By: Mike Glesinger Panhandle Post
Wednesday was a great day for Box Butte County Cross Country teams. Alliance competed in the C-5 District meet in Ogallala and Hemingford competed in the D-6 meet in Grant. These events were moved up one day due to the forecast of cold, wet weather on Thursday.
The Hemingford Girls team defended their District Title from 2022, taking the Championship with a team score of 10, ahead of Mullen, who finished 2nd, with a score of 18. Wallace was 3rd with 29 points. The Top 3 Teams qualify for State Competition. The Bobcats Girls also had three medalists with Sophomore Dakota Horstman finishing first with a time of 20:57.2. Junior Aurora Hinman was 3rd at 21:47.6 and Senior Carlye Kresl finished 7th at 22:30.5. Other team members were Teagan Thompson and Serenity Dillard.
Other Girls qualifiers from our area were...Tyrah American Horse (6th) and Rylie Barker (15th) from Gordon-Rushville. Cecilia Barron (5th) from Morrill. Taylor Bright (14th) from Bridgeport. The Top 15 Individuals also qualify for State.
Hemingford will also send their Boys team to State for a 2nd straight year. The Bobcat Boys finished 3rd in the team race with 69 points, behind North Platte St. Patrick's...1st with 11 points and Perkins County who was 2nd with 19 points. Hemingford junior, Boady Hunter was 12th at 18:57.0 and Freshman Austin Benda was 15th at 19:08.8. Other team members were Keirith Yale and Cody Penaluna. Jayme Clark is the Head Coach of Hemingford.
Other Boys qualifiers from our area were...Luke Laws (9th), Gordon-Rushville. Zeke Christiansen (10th), Garden County. Parker Wellnitz (11th), Hay Springs and Nathaniel Barker (13th), Bayard.
The Class C-5 Meet was held in Ogallala. The Alliance Boys Team qualified for State finishing 3rd in the team race with 73 points. Gothenburg was 1st with 16 points and Holdrege was the runner up with 41 points.
The Bulldogs top finisher was Sophomore Trevor Zurn who was 5th with a personal best time of 17:03.34. Other AHS team members were Freshman Asher Saka (19th), 18:04.24. Senior Ben Cassatt-Reina (24th), 18:17.32. Senior Mario Rodriquez (25th), 18:18.23. Sophomore Evan Merrihew (33rd), 18:50.30. Other team members.....Graydon Zahn and Devin Graham. Alliance is Coached by Kelly Erickson.
The remainder of the District Meets will be run on Thursday. The State Championships will be held at the Kearney Country Club on Friday, October 20. The schedule will go as follows.
Class B Girls - 12:00 Noon. Class A Girls - 12:30 Pm. Class B Boys - 1 pm. Class A Boys- 1:30 pm. Class B/A Awards- 2 pm.
Class D Girls- 2:30 pm. Class C Girls - 3 pm. Class D Boys - 3:30 pm. Class C Boys - 4 pm. Class D/C Awards- 4:30 pm. All Times are Central Time.