A flying finish!
The Boone Central/Newman Grove girls and boys cross country teams concluded their 2013 seasons Friday striding with the best Class C runners in the state in the Nebraska Cross Country Championships at the Kearney Country Club.
The Lady Cardinals placed fourth in the Class C team standings, just eight points back of runner-up Norfolk Catholic. Late surges by several runners boosted the BC/NG boys to a sixth-place finish in a competitive battle among teams in the second five (10th place Boys Town was just 10 points behind the Cardinals).
The girls race did not exactly follow pre-meet form. Scotus did win the Class C title handily, albeit with different runners leading their charge, while Norfolk Catholic surprised Wayne and BC/NG teams they had trailed all season with a spirited performance.
Milford was fairly dominant in winning the boys championship, 23 points ahead of runner-up Mitchell.
Mitchell runners swept individual gold medalist honors. Freshman Celeste Cardona (20:18.4) breezed to victory in the girls race, 11 seconds in front of Wayne’s Marta Pulfer. In the boys competition, senior Levi Avila needed every stride to nip Trevor Jacobson of Minden – the pair finishing with matching times of 17:04.5.
Although Boone Central/Newman Grove’s efforts were impressive, like all true competitors, Coach Tom Dickey felt his charges were not completely satisfied Friday.
“They did a really nice job, but I have a feeling the kids wanted more,” Dickey said. “That should make them hungry for improvement next season!”
With young squads that will return 10 of Friday’s 12 runners, that’s good news for the future of the program.
The present was pretty good, too.
In fact, Dickey noted this was just the second time in program history a Cardinal team had two medalists in the same state meet.
Those medalists were sophomore Sheldon Beierman, seventh in the girls race in a time of 20:49, and junior Catherine Weeder, 14th with a 21:09 clocking. Senior Trevor Salber led the Cardinal boys, finishing 22nd in a personal-best 17:54.
Further details & results in Print & Online editions of Albion News
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