CCS XC shows experience, maturity at McCook Invite

The Chase County cross country teams can cross one of their toughest meets of the year off their schedule with the completion of the McCook Invite last Thursday.
Held on the notoriously hilly Heritage Hills Golf Course, the Longhorns showed improvement in their preparation this year.
Head Coach Carl Zuege said his teams’ mental approach to the challenge of that course was better than it has been in several years.
“The kids were confident and ready to face the hills. Afterwards, they let me know how tough it was, but I really liked our attitude going into the races,” Zuege said.
CCS also enjoyed a cooler day, around 75 degrees, than has been typical at the invite.
Chase County’s boys team finished third behind North Platte and district opponent Holdrege.
Haven Hauxwell placed fifth to lead the Longhorns. Brayan Reyes just missed out on a medal with a 16th place finish and Navy Smith was 17th. Trevin Moreno also finished in the top 20.
Tessa Smith continued her streak of medaling with a 15th place finish.
The boys’ JV team placed second. CCS was led by Lleyton McDaniel in ninth place and Conner Einspahr in 15th as medalists.
The Longhorns will have a change of pace this week at Crandall Creek Golf Course in Ogallala Thursday.
“I think we have a few kids who feel more competitive on the hills, but by and large most of them are looking forward to the much flatter and much faster course in Ogallala,” Zuege said.
The course will also host this year’s C-5 district. With 20 teams there, CCS will get a good look at district opponents and some of Class C and D’s best runners.
“I know that our team is looking forward to seeing how we stack up. We have this unique opportunity where we run back to back meets at Ogallala and UNK before we run them back to back again for districts and state a few weeks from now. I expect fast times and great competition on Thursday.,” Zuege said.
Although CCS  is monitoring the health of one runner, Zuege said the team is still pretty healthy as the end of the season approaches. Districts will be Oct. 12.
Results of the McCook Invite are as follows:
Boys varsity team scores—1. North Platte, 21; 2. Holdrege, 30; 3. Chase County, 54; 4. Perkins County, 70; 5. Hershey, 76; 6. McCook, 77; 7. Ogallala, 139; 8. Sutherland, 147; 9. Wray, 172.
Boys varsity individual results—, 1. Mason McGreer, 16:44.53, Perkins County; 2. Nikolas Schrock, 17:30.19, Holdrege; 3. Jack Knapp, 17:33.26, North Platte; 4. Luke Tegtmeier, 17:33.70, North Platte; 5. Haven Hauxwell, 17:40.59, Chase County; 6. Rian Teets, 17:43.76, North Platte; 7. Roman Urbom, 17:53.53, Holdrege; 8. Aiden Hawks, 17:57.89, North Platte; 9. Josiah Wilkinson, 18:03.19, McCook; 10. Noah Canas, 18:28.79, Sidney; 11. Christophe Taylor, 18:33.31, Holdrege; 12. Michael Golus, 18:35.16, Holdrege; 13. Chase Moorhead, 18:35.85, Hershey; 14. Elijah Goodell, 18:39.35, Perkins County; 15. Grant Cappel, 18:40.08, McCook; Brayan Reyes, 18:50.30, Chase County; Navy Smith, 18:51.12, Chase County; Trevin Moreno, 19:11.87, Chase County; Andrew Wiest, 20:28.94, Chase County; Spencer Kelley, 20:34.12, Chase County.
Boys JV team scores— 1. North Platte, 11; 2. Chase County, 45; 3. Hershey, 56; 4. Perkins County, 60; 5. McCook, 80.
Boys JV individual results—1. James Peters, 19:34.63, North Platte; 2. Keith Morash, 20:21.69, Sandhills Valley; 3. Nicholas Zurn, 20:37.04, North Platte; 4. Mario Maytorena, 20:38.34, Sidney; 5. Nolan Teets, 20:41.19, North Platte; 6. Jackson Arensdorf, 20:57.84, Hershey; 7. Luke Thramer, 21:03.75, North Platte; 8. Jace Kackmeister, 21:06.31, North Platte; 9. Lleyton McDaniel, 21:17.47, Chase County; 10. Danny Zuniga, 21:40.22, Sandhills Valley; 11. Seth Steele, 21:40.93, North Platte; 12. Brett Morgan, 21:44.60, Hershey; 13. Asher Strecker, 21:44.99, North Platte; 14. John Meza, 21:48.24, Sidney; 15. Connor Einspahr, 21:50.83, Chase County; Kevin Dannatt, 21:51.66, Chase County; Jesus Juarez, 23:00.85, Chase County; Brandon Chavira, 23:01.01, Chase County; James Bomba, 24:46.32, Chase County; Kris Burke, 25:05.33, Chase County
Girls varsity team scores—1. North Platte, 28; 2. Sidney, 36; 3. McCook, 45; 4. Ogallala, 57; 5. Holdrege, 86; 6. Chase County, 91.
Girls varsity individual results—, 1. Lindee Henning, 19:57.16, Ogallala; 2. Emma Cappel, 20:39.18, McCook; 3. Talissa Tanquary, 21:29.60, Sidney; 4. Jada Hothan, 21:51.78, North Platte; 5. Brecken Gale, 21:53.55, McCook; 6. Kylee Kampfe, 22:28.10, Sidney; 7. Lachelle Benitez Cedillo, 22:50.10, North Platte; 8. Brooklyn Brown, 23:30.56, North Platte; 9. Mary Nielsen, 23:52.88, North Platte; 10. Kaitlyn Jewett, 23:53.98, Holdrege; 11. Lauren Henning, 23:56.10, Ogallala; 12. Olivia Dobesh, 24:16.33, North Platte; 13. Eden Jordan, 24:19.30, Sidney; 14. Laurel Dadgostar, 24:20.46, Sidney; 15. Tessa Smith, 24:32.17, Chase County; Esmeralda Lopez, 26:59.19, Chase County; Faith Hauxwell, 29:10.93, Chase County; Paige Nickless, 30:31.60, Chase County.