Elijah Pollard Qualifies for State
The Ord High School cross country teams competed in the C-3 district cross country meet in Wayne last Wednesday. When all the running was over the Chants left the meet with Elijah Pollard qualifying for the state meet. The top 3 teams and 15 individuals in each race qualify for the state meet. “Elijah had a very good day in the districts”, Coach Derry Trampe commented. “He has run consistently all season and had one of his better races in this meet. I am happy he was able to earn a state trip with all the work he has put in this season. I feel bad for our other runners that didn’t qualify because they have worked hard all season long. We have a lot of good runners on this team, and they will only get better next year.”
The Chanticleer boys scored 111 points to finish 7th in the 12-team field. “I thought going into the race it would be a battle between six teams for the top three spots and that we would be one of those teams”, Coach Trampe said. “We didn’t have our best day and if we had, we would have probably finished in fifth. It was a very competitive meet and I felt like we ran as well as we could have with most of our runners, and we just came up short.” Wayne won the meet with 48 points while Boone Central was second with 59 points. Bloomfield-Wausa grabbed the final qualifying spot, also scoring 59 points but finished third based on the tie breaker criteria. Rounding out the team scores were: Pierce (75), Scotus Central Catholic (91), Battle Creek (104), Columbus Lakeview (115), Hartington (116), O’Neill (135), North Bend Central (186), and Madison (239).
With only three runners in the race, the girls were not able to score as a team but could compete for individual honors. In the team race Scotus Central Catholic ran away with the team title with a low score of 21 points. Columbus Lakeview was runner-up with 55 points and Hartington was third with 59 points to qualify for state as a team. “I was pleased with how hard our girls ran in this race even though they could not score as a team”, Trampe said. “We have some talent in this group and can build a good team if we can get a few more girls out next year.” Rounding out the team scores were: Wayne (71), Battle Creek (102), Boone Central (105), O’Neill (111), Pierce (127), North Bend Central (145), Madison (153), and Bloomfield-Wasua and Ord did not field enough runners to score as a team.
To earn his spot in the state meet, Elijah Pollard finished in 9th place in the field of 72 runners. Pollard covered the 5,000-meter course in 18:06. “I was pleased with the way Elijah finished the last mile of the race”, Trampe said. “He moved up from 15th to 9th over that stretch and had a quality time on a challenging course. I am looking forward to watching him compete in the state meet.” Garret Severance, Grady Moudry, and Brodie Klimek were the other scoring runners for the Chants. Severance finished 31st in 19:30, Moudry was 34th in 19:32, and Klimek finished in 37th in 19:39. “I thought Grady and Brodie ran good races for us”, Trampe noted. “Brodie may have had his best race of the season. Garret was battling illness and just couldn’t power through it in this race. It is a tough break to work hard all year long and then get sick the day before the district meet. If these guys continue to work together and put in summer miles, they will have a very successful season next year.” The two pushers for the team were Gavin Whited and Brody Blair. Whited finished in 47th place in a time of 20:18 and Blair was 64th in 21:44. “Gavin was another kid that had a very good day at the district meet”, Trampe stated. “He is young and runs with a lot of grit. As he grows and gains his foot speed, he will be a great competitor for Ord. Brody did not have one of his better races in this meet. He got out a little slow and was just not able to recover. He is a very talented runner and will have a lot of great meets for us in the future.”
Avery Bruha was the top finisher for the girls and just missed out on qualifying for the state meet. Bruha finished in 19th place in a time of 23:20 which was less than 30 seconds from the top 15. “Avery ran a great race”, Trampe said. “She got out quick and battled the entire race. I was very happy with her performance especially since she has been working through a late season hip injury. She has a lot of talent and will be a great runner for Ord.” Izzy Jeffres finished in 37th place in a time of 24:58. “Izzy has run well all season but has been battling a lower leg injury for the past three weeks”, the coach stated. “If she had been healthy, she would have been right with Avery in the race. We need to get some miles in during the summer so we can be ready for the demands of the season and reduce the late season injuries.” Elisabeth Bengston finished 60th in the race in a time of 31:47. “Elisabeth showed a lot of improvement from the beginning of the season to the end”, Trampe said. “She was able to bring her time down from over 36 minutes to the low 30’s by the end of the year. I am proud of what she has accomplished this year and hope we can get her below the 30-minute mark next year.”
Elijah will compete in the state cross country meet on Friday, October 20 at the Kearney Country Club. The Class C boys are scheduled to run at 4:00 pm. Fans wanting to attend the state meet are reminded that tickets need to be purchased online. For more information about purchasing tickets, fans can visit the NSAA website or contact the AD’s office at the high school.