McCook girls race to UNK top four, will aim for more

KEARNEY, Neb. — Just wait until next month!

McCook High’s cross country girls became re-acquainted with Kearney Country Club Monday afternoon. They’ll be planning to run he Class C state championship meet at this same hilly location in October.

Though it wasn’t their finest performance on Monday, the Bison still reached top four among 26 Class C teams competing at this annual University of Nebraska-Kearney Invitational.

McCook totaled 100 points with senior Sammy Rodewald earning a top 10 medal (21:04.09) in ninth.

Freshman Emma Cappel reached the top 10 percent, taking 18th (21:27.38) among 182 varsity runners from across Class C.

Junior Sienna Dutton claimed 31st place (22:31.44) on a course where she has qualified to run state her first two high school seasons.

Senior Shawna Wilkinson placed 42nd (22:56.07), freshmen Brecken Gale finished 69th (23:55.92) andsophomore Maryann Kastner-Macfee was 93rd (25:22.78) to round out this top Bison contingent.

The No. 1-ranked Bison — based on Class C coaches’ voting — finished behind Lincoln Christian’s 67 points, Auburn with 80 and Douglas County West’s 97.

"I would say the competition was very tough. On the girls side we ran okay. It wasn't our best race as a team for sure, but that's a good thing. Not running our best and finishing 4th as a team is very good," coach Tom Sughroue commented. "Running on that course now will make us more prepared for the state meet."

Other top 10 Class C girls teams were Wayne with 104 points, Minden 114, Arlington 121, Aurora 127, Milford 176 and Fort Calhoun 181.

Arlington senior Keelianne Green won the individual title as she finished this monstrous course in 19:29.6.

Ogallala’s Lindee Henning — who won the Bison Invite on Sept. 15 — placed second overall at 19:52.64. Milford sophomore Lilly Kenning (20:15.19), Sidney junior Talissa Tanquary (20:24.22) and Arlington sophomore Hailey O’Daniel (20:33.5) completed the UNK top five.

Chase County was 25th as a team. The Longhorns’ top runner was junior Faith Hauxwell, who finished 110th with a time of 26:17.72.