CCS boys XC finishes third at SPVA

With SPVA XC wrapped up last Thursday, all that lies ahead for the Chase County cross country teams is the postseason.
Monday, announcements were made across the state that many district meets were being moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid predicted poor weather. That included Chase County’s C5 district in Ogallala.
The boys district is loaded with talent.
Five teams in the district have been ranked in the Class C top 10 at some point during the season. Defending state champion Gothenburg looks primed to claim one team berth from the district and defend its title.
Holdrege is new to the district this season. The Dusters were ranked seventh in the last Nebraska Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
After that, Chase County Head Coach Carl Zuege says its a wide open race for the third team to qualify for state.
Zuege said Alliance has a really good crew, Hershey has run extremely well for Coach Kyle Bottom this season and McCook and Broken Bow both have the potential to post some low scores.
“And of course we can figure right in that top three if things go our way, too,” Zuege added.
The top 15 individual finishers also qualify.
“It will take our best race, but I know our boys will be ready to compete and give it their all. We are certainly not as healthy team-wise as I’d like to be, but I’m sure that’s probably true for a lot of teams. The good thing is we get to show up  and see which teams can get it done,” Zuege said.
For the girls’ side of the district, Zuege said there are several good teams.
With only four runners, seniors Faith Hauxwell and Esmeralda Lopez and sophomores Paige Nickless and Tessa Smith,  Zuege said the goal is about finishing the season together.
It’s been a very dependable group that’s shown up to compete at each meet, Zuege said, including Smith, who was hurting at the SPVA meet, but wanted to run so CCS would have a team score.
“Tessa Smith ran through some pretty obvious pain, just to make sure that her team could score. All of these girls have done that at one time or another, and I think that is what I’ll remember about them,” Zuege said.
Girls second, boys third at SPVA
With only two schools fielding full girls teams, CCS finished second to Bridgeport.
Nickless had one of her best races of the year and led the Longhorns with an 11th place finish. Lopez placed 12th, Hauxwell 15th and Smith was 16th.
North Platte St. Pat’s, the 2022 Class D state runner up, won SPVA by 24 points over Hershey. CCS was third.
The Longhorns sent 11 boys onto the course, six were designated varsity and their top four finishes counting in the team race.
Haven Hauxwell finished fourth behind three of the top four runners in Class D, No. 1 Mason McGreer of Perkins County, No. 2 Elijah Goodell of Perkins County and No. 4 Jarrett Miles of NPSP.
Also medaling for CCS was Brayan Reyes at 13th and Navy Smith in 15th.
Zuege said he’s not sure the Longhorns were necessarily in the right mind set this meet.
“For districts we need to be ready to run a fast and rugged race. We seemed to tire and show less finish than we needed to on Thursday. Hopefully we can recapture that this week and put our best effort together,” Zuege said.
SPVA Conference Meet
Girls individual results—1. Kyra Robbins, 22:46.90, Bridgeport; 2. Emma Elliott, 23:07.16, Hershey; 3. Taylor Bright, 23:13.38, Bridgeport; 4. Elizabeth Velasquez, 23:45.06, Bridgeport; 5. Madison Ribble, 24:00.14, Bridgeport; 6. Brenna Colglazier, 24:04.80, Perkins County; 7. Samantha Hill, 24:32.85, Bridgeport; 8. Shannen Acheson, 24:38.54, Kimball; 9. Grace Cox, 24:44.17, Hershey; 10. Helana Pettit, 24:59.76, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 11. Paige Nickless, 25:45.33, Chase County; 12. Esmeralda Lopez, 25:46.68, Chase County; 13. Madi Swesey, 25:48.03, Perkins County; 14. Savage (Savvy) Miles, 27:22.82, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 15. Faith Hauxwell, 27:44.08, Chase County; 16. Tessa Smith, 29:21.80, Chase County.
Boys team results—1. North Platte St. Patrick’s, 30; 2. Hershey, 54; 3. Chase County, 72; 4. Perkins County, 73; 5. Kimball, 140; 6. Bridgeport, 141; 7. Sutherland, 158.
Boys individual results— 1. Mason McGreer, 16:28.00, Perkins County; 2. Jarrett Miles, 16:53.10, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 3. Elijah Goodell, 16:54.90, Perkins County; 4. Haven Hauxwell, 17:21.90, Chase County; 5. Porter Connick, 17:52.20, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 6. Coltan Ham, 17:54.20, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 7. Dimitri Pettit, 17:56.90, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 8. Jordan Arensdorf, 18:02.10, Hershey; 9. Chase Moorhead, 18:02.80, Hershey; 10. Billy Tolstedt, 18:10.00, North Platte St. Patrick’s; 11. Ethan Elliott, 18:29.50, Hershey; 12. Ezra McConnell, 18:41.80, Hershey; 13. Brayan Reyes, 18:44.30, Chase County; 14. Cayler Hacker, 18:46.20, Hershey; 15. Navy Smith, 19:01.80, Chase County; Spencer Kelley, 19:29.70, Chase County; Andrew Wiest, 19:58.20, Chase County; Lleyton McDaniel, 20:34.10, Chase County; Brandon Chavira, 20:40.80, Chase County; Connor Einspahr, 20:55.70, Chase County; Kevin Dannatt, 20:56.90, Chase County; Jesus Juarez, 21:31.10, Chase County; Kris Burke, 25:05.40, Chase County