Contributor: The Nerd
Welcome to the Nerd Life
More than likely you're an old friend of the Nerd team and you know what we do. However, we're always looking for new followers to spread the awesomeness of cross country (and T&F). Here's an introduction to the Nerds and what you can expect this fall.
We're a group of over 20 volunteers who are devoted to XC and T&F. A few of our Nerds contribute photos to local newspapers but most are us are the non-media types; we're parents, runners, fans and other Nebraskans who want to promote these two great sports. So we're kind of in the media space - and we were recently recognized by the Lincoln Track Club and the Nebraska Coaches Association for the work we do.
We're not in it for the money. We don't accept advertising, the few t-shirts we've sold have generated some eye-popping losses, and we don't get paid to shoot meets. The only payments the Nerds get are one free Nerd t-shirt and a lot of thank you's from people like you.
Every year we hear from runners, parents and coaches who love the sport but haven't heard about us. Could you do us a favor? Would you be willing to post something on your social media account(s) telling your friends about us? If you're a coach, could you e-mail the runners' parents and tell them about us? We know that distance running will never be as sexy as the ball sports, but we want more people to know about this great sport.
We're active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @preprunningnerd. We attend 5-15 high school, junior high and collegiate cross country meets each week, and we post thousands of free pictures on our Facebook account for you to use.
Our website www.preprunningnerd.com is the largest resource for Nebraska high school XC and T&F news. During the fall we post season previews on our Blog tab, team rankings (by coaches) and individual rankings (by the Nerds) on our Rankings tab, meet results and weekly Nerdsletters. Our website also has helpful advice for athletes who are considering whether to compete in college.
Because we're not a typical media group, we don't act like a typical media group. We tell jokes. We like God and we'll talk about Him from time to time. We cheer for the fast and the slow, and we do our best to take pictures of all of the runners. Our photography skills range from average to excellent depending on the day.
Most importantly, we really love the sport. If you think we're casting shade on a team or a runner, it's not intentional. Our goal is to put runners, coaches and the sport in the best light. Please join us growing the sport.
Comparing cross country results
Experienced followers know this already but cross country is not like track. If a kid in North Platte runs a 4:25 1600 and a kid in Omaha runs a 4:35 1600, I'm confident that the North Platte kid is the faster of the two. Cross country results don't work like that. While most high school races are listed as 5000 meters, they could range from 4800 to 5200 meters depending on how they're measured, whether they're permanently marked, whether the course has shifted due to construction or weather, etc. Even more significantly, course difficulty varies widely. The Augustana, Fremont and Walnut Grove (Omaha) courses are generally considered to be flat and fast, while the Kearney Country Club course is considerably hillier. Because of these variations there are no State records for cross country, although many meet hosts keep track of course records.
When we prepare our weekly rankings, we don't have a resource to know, for example, how the Burwell course compares to Hartington. We also realize that a race on a Tuesday may have drastically different weather than one held later in the week. Consequently, our rankings rely heavily on how runners finish relative to others in a race. For example, Sandy Creek freshman Madison Shaw won Friday's meet at Auburn over three previous Class C State medalists, and that result elevated Madison from unranked to #6 in this week's Class D rankings. We consider a number of other factors but this is our explanation for why a Class A girl who runs a 19:30 5K next week might not be ranked while a 20:00 runner may be.
Turn it loose
Tony Chapman is a businessman by day and a Harvest Sports writer most of his other waking hours, but he's also been a cross country dad the past four years. On Friday he posted a great article about cross country, Turn It Loose, at his website https://flatwatersports.beehiiv.com/p/august-30-turn-it-loose. In addition to his cross country love letters, but he's an absolute must-read when it comes to Nebraska high school ball sports.
Photos!
The first week of the season only consisted of three days and many teams choose to delay the start of their season. We're still working on photos but here's a sampling of the places we visited:
We post all of our photos at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd and you're free to share them. (If you're a media outlet, we have different rules.)
Wonder where we're headed next? By Monday of each week at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/xcresults we post the schedule of all high school meets being held in Nebraska that week, and we'll add a Nerd name after the meet location if one of the Nerds is planning to be there. Keep in mind that all of the Nerds are doing this as a hobby, so a work, family or school conflict could prevent them from attending.
Results
Thanks to input from our followers, we create a Nebraska high school meet schedule each week. In addition to using that schedule to assign Nerds, we also use it to track down results. While we wish that all meet results were posted to Athletic.net, about one-third of Class C/D meet results are not - so we do the legwork to find them for you. The results for last week are posted at https://www.preprunningnerd.com/xcresults. Here are a few things that caught our eye:
At the Scottsbluff meet, Class D two-time defending champs Hemingford had their top three girls finish between 21:18 and 22:07. We noted in our season preview that Dakota Horstman and Aurora Hinman just needed a third runner to put them in the title hunt, and Ainslee Woltman appears to fit the bill.
At that same meet, Gordon-Rushville had three top-10 runners finishing between 21:54 and 22:16. Freshman Kynsleigh Krebs was their top finisher.
Continuing with the Class D girls theme, Mullen placed three girls in the top 10 at Sutherland in a meet that featured all four Classes. Mullen is led by Peyton Paxton and needs two of the girls from its outstanding sophomore class to fill out their scoring, so they're off to a good start.
Our preseason intel told us that Hailey Hengtgen of Palmyra, who finished 11th in Class C last fall, would not be running until mid-season due to an early-summer hip surgery. Consequently, we were a bit surprised to see that she won the East Butler meet on Thursday.
The GINW meet on Friday was a little less competitive than expected because all of the Columbus Scotus girls ran the 'Silver' race so they could be back to Columbus that night for homecoming. Add 'flexibility' to the reasons why cross country is awesome.
By comparing times from the two races at GINW, we see some impressive results. Alexis Ericksen of Aurora did not run T&F last spring but had an impressive win of 16:19 over the 4k course. Hastings St. Cecilia freshman Lily Daly finished 2nd in her debut, four seconds behind in 16:23. Scotus freshman Avery Heinrichs posted the 5th-fastest time of 16:57 out of the silver race to lead the Scotus squad.
We already considered the Holdrege boys to be a solid contender in Class C, and they bolstered their resume at the GINW 4k. Samuel McQuistan, Christophe Taylor and Roman Urbom - a freshman, sophomore and junior, respectively - took the 3rd through 5th spots in 13:49-13:51, and junior Michael Golus was 8th in 14:05.
Based on the Auburn meet results from last Friday, the Auburn girls team will be contending for the Class C title. Liston Crotty, Olivia Crotty and Hadley Mazzulla placed 4th through 6th.
In our Class B preview, we noted that based solely on their returners, the Beatrice boys didn't look like a team to fear. However, we think they're a top-five team in part because of two freshman who help round out their squad. On Saturday at Norris, senior Josiah Quinones finished 2nd, senior Lucas Frazier finished 6th, and freshmen Tyler Scott (21st) and James Given (28th) completed the scoring. They finished second behind defending State champion Skutt.
The Norris meet was the first of several showdowns this season between the Norris and Elkhorn North girls. Norris edged Elkhorn North 22-23 but with key pieces missing from both teams; Kennedy Powell did not compete for Norris while Ella Ford and Jenna Polking sat out for Elkhorn North.
Not all of the top-ranked athletes competed last week, but those who did were victorious in their season debuts. Class D #1 Delanie Runnels of Niobrara-Verdigre won at Burwell, Class B #1 Kendall Zavala of Norris and Braden Lofquest of Gretna East won their home meets, and Class A #1 Kate Ebmeier of Millard West won the senior race at Class of Metro. Hailey O'Daniel of Arlington has her first race at Omaha Concordia on Thursday, Mason McGreer of Perkins County runs in North Platte on Thursday, Juan Gonzalez of Fremont opens at Augustana on Friday, and Tyler Hetz of Gothenburg runs at Minden on Saturday.
We saw Amalia Doty's performance at Class of Metro on Saturday - 5th overall and 1st in Class B among the four races - but we wanted to see another result before we ranked her. She earned her ranking yesterday by winning the Plattsmouth meet over four 2023 State medalists. I ran into her after the race and asked her where she was last year; she replied, "Running 25-minute races." She's recorded times of 20:25 and 20:34 over four days and has definitely earned her spot in next week's rankings.
Class of Metro results
The Class of Metro meet held on Saturday morning is a bit unique in that it has a mixed-gender race for each grade. In addition to being a useful time trial for coaches looking to firm up their varsity squad for the next meet, it also gives the younger runners a chance to shine. We combined the results of the four races to identify the top ten finishers for each gender. Keep in mind that the freshman race was run about two hours before the senior race, so the seniors typically face the worst heat and humidity.
Girls:
Mabel Henningsen (9th), Marian, 19:36
Kate Ebmeier (12th), Millard West, 20:00
Abbigail Durow (11th), Millard South, 20:05
Tatum Nielsen (11th), Bellevue West, 20:17
Amalia Doty (11th), Omaha Gross, 20:25
Alexis Chadek (11th), Papio LaVista, 20:27
Sadie Osher (10th), Millard West, 20:28
Maggie Licktieg (12th), Duchesne, 20:41
Taia Green (9th), Millard West, 20:57
Cece Kramper (10th), Duchesne, 20:58
Boys:
Ryan Kugler (12th), Westside, 16:40
Michael Jones (12th), Millard West, 17:04
Mason Hutfles (12th), Millard North, 17:20
Marc Louthan (11th), Millard North, 17:25
Isaiah Coleman (10th), Millard South, 17:25
Aiden Gehring (9th), Papio South, 17:26
Aaron Robles (10th), Creighton Prep, 17:34
Blake Sampson, (11th), Millard North, 17:42
Henry Hansen (12th), Millard West, 17:47
Eli Bickley (10th), Millard West, 17:48
Freshmen on fire
We've already mentioned the great results by freshmen Mabel Henningsen, Madison Shaw, Lily Daly, Olivia Crotty, Kynsleigh Krebs and Avery Heinrichs. On Saturday at the stacked Norris meet we saw another freshman, Sage Holtmeier of Tri County, finish 6th ahead of several girls ranked in Class B. Sevyn Russell of Doniphan-Trumbull won her high school debut at the Fort Kearny meet on Friday night. Kayleigh Betka of McCool Junction was the first Class D finisher at her home meet. Finally, Grace Nokelby of Nebraska Christian won the St. Paul meet.
No Nerd nearby? No problem!
Despite our growing army of Nerds, you're more likely than not to find yourself at a cross country meet that we're not shooting. What to do? Why not shoot it yourself! Several years ago we posted an article on how to get the best results while shooting a cross country meet - the link is https://www.preprunningnerd.com/post/photo-tips. If you're too lazy to read that article, here's a few quick tips:
1) Arrive early enough to figure out the course layout and where the sun is in relation to the runners' paths. Many coaches send out maps in advance of the meet.
2) Sun in their faces, stars in their eyes - Illuminated faces show more details and emotion. If the sun is behind the runner, the bright background overpowers the image of the runner. At the Norris meet, one of my shooting points was into the sun, so the photo above isn't great (not sun on his face and a bright background behind him) and it required a bit of editing to make it acceptable.
3) Shoot a lot, delete most of them - As a runner approaches my position, I may shoot up to ten photos of her. Back at home, I delete the ones where her eyes are closed, her tongue is sticking out, it's not an athletic-looking pose compared to others, or she is on her 'downstep.' The downstop is the moment where the athlete plants her foot - and then she becomes shorter, the thigh of the plant leg can get a cottage-cheese look, and facial muscles and body parts sag. It's not a flattering look. If you've taken enough photos, you'll still be left with one or two at each vantage point that are good.
4) Plan on multiple vantage points. This can be tough on a square-shaped course but most courses allow you to see runners from at least three vantage points. Pick spots where (a) you have an almost straight-on view of athletes running directly at you and (b) there isn't a lot of spectator or weird clutter in the background. Every Nerd has a different approach, but I take most of my shots sitting down - that eliminates a lot of spectator clutter and increases the amount of sky in the picture. The photo above from Weeping Water was the result of several advantages - sun in the face, no background clutter, and a beautiful blue sky.
One tough kid
After Word Nerd posted her photos from the Medicine Valley meet, a parent replied with a message about how proud she was that her son had finished the race. Intrigued, I messaged her and asked for more information. Here's the full story:
Bryton Stalder is a freshman at Southern Valley. On June 29th he was helping repair a combine with his father and grandpa. Bryton was sitting on the front tire and his grandpa was on a ladder in front of the tire. When the combine restarted, it was unexpectedly already in gear and pitched ahead. As Bryton fell forward, he shoved his grandpa out of the way before falling beneath the front tire of the combine. He survived with extreme 'road rash' and a stress fracture in his pelvis. He used crutches and a walker for a few weeks but refused to skip weightlifting.
On Thursday, exactly two months after his accident and just two weeks after he resumed running, he raced at Medicine Valley. He finished.
He didn't earn a medal but he definitely won the day.
You're just really good at talking
Sometimes I forget how patient junior high coaches need to be, but I was reminded of this at the Weeping Water meet when I heard this exchange:
Coach: ‘If you can talk easily, you’re not running hard enough. If you can’t talk, you’re running too hard.”
Athlete: “I can talk a lot even when I’m running hard.”
Coach: “You’re just really good at talking.”
Show them how they can
On the first day of racing season I headed down to the Weeping Water meet. In addition to beautiful weather and amazing scenery, I got to meet Abigail Harvey, a middle school athlete at Conestoga.
Abigail uses a hand cycle to compete in cross country. Weeping Water includes some rough areas that were recently pasture, so it's not an easy course for runners and even more difficult for a wheeled racer. Abigail went 800 meters at last year's meet. On Thursday she knocked out the entire 2500 meters. It was the most impressive effort I saw all day.
Abigail also competes in wheelchair volleyball, basketball and track.
Don’t tell kids they can’t. Show them how they can.
Rankings
As a reminder, each Tuesday we try to update individual rankings for all four classes. Our social media posts only list the top 10 athletes, but our website lists the top 15 plus Watch List athletes. We posted the following caveats when we released the pre-season poll, but we think they are worth repeating:
1) We post rankings because it builds interest in XC and for no other reason;
2) We are biased towards recent times like T&F PRs;
3) Our rankings are not perfect but we feel we’re best positioned to issue them;
4) Nothing matters until the post season, and even then we think post-season results are overrated. If you run well, we’ll do our best to notice. Either way, run because you love to run.
5) Your worth is not your ranking or your times. You are defined by your character, not by us.
******
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.