runner-up was Alexis Ericksen of Aurora. Alexis won the GINW meet, was the top Class C finisher at Seward and ran 19:53 at Minden. She did not run track last spring.
Tommy Rice (16:25) of Skutt and Kate Ebmeier (19:09) of Millard West won the Burke races at Walnut Grove. Millard West took both team titles while the Skutt boys edged Gretna for second place by just three points. With Gretna and Lincoln Pius new to Class B, the historical strength of Lexington and the strong starts by Beatrice and Elkhorn, it looks like both spots on the Class B boys podium are in play.
The Millard West girls have the top ranking in the Class A coaches poll, and they placed five girls in the top nine - and seven in the top 14. Millard West and Lincoln Southwest will meet at the Platte River Rumble - along with Class B #1 Norris and # 2 Elkhorn North - so that's going to be a very entertaining girls race.
Josiah Quinones of Beatrice won his home meet on Saturday, edging Jared Schroeder of Waverly by five seconds. The most surprising result of this meet may be that Elkhorn won the team title by 15 points; Elkhorn had finished behind Beatrice one week earlier. In the girls race, Kendall Zavala and Creighton commit Atlee Wallman led Norris with six girls in the top nine. Sage Holtmeier, a freshman at Class D Tri County, finished third in 19:51, her second finish under 20:00 in her only two high school races.
Lexington opened its season in Overton. Isac Portillo-Munoz finished 2nd behind Tyler Hetz and the Minutemen also placed 5th through 7th. Team scores weren't posted but by our math the Lexington boys scored 20 points to Gothenburg's 23. Gothenburg placed five girls in the top ten of this smallish meet to score the team win over Kearney Catholic.
Forever a part of his story
Last Sunday was the one-year anniversary of the day when Memphis Zabawa's heart stopped during a junior high cross country race. With his family's permission, we're re-sharing the article we wrote last fall about the two teachers, a nurse and a nearby ambulance crew who saved his life. The story is posted at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/memphis.
Mourning the Flyers
The Cornhuskers Flyers, an Omaha-based USATF club, announced in August that it was dissolving after 47 years. Led for many years by the unforgettable John Wissler, the Flyers hosted several USATF youth national championships in Omaha. I was introduced to the Flyers when Nerd Junior joined the club in 8th grade. Coach Wissler had the kids stand in a circle at the first cross country practice, introduce themselves and say how many national championships they had won. Almost half of the 20 kids, all under age 14, had won at least one USATF title. He only came to that first practice but left the kids with the advice: "What you do outside of these practices will determine how well you perform."
The Flyers created countless high school state champions and a number of national-class athletes. Olympic athlete Emily Sisson competed for the Flyers for the two years she lived in Omaha. Ten-time collegiate All-American Angee Henry is the only Flyer to still hold a national youth record (17-18 long jump of 20-10.5) in addition to the US and World Masters records she also holds. Alex Gochenour medaled in the NCAA heptathlon. Abby Emsick of Lewis Central won several NCAA medals in the discus. Stan Parker of Bellevue East was the national Junior Olympics champion in 1981, played football for the Huskers and was drafted by the New York Giants. More recently, Omaha Burke's Sophia Scott has won several AAU and USATF age-group national championships in the javelin.
The strength of the Flyers was the dedication of its coaches and that was also its downfall. The club folded not because of financial problems but simply because it couldn't find enough volunteer coaches for the program.
The Flyers had a helluva run.
******
First published at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle on September 4, 2024. If you find an error, shoot us an e-mail at jayslagle@hotmail.com and we'll get it fixed.
Like this coverage of the Nebraska cross country scene? There's more of this at www.preprunningnerd.com. Check out the Blog tab for our frequent stories and 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 quadrapalegic after a swimming accident.
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