Raider reaches UNK top 10; Bison breaks Top 15

Medicine Valley freshman Kael Garrett placed eighth in the Class D race at Monday‘s UNK Cross Country Invite.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

KEARNEY, Neb. — McCook freshman Josiah Wilkinson placed 13th among 301 Class C runners while leading the Bison at Monday’s University of Nebraska-Kearney Invitational.

The Bison claimed 16th place in this 36-team event where all state championship races will take place next month.

Wilkinson recorded at time of 17:54.13 across the hilly terrain, only 16 seconds from breaking into Class C’s Top 10.

Senior Carson Noecker from Hartington-Newcastle ran away with the title. He finished in 14:51, nearly two minutes faster than Lincoln Christian junior Carter Hohlen (16:47.87).

Southwest Conference rival Gothenburg won the team as Swedes leader Parker Graves finished fourth (17:09.87).

Junior Grant Cappel joined Wilkinson in leading the Bison. He finished 34th (18:30.69), sophomore Josh Wilkinson 124th (20:16.71) and junior Grant Wells 138th (20:29.8).

"On the boys side ,we were the 3rd team to finish out of our district. This is something we will continue to watch as the season progresses," Bison coach Tom Sughroue remarked. "Our district has some very strong teams in it. "We need to continue to work to finish in the top 3 at the district meet."

Chase County wasn’t far off the Bison place while placing 22nd as a team.

Sophomore Trevin Moreno topped the Longhorns in 73rd place (19:19.52), freshman Haven Hauxwell was 100th (19:48.34) and Navy Smith 104th (19:51.68).

The Class D boys were highlighted with Medicine Valley freshman Kael Garrett capturing seventh place (17:48.07).

Medicine Valley took 21st among Class D teams after winning Friday’s Maywood-Hayes Center Invite.

On Monday, the next fastest area Class D boy was Southwest senior Cole Barnett (18:53).

Cambridge’s girls took home 12th in that Class D title chase.

Sophomore Rachel Harris finished 24th (22:59.93), just two spots ahead of Wallace junior Dajana Garrison (23:07.93).

Trojan senior Kori Koeppen raced to 37th place (24:22.02) and freshman Jensyn Weiss was 78th (26:47.16) in a field of 175 runners at Kearney Country Club.