The Ord High School cross country teams got their season started this last Thursday as they competed in the St. Paul Invitational. Both teams finished in third place in the ten-team field. “We had a really good start to the year”, Coach Derry Trampe commented. “I was surprised with how well our kids ran but I also looked for us to be pretty competitive this year. We have a lot of young kids on our team, but they are working hard in practice and that make them a successful team this year.” The junior high teams competed as well but no team scores are kept at this meet.
The girls scored 45 points for their 3rd place finish. Nebraska Christian won the meet with 23 points while Fullerton was second with 30 points. Rounding out the team scores were: Ravenna (47), St. Paul (76), St. Edward (88), and Arcadia-Loup City, Palmer, Riverside, and South Central Unified did not field enough runners to score in the team standings. Leading the way for the girls was senior Macy Warner. Macy finished in 7th place in a time of 23:28. “Macy is coming off a good season last year and really picked up where she left off last year”, Trampe said. “She is a very steady performer and a great leader in practice.” Also earning medals in the meet were Izzy Jeffres and Valeria Chacon-Allerano who finished 11th and 12th respectively. Jefferes finished the course in 24:20 while Chacon-Allerano was right behind her in 24:22. “I was really happy to see both of these young girls earn a medal”, Trampe stated. “Izzy got out early in the race and held on for the medal while Valeria really made a strong move in the last 1,000 meters to close in on Izzy. Both girls are going to be a big part of our team this year.” Also scoring for the Chants was Hannah Masin. Hannah finished 23rd in the meet in a time of 29:28. “It was great to see Hannah able to run in our first meet this year”, the coach said. “Last year she had to deal with some injury issues and had to miss a lot of the season. It is nice to have her back and running full time.” Serving as a pusher for the girls was Elisabeth Bengston. Bengston finished in 31st place in a time of 34:12. “Elisabeth continues to get stronger every year”, Trampe said. “She just needs to gain a little confidence in her abilities and run the entire race. When she does that, she will knock a lot of time off her race.”
The Chanticleer boys scored 49 points to earn their third-place finish in the meet. St. Paul won the meet with 33 points while Nebraska Christian was second with 40 points. “Our boys were right in the mix of the team race”, Trampe noted. “It would not have taken much for us to move up in the standings and I am really happy with that when you take into account that we have no seniors on our team this year.” Earning medals for the Chants were Garret Severance and Elijah Pollard. The two freshmen finished 9th and 10th in 18:32 and 18:39 respectively. “Having two freshmen earn medals in the first meet of the year is pretty exciting”, Trampe said. “Those two guys got out and did some running this summer and it paid off for them at this meet.” The other two scoring runners for the boys were Grady Moudry (18th in 19:25) and Hayden Kluthe (20th in 19:36). “Grady really ran a great second half of the race to move up in the individual standings and just missed out on getting a medal”, Coach Trampe stated. “He is going to be a very good runner for us if he continues to finish races like this. Hayden got out great in the early stages of the race, but I think the hills got to him a little. He has the talent and determination to be a great runner this season. I look for a lot of good things from him this year.” Pushers for the team were Brodie Klimek and Braden Bruha. Klimek had a great run and finished 28th in a time of 20:26. Bruha finished in 40th place in a time of 21:40. “I was really pleased with how Brodie ran in this race”, Trampe said. “Like Grady, he ran a great race and really came on in the late stages of the race. Braden ran a solid race, but he struggled a little midway through the race. I look for him to have some good races for us this year because he is getting stronger all the time.” Also competing in the meet were Gage Sintek and Skylar Probst. Sintek finished 47th in a time of 22:40 and Probst was 55th in a time of 24:42. “Gage is working his way through shin splints and I was happy that he was able to get to the finish line” Trampe said. “He will get better as they heal up because he has some natural running talent. Skylar impressed me with the way he competed in the meet. He has been struggling a little in the early season practices, but he ran much better than I expected in this meet on a really tough course. He has the potential to be a good young runner.”
In the junior high race, the Chants had three girls finish in the top 10 to earn medals and they had one boy bring home a medal. Allison Wheeler won the girls race while Avery Bruha finished 6th and Victoria Chacon-Allerano was 8th. By finishing in the top ten all of them won a medal at the meet. Allison’s winning time over the 1.5 mile course was 11:49. Bruha finished in 12:21 and Victoria recorded a finish time of 12:46. Brody Blair was the top finisher for the junior high boys as he placed 4th in a time of 10:31 to earn his medal. Knox Nelson just missed winning a medal when he finished 14th in a time of 12:00. Judson Collier finished 24th in the boys race in a time of 15:14.