KEARNEY – Along with Wayne High’s Laura Hasemann placing fourth at state, several northeast Nebraska teams and runners were also being represented.
Moving into the Class C boys race, Hartington placed eighth with 129 points followed by O’Neill in 10th (139). Aurora was the top team holding off Malcolm (43-51).
Hartington and Pierce went one-two at state. Carson Noecker (Hartington) won the race in a time of 16:03 while Pierce’s Mason Sindelar came in second (16:16). O’Neill’s top runner was Brady Thompson placing 10th (17:07).
West Point-Beemer’s Brandon Mitzel placed 26th (17:48) while other individual Pierce runners came from Brock Bolling (48th – 18:12) and Gavin Geneski did not finish.
Northeast Nebraska Class A boys runners featured Matthew Protzman (20th – 16:44) of Norfolk and Mesuidi Ejerso (43rd – 17:11) of South Sioux City.
Bloomfield-Wausa was the top area Class D girls team finishing runner-up with 76 points behind Ainsworth who totaled 63 points. Battle Creek took eighth with 138 points and Pender placed 16th with 216 points.
Bloomfield-Wausa was led by Christina Martinson in ninth place in a time of 20:33. Battle Creek’s top runner was Afftynn Stusse (18th – 21:01); Alison Stineman of Lutheran High Northeast placed 21st (21:10); Piper Steinman of Pender (48th – 22:16); Brooklyn Kumm of Plainview (66th – 22:41) and Wisner-Pilger’s Laura Ramierz-Torres (124th – 25:07).
Axtell was the top Class D boys team with 69 points while area teams saw Stanton finish fifth with 114 points, BRLD take sixth with 115 points, Norfolk Catholic finished eighth with 133 points and Osmond ninth (136).
Crofton’s Connor Arens placed fifth in a time of 17:17. Norfolk Catholic’s top runner was Ben Hammond in 20th (17:56); Addison Smith of Bloomfield-Wausa (23rd – 18:05); Payton Biermann of Wisner-Pilger (29th – 18:08); Gabriel Potts of Crofton (49th – 18:31) and Cory Martinson of Bloomfield-Wausa (87th – 19:00).