Hauxwell 14th at junior high state cross country

Out of a field of 548, Chase County eighth grader Haven Hauxwell placed 14th at Saturday’s junior high state cross country meet.
Following his last cross country meet for CCS on Sept. 23, Haven continued to train in preparation for the state meet.
Runners were divided into championship, 305 runners, and open divisions, 243 runners, according to times. The size of the school was not considered.
Haven’s dad Troy Hauxwell, CCS Activities Director, said there weren’t many small schools at the meet.
Haven was grouped for the championship race in the second starting box with seven runners from Bellevue Lewis and Clark. The race was run on a 3,000 meter course at Walnut Creek Recreation Area adjacent to Papillion-LaVista High School.
Hauxwell said it was a zoo at the start and a bottleneck early on almost stopped runners.
Coming out of the traffic jam in around 23rd place, Haven worked his way through the field throughout the race.
Hauxwell said Haven enjoyed the course which was more cross country oriented compared to the golf courses most teams run on.
The meet was won by Omaha’s Eli Murillo running for R.M Marrs Magnet Center.
Hauxwell said Murillo set a course record in the win with a run of 10:02.38. Murillo won the mile at the 2021 junior high state track meet and has also competed at the national level of Junior Olympics.
There was just over seven seconds difference between eighth place, 10:43.17, and Haven’s finish of 10:50.21. The final medalist in 25th place ran an 11:03.64.
After several hot cross country meets in southwest Nebraska races, Hauxwell said the day was nice, but they noticed the humidity when they did a walk through of the course.
Hauxwell said though the state course was more difficult than any Haven had run during the season, he knocked four seconds off his time from the  Ogallala meet Sept. 23.
“He ran well,” Hauxwell said, adding, it was good experience running against a lot of kids.
Hauxwell said Haven may run in the Junior Olympics or find a race in Colorado, but Haven is also looking forward to switching gears and preparing for basketball season.