The Ord High School Cross Country teams got their season started this last Thursday at the St. Paul Invitational held at the hilly Miletta Vista course. On a hot and humid morning, the Chanticleers established some quality marks to get their season started. “I thought all of our kids ran smart races today”, Head Coach Derry Trampe commented. “The conditions were tough, and this is a very challenging course and our kids held back at the start and then moved up throughout the race to finish strong. This was not the type of race where you want to chase personal best times and you are there to compete for places and a low team score.”
The Chanticleer boys got that low score when they scored 17 points to claim the team title. The meet featured Class D scoring by scoring the top 3 of the first 5 runners for each team. Nebraska Christian finished 2nd with 30 points while Fullerton was 3rd with 44. Rounding out the team scores were: Humphrey St. Francis (50), Central City (51), St. Paul (57), Palmer (71), Arcadia-Loup City (78), Twin River (86), Centura (86), Riverside (103), Ravenna (118), and St. Edward did not field enough runners to score as a team. “I was happy that our boys won the meet”, Trampe said. “I thought we would have a solid team this year because they did a lot of running this summer to get ready for the season. We have some work to do to get better but we can be a very good team by the end of the year.”
In the girls’ team race, the Chants finished 5th in the 13-team field with 42 points. “Our girls ran well but we struggled in the last mile of the race”, Coach Trampe noted. “As their conditioning gets better, they will finish higher in races. They got out well and put themselves in a good position, but the last part of the race just got to them. I look for a lot of good things to happen by the end of the year if we keep working hard in practice.” Nebraska Christian won the meet with 10 points while Central City and Ravenna finished 2nd and 3rd with 26 and 27 points respectively. Rounding out the team scores were: Fullerton (29), St. Paul (60), Arcadia-Loup City (74), and Humphrey St. Francis, Twin River, Palmer, Centura, Riverside, and St. Edward did not field enough runners to score as a team.
Izzy Jeffres was the top runner for the girls as she finished 11th in the field of 36 runners to bring home a medal. Jeffres covered the 2.8-mile course in a time of 25:17. Avery Bruha just missed earning a medal when she finished 17th in a time of 26:23. Skylar Kokes was the last scoring runner for the Chants and finished 23rd in a time of 32:13. Elisabeth Bengston served as the pusher for the team and finished in a time of 36:58 to place 32nd.
Garret Severance, Elijah Pollard, Grady Moudry, and Brodie Klimek all came home with medals from the meet by placing in the top 15. Severance led the way with a 4th place finish in a time of 18:30. Pollard was right behind him in 5th place with a time of 18:39. Moudry also finished in the top 10 as he came in 8th in a time of 20:10. Klimek ran a great race to finish in 12th place in a time of 20:49. Gavin Whited finished just outside the medals as he placed 18th in the field of 68 runners in a time of 21:44. Severance, Pollard, and Moudry served as the scoring runners while Klimek and Whited were pushers for the team this week. Braden Bruha finished 25th in a time of 23:05 and Skyler Probst was 39th in a time of 25:31.
In the junior high race, the Chants brought home two medals from the meet. Peyton Melnick ran 12:56 over the 1.5-mile course to finish 10th in a field of 28 runners to bring home a medal. Finn Reilly covered the 1.5-mile course in a time of 10:33 to finish 3rd out of 39 runners to earn his medal. Just missing out on earning a medal were Kytan Scheideler, Jacob Medina, and James Piskorski. The trio finished 11th, 12th, and 13th respectively in times of 11:46, 11:59, and 11:59. Dakota Rogers was 20th in 13:11 and Leo Wolf finished in 23rd place in a time of 13:29. Jaxon Edghill got injured during the race but was able to finish 31st in a time of 14:43.