Contributor: The Nerd
Heaven and running
One of the readings at church this weekend was Mark 10:17-30. A man tells Jesus that he is following all of the commandments and asks if there's anything else he needs to do to get to heaven. Jesus responds that in order for him to receive his eternal treasure, he must sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. That's an uncomfortable message for the man, but also for those of us who have pinched and saved for a few decades to live comfortably in retirement.
During his sermon later in the service, the deacon softened that message, noting that we can't get into a heaven through a series of transactions. We often simplify it to be something like this: "If I do these things and don't do these things, I've got a good chance to get to heaven. However, if I do this or that, well... the odds won't be good." The deacon explained that our relationship with God, much like healthy relationships with loved ones, is not transactional in nature. Just as self-help gurus tell us how we can lead a fulfilled life, mainstream religions teach behaviors that will hopefully increase our chances of an afterlife. At the end of the day, we either believe or not, we pursue virtuous behaviors or we don't, and we won't find out the ending to our movie until after our last scene. We put a lot of faith in the idea that heaven awaits us, but God's mercy is more important than anything we do.
Similarly, competitive running isn't very transactional. If winning a State medal was as simple as running X miles a week, doing X exercises outside of practice and following the perfect nutrition plan, there wouldn't be much drama to it. You'd pay the price and earn the reward. Unfortunately, on race day your competitors and your body don't care about all the boxes you checked. You could have a virus, or just a smidge too little pre-race hydration, or the temperature is a few degrees hotter than you prefer. Maybe your final workouts and tapering have been perfect, and yet your legs have never felt so heavy.
Academics, athletics, marriage, parenthood, careers, health, heaven. The most important things in life aren't purely transactional. We research, prepare and follow a plan, and yet sometimes we're disappointed with the result. On other days we get lucky breaks for no good reason, and the luck is so subtle that we fail to notice it.
Over the next two weeks, give your best effort. If you fall short of your goals, it's not failure. We pay a heavy price to be distance runners, and the greatest rewards of running are often found somewhere other than at the finish line.
No room for fear or doubt
Over the last five years I've talked to quite a few athletes in the minutes or days before a big race like Districts or State, and I was surprised by the level of anxiety and fear that seemed to be gnawing at them. In an effort to help athletes, several years ago we published "No Room for Fear or Doubt". If fear or doubt is creeping into your house, this might help.
Photos
The Nerd team was busy last week, and we've got twelve meets on the schedule for this week. In the week since the last Nerdsletter we've posted the following Facebook albums at https://www.facebook.com/PrepRunningNerd/photos_albums: Millard West JV, LouPlatte (Crane Trust), MidStates (Battle Creek), Crete Invite, Centennial (Crete), Frontier (Sycamore Farms), SNC (Fillmore Central), SPVA (Grant) and HAC (Kearney). We still owe you photos from the Junior High State meet, the Metro JV races and the Dordt collegiate races. Here's a sampling of the Nerds' great work:
DIY photos
After the JH State meet a parent e-mailed me for tips on what camera and lens to buy since her athlete will be in the sport for at least the next four years. I directed her to the photo tips we posted three years ago. While camera technology has improved to the point that eye-tracking technology is now in some affordable cameras, there has been very little change in the lens technology we discuss in the article. Here's the link: https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/photo-tips.
Junior High State
Papio South coaches Shannon Stenger and Jeremy Haselhorst hosted another exceptional Junior High State meet last Saturday. The competition, weather, fans and environment could not have been any better.
If you missed the meet, we've posted YouTube this video recap edited by Christian Naujokaitis (Nauj Nerd). We had six Nerds on site for the meet: drone operators Nerd Ricky Bobby and Nerdo, videographers Nerd Junior and guest Nerds Caleb Sturberville and Gabriella Ridout, and little ol' me as the photographer.
More than any other high-level meet in Nebraska, it's incredibly difficult to predict who will race well at the Junior High State meet. Junior high races vary in planned length and actual length so time comparisons are useless, there are very few matchups from kids in Eastern, Central and Western Nebraska, and we often don't know who will make the trek to Omaha until the registration deadline. The results of all four races are at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/239843/results/all. Here's a recap of the races:
Girls championship
This was the only race where we had a good idea who would be among the leaders. 402 Track Club teammates Emily Hegge (Papillion MS, future Papio South) and Madison Scott (Russell MS, future Millard West) had a tight race at the Platte River Rumble last month where Hegge won by 12 seconds. They were also among the best in their class on the track last spring, and Hegge's 5:12 1600 as a 7th grader would have earned her a State medal last May in every Class except A. Hegge and Scott separated from the other 263 runners by 800 meters, with the 7th-grader Scott running a step behind 8th-grader Hegge for much of the race. With less than 200 meters to go, Scott used the incredibly steep final hill to pass Hegge, winning the State title by four seconds in 10:31. This was the second State meet on the revised Papio South course, and Scott's time was 33 seconds faster than Scout Bell's victory in 2023. Hegge, who was also runner-up in 2023, improved her State time by 30 seconds.
How good are Scott and Hegge? They would have finished 6th and 7th in the very competitive boys race.
Geneaveh Herzberg (above), the 8th-grade sister of Lincoln East's Ella Herzberg, finished 3rd in 11:04, followed by 8th-grader Avery Arens (below) of Crofton in 11:10. Avery's older sister Jordan won three Class D XC titles and seven Class C T&F titles.
La Vista repeated as State champs with 116 points led by Avery Skradski (6th) and Aubrey Skradski (15th). Papio La Vista's high school team already has some amazing underclassmen, so the Skradskis could be a game changer for the Monarchs next year.
This race was full of girls from running families. In addition to Helzberg and Arens, we had a Dahl from Fremont and a Hauxwell from Chase County. We saw coaches from Class B, C and D high school teams giving their full attention to 7th and 8th graders. It was awesome.
Boys championship
The top three boys at last year's meet were Tyler Scott (Beatrice), Bryson Neels (Gothenburg) and Sam McQuistan (Minden), all of whom are playing key roles on their ranked high school teams this fall. Joon Gilson of Omaha Buffett finished 4th last year and was the top returner, and we've also been watching 7th-grader Kamden Cupples of St. Wenceslaus since his Platte River Rumble win. Cupples pushed the pace from the start, opening a small lead by the 400-meter mark (above). Gilson stayed on Cupples' shoulder through the first 1500 meters. By that point Maddox Helgoth of Kearney Horizon had slid into third position, a few meters behind Gilson, and he pulled even with Cupples by the six-minute mark (roughly 1800 meters) of the ten-minute race.
Helgoth (above) continued his surge, opening a five-meter lead over Cupples almost immediately with Gilson another few meters back. To their credit, Cupples and Gilson never let those gaps grow much beyond five meters, and the finishing order was still in doubt when the trio tackled the final hill at 200 meters remaining. Despite the difficult finishing stretch, the space between the boys changed very little, with Helgoth winning in 10:15 followed by Cupples in 10:17 and Gilson in 10:19. Helgoth improved considerably from last year when finished 20th in 10:58 as a 7th grader. Cupples didn't run the meet as a 6th grader but finished 9th in the Open race as a 5th grader.
Javier Perales of Minden CL Jones finished 4th in 10:28; he finished 6th in the Open race last year while running 11:20. Jasper Semrad of Fremont rounded out the top five with his 10:29 finish and will be headed towards a Fremont high school team that is the favorite to win the State title next week.
Kearney Horizon took the title with 97 points, the only team to crack 100 in a field of 318 finishers. In addition to Helgoth, Horizon placed three other athletes in the Top 50 at 31st, 34th and 37th.
Girls open
The Championship races are open to school teams of 7th and 8th graders, with no more than seven athletes on the team. Schools are allowed to enter additional athletes in the Open races. Unattached junior high athletes can also register for the Championship races, which are more competitive than the Open races, but athletes 6th grade and below must compete in the Open race.
That's not to say that there isn't some amazing talent in the Open. Many Class C and D schools opt to compete in the Open race because the 'race seven, score five' format at the State meet makes it difficult for smaller schools to field enough depth to compete in the Championship race. Keep in mind that at the State high school meet, Class D follows the 'race five, score three' format.
The Papio South course starts with a 200-meter downhill and Tayla Hurner (912 above) of Wayne got off to an aggressive start. At 400 meters she held a several-meter lead over Shelby Phillips of Pleasanton and Kiarra Kennedy of O'Neill.
While I'd love to give a blow-by-blow recap of the next 2000 meters, I can't because we pulled our camera off the lead cart for the last two races. Due to dry conditions, the gator understandably had to be well separated from the leaders so the athletes wouldn't be running in the gator's dust storm, and that prevented us from having a good view of the Open races.
When the race came back into our view at 2500 meters, Kennedy (above) had opened a lead of almost 100 meters over Hurner and 7th-grader Elise Suelter (both pictured below) of St. Teresa-Lincoln. Kennedy won in 11:48. Hurner and Suelter had minimal separation with 400 meters to go, but Hurner was able to pull away to finish 2nd in 12:01 followed by Suelter in 12:09.
Maywood-Hayes Center's Carly Softley (below), the 8th-grade granddaughter of the legendary T&F official Don Softley based in Grant, finished 4th in 12:21. 7th-grader Mercy Kann of Norfolk Catholic rounded out the top 5 with a 12:22.
Wayne took the team title with 65 points. In addition to Hurner's 2nd-place finish, they were led by 7th-grader Hadley Dunklau (6th), 8th-grader Elizabeth Hix (27th), 7th-grader Saah Kuchta (45th) and 7th-grader Rose Kaup (56th). What was their secret to success? It could very well have been the magic marker references to Prep Running Nerd that they had on their legs.
One note about this race as is pertains to the race video linked at the start of the State JH recap. We show a young lady from Pleasanton stumbling and falling on the last hill. This was not an embarrassing moment. When she passed me with 400 meters remaining, she was clearly struggling. When she passed our video camera at the top of the final steep hill, with 150 meters remaining, Nerd Junior captured footage of her falling and immediately getting back up at least three times. It was a heroic effort. I don't know her name and I don't know if she finished, but that is an example of a resilient athlete I would want on my team regardless of the sport.
Boys open
In the final race of the day, Sterling Phillips (above), an 8th grader at Pleasanton, bolted out to a 10-meter lead by the 400-meter mark. Fort Calhoun 6th-grader Levi Bowen, who finished 3rd in the Open race last year, was in 2nd at that point followed by Dominic Morrison of Arlington.
Based on the drone footage in our race video, it didn't take long for Bowen (above) to take control of the race. He ran alone for most of the final 1500 meters, building up to a 25-meter lead at one pont before taking the win in 10:57.
Alonso Hernandez of O'Neill ran one of the smartest races we saw on Saturday. At 400 meters he was no higher than 30th place, and he gradually moved through the pack to 2nd place by 2500 meters. He held off a late surge from Jaiden Glandt of Northwest (Grand Island) to finish 2nd in 11:12; Glandt (below) captured 3rd in 11:15, a fraction of a second ahead of hard-charging Tommy Reed, a 7th grader at Homer. Sterling Phillips of Pleasanton looked no worse for the wear after his fast start, finishing 5th in 11:22.
The West Omaha Track Club took the Open title with 50 points while O'Neill was the top school-based team with 97 points. Holden Probasco led the West Omaha team with his 7th-place finish.
Changes next year
With almost 400 boys in the Open race, the race organizers have been looking for ways to maintain race integrity on a skinny trail-based course and offer more opportunities for smaller school teams. To that end, Jeremy Haselhorst informed me on Monday night that the following changes will be implemented next year:
There will be three races next year for each gender: (a) a Championship race for Class A and B schools where five runners are scored, (b) a Championship race for Class C and D schools where four runners are scored, and (c) the traditional Open race that accommodates club teams, 6th graders and under, and overflow runners from the teams in the Championship races.
Class C and D schools, or individual runners from those schools, can opt up into the Class A/B race, similar to the option offered at the UNK high school meet.
Consistent with this year, unattached runners will be able to compete in any of the races, although there may be some guardrails to prevent a Class A/B junior high athlete from competing in the C/D race.
Medals will be awarded in each race as they have in the past. The meet will also award All-Class gold medals to the fastest boy and girl at the meet by comparing the results of all three races.
Coach Haselhort and Coach Stenger would like to continue to grow this meet, and the initial feedback from coaches regarding these changes has been positive.
Rankings
We generally try to push out individual rankings every Tuesday at noon. Sometimes we complete the rankings so early on Monday that we completely forget to send our social media posts at noon on Tuesday, which is why we belatedly posted them at 5:30 yesterday. You can find our Top 15 and Watch List rankings for every week of the season at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/rankings. That link also has updated coaches rankings for Class A, B and D. I've been told that Class B and C will push out their final pre-State rankings by next Monday.
Results
We tracked down results for every high school meet held in Nebraska last week, and they are linked on our website at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/xcresults. A few notable results:
Fremont and Lincoln North Star faced off for the first time this season at the HAC meet in Kearney. Fremont eeked out a 50-53 win despite Lincoln North Star putting four boys in the top eight. The deciding factor was Fremont's depth, with their 5th runner finishing in 19th place. The field size (11 teams) at HAC is only slightly smaller than the State meet, so it will be interesting how a slightly more competitive field will change the team scores. As expected, Juan Gonzalez of Fremont cruised to a sizable win, finishing in 15:07, followed by A#2 Josiah Bitker (LNS, 15:44). Noah Miller of Fremont finished 0.12 seconds ahead of LNS' Easton Zastrow for third while Kaden Boltz of GI took home 5th in 16:15.
On the girls side, Abigail Burger of Kearney won by 52 seconds in 18:49, an exceptionally good time at the UNK course, followed by Meredith Marsh of LSW in 19:41. The race for 3rd was even tighter for the girls, with North Star's Hope Riedel edging Hannah Soucie of LSW by 0.05 seconds. LSW won with 34 points and Kearney had 52 points. They are the 2nd and 3rd ranked Class A teams and will aim to knock Millard West out of the top spot at State.
Six of the seven top-ranked girls in Class B faced off at the EMC meet at Pioneers' Park. Leah Robinson of Elkhorn held the B#1 spot for one week before Kendall Zavala of Norris took it back on Thursday with her conference title. Zavala ran 18:43 on a tough course, Atlee Wallman of Norris was 2nd in 18:53, and Robinson was 3rd in 18:59. Elkhorn North topped Norris for at least the third time this season, winning 21 to 26. Ella Ford of Elkhorn North made her season debut after recovering from a significant injury, and she was the fourth scorer for EN in 20:04. Have we mentioned the Class B girls race at State is going to be nuts?
Braden Lofquest continued his undefeated season, winning the EMC boys' title in 15:39, followed by Austin Carrera (Hastings, 15:54) and Jared Schroeder (Waverly, 16:32). Gretna won the team title with 38 points, followed by Hastings (65) and Elkhorn (69).
The SPVA meet continues to be a hotbed of Class D boys talent. Mason McGreer of Perkins County ran 16:07 to edge teammate Elijah Goodell by 7 seconds for the title. Ethan Swesey was their third scorer, finished 13th, and Perkins County's 16 points were two better than North Platte St. Pat's. Only six teams scored in this meet so it's difficult to extrapolate the results to the 18-team State meet, but suffice it to say that Perkins County, NPSP, Doniphan-Trumbull and a few other teams will be in the mix for the title.
In the SPVA girls' race, Kyra Robbins of Bridgeport won in 22:22 followed by Tessa Smith and Alayna Smith of Chase County. Chase County won the team title with 14 points followed by Bridgeport with 17.
At the Omaha Metro meet, Westside took four of the top seven spots led by Ryan Kugler (16:04) and Conor Gross (16:13). Westside won the team title with 50 points followed by Papio South (61) and Millard West (71). We're expecting Creighton Prep and Millard North to battle for the third spot at the A2 District meet, and Prep finished one spot ahead of Millard North on Thursday.
Top-ranked Kate Ebmeier of Millard West won her 5th title of the season in 18:50, followed by fab freshman and A#3 Mabel Henningsen (Marian, 19:04) and A#7 Litzey Fredette (Millard West, 19:26). I believe the Millard West girls have won all of their meets this year, and their 35 points easily outdistanced Marian's 98 points for the Metro title.
At the River City meet held at Skutt, Lincoln Wolfe and a slightly-ill Tommy Rice ran together for most of the race before Wolfe won by two seconds in 16:56. Mount Michael's Mesach Nkurubujango was third in 17:08. In the five-team meet, Skutt won by one point over Mount Michael.
Cece Kramper of Duchesne and Amalia Doty of Gross were the only two ranked runners in the River City girls field, and Kramper won by 16 seconds in 20:09. Duchesne won the team title by 3 points over Skutt. Maggie Lickteig of Duchesne and Gabi Westfall of Skutt did not compete.
Class B#1 Lincoln Pius traveled to Atlantic, Iowa and dominated the field, placing their top 7 varsity boys among the top 11 finishers. David Krier (15:58) and Joe Majerus (16:20) took the top two spots. The Pius girls also took home a team title lead by Malia Woosley's 7th place finish in 20:26.
How's this for resilience?
Last week we were forwarded a screenshot of a Facebook post about a Hershey athlete facing a cancer diagnosis, so we chased down her mom for more information:
Braislee Wilson, a freshman runner for the Hershey High School Cross Country team, was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Cancer after receiving her routine high school physical this past summer. After many ultrasounds, scans, and biopsies, Brasilee underwent surgery to remove her entire thyroid, 36 lymph nodes, and also had a neck dissection at The University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. 15 out of the 36 lymph nodes, plus both sides of her thyroid tested positive for cancer. Through it all, Braislee has been incredibly strong, wanting nothing more than to come back and run with her team. This is the first time in five years that Hershey has had enough girls to have a girl’s cross country team.
Three weeks after surgery, Braislee is already back on the course and she plans to compete at Districts tomorrow. Braislee and her family have been so grateful for her coaches, Mr. Bottom and Mr. Huebner, plus all the members of her team. They have been so supportive and encouraging. The team wears #bbrave bracelets at every meet. Braislee will start her cancer treatments in November.
Please send a few prayers Braislee's way for a cancer-free future.
Odds and ends
We're really proud of the video that we produced for the Junior High State meet. Videos from drones, the lead cart and several vantage points throughout the race help 'sell' our great sport to kids who are cross country curious. It's the kind of product that ought to be be produced for the High School State meet. We happen to know a group of people who have the technology, editing acumen, interest and free time (literally, we're free) to make a banger State video. Wouldn't that be cool?
On Saturday I posted the following item on both Twitter and Facebook: Junior high XC parents go hard. Just got this text from Nerd Junior at the State JH meet: “A girl collapsed at her parents’ feet with 200 meters to go. Her parents rolled her over and got her back up and pushed her back into the race.”
Unfortunately, the early Facebook comments directed towards the parents were so scathing that I deleted the post. On Sunday I was able to watch the video of the fall and I realized that Junior's in-the-moment description wasn't accurate. In reality, the young girl got to the top of the hill, decided she was tired and barrel rolled under the rope that separated the runners from the spectators. Two women patted her on the back and gave her encouragement. Under completely her own power, the girl rolled back onto the course, got up and finished the final 200 meters.
As I ran by a 6000th election sign this morning, I remembered that ten years ago I wrote a children's book about a young boy who decided to campaign to be the mayor of Omaha. "Jack and Noah's Big Election," and its predecessor book "Jack and Noah's Big Day", are chapter books with a Nebraska flavor for ages 8-14 that include heavy doses of humor, family and faith. If you're looking for a way to engage your child in non-screen entertainment, check out the Amazon link here.
We have a continuing debate within Nerd HQ whether including religious references (such as our opening story) is worth the risk of alienating a portion of our followers who don't believe in God. While we don't intend to offend anyone, quite a few Nerds believe that our lives are richer when guided by faith. I know we're moving towards a society where we're only supposed to be fans of people who subscribe to our social, political and social views, but I'd like to think that a shared love of XC/T&F can conquer our individual differences.
I'd like to send a thank you to Mrs. Nerd for putting up with me for this last month of the season. She doesn't get a lot of time with me during championship season. There are a dozen Nerd spouses out there who have seen a lot less of their Nerds this fall, and I appreciate that they're willing to share their Nerd with the community.
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First published at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle on October 16, 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 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.