Bison boys speed into Lex top three

LEXINGTON, Neb. -- Resting Saturday's top placers did not stop the McCook High cross country boys from a top three finish at Lexington on Tuesday.

Senior Seth Chancellor stepped up to earn his own No. 3 finish while helping the Bison outrun seven teams.

McCook edged Wood River by one point which meant only host Lexington (20 points) and Hastings Adams Central (58) finished ahead of the Bison.

Sophomore Devon Meixner's career-best time (20:50.3) was another huge reason why the Bison boys placed third overall.

Junior Josh Huff (26th, 21:20.7), senior Marcus Eckhart (35th, 22:01.5) and sophomore Tyler Lytle with his personal-best 22:03 (36th) all finished far into the top half of this 94-runner field as did senior Keagen Lines (42nd, 22:52.4). Senior Anthony Lucero finished 40th (22:38.2).

Bison were rumbling all over the Lexington course considering there were 11 others who finished this 5,000- meter race: juniors Ethan Hayes (50th, 24:03), Josh Carter (51st, 24:03.1), Drew Harvie (52nd, 24:04.7), Marshall Sides (58th, 24:24.4), Jaxson Dueland (67th, 25:42.1), sophomore Nate Heskett (69th, 25:57.9), senior Cliff O'Dell (72nd, 26:33), junior Ethan Wilcox (73rd, 26:33.7) seniors Tony Madrell (74th, 27:00.5), Gavin Gomez (78th, 27:13.7) and Logan Verbus (81st, 27:53.6). Carter and Gomez both recorded career-best times.

Meanwhile, the McCook girls did not tally a team score with only four competing.

Sophomore Skyla Henning paced the Bison (31st, 28:29.5) followed by freshman Raylynn Miller (35th, 29:37), junior Emmalee Hall (38th, 30:15.4) and freshman Victoria Drullinger (41st, 31:51.9).

A field of 47 varsity girls conquered the 5,000-meter race.

Other area teams besides Bison were busy at the Lexington Invitational.

Freshman Ivan Varela (14th, 20:12.4) and junior Billie Paine (15th, 20:12.4) virtually tied while helping Al- ma-Southern Valley to seventh overall among the 10 boys teams.

Senior Abraham Whitson outran 70 competitiors and led Arapahoe (24th, 21:17.9).

Seniors Alex Porter (76th, 27:10.4) and Bailey Porter (77th, 27:10.7) raced to the finish line as Southwest leaders.

In the girls' race, Arapahoe senior and returning state qualifier Adrienne Einspahr (13th, 22:44.9) was 14 places ahead of any area runner.

Next best finishers were Southwest's Kylea Stritt with her career-best 27:11.2 (27th) and Alma-Southern Valley's Carson Wolfe (28th, 27:15.9). Southwest senior Kailee Miller was just two places behind in 30th (28:05.1).

Many area teams compete at today's Chase County Invite, beginning at 3:30 p.m. CDT.

The Bison are running next at Saturday's 10 a.m. Broken Bow Invite.

Team Scores

Boys

1. Lexington, 20

2. Adams Central, 58

3. McCook, 106

4. Wood River, 107

5. Broken Bow, 153

6. Valentine, 157

7. Alma/Southern Valley, 171

8. Wilcox-Hildreth, 203

9. Arapahoe, 232

10. Southwest, 295

Top five finishers

1. Damian Ramirez, Lex, 17:45.1

2. Yanni Vasques, Lex, 17:56.7

3. Chancellor

4. Gavin Strauss, Lex, 18:58.9

5. Grant Packer, Wood River, 19:00.4

Girls

1. Lexington, 28

2. Adams Central, 45

3. Broken Bow, 66

4. Wood River, 109

5. Alma/Southern Valley, 118

No area girls finished in the top five