Twenty-two Washington County cross-country runners qualified for the NSAA State Championships on Thursday.
Blair Bears, Fort Calhoun Pioneers and an Arlington Eagle will compete for state medals Oct. 23 at Kearney Country Club. The Class C races begin at 1:30 p.m. before the Class C races at 3.
BHS girls finish as runner-up
The Blair girls cross-country team finished as B-2 District runner-up to Omaha Duchesne by one point Thursday at Elkhorn Mount Michael. They qualified as a team, while the boys finished one place short in fourth.
BHS boys Nick Wayman, Dawson Fricke and Nolan Slominski, however, qualified for state as individuals, finishing 12th, 14th and 15th, respectively.
On the girls' side, Blair's Hailey Amandus led the way in fifth in 20:22.8. Allie Czapla was eighth, Mary Roskens was 11th, Cayli Penner was 13th, Chloe Schrick was 14th and Emily Lamoureux claimed 24th. All six will compete at state next week.
Both FCHS teams advance
Both the Fort Calhoun boys and girls teams will compete at the state meet after top-2 finishes Thursday at Sycamore Farms near Waterloo. The Pioneer boys won the district title, while the girls took second, according to blacksquirreltiming.com.
FCHS' Jacob Rupp won the boys' race in 16:13.9. Lance Olberding (fourth), Ely Olberding (eighth), John McKennan (23rd), Luke Gustafson (27th) and Johnathon Schwarte (31st) followed to push the Pioneers onto state.
Freshman Bria Bench, meanwhile, led the Fort Calhoun girls with a fourth-place finish in 19:41.81. Dala Drowne (eighth), Tessa Skelton (14th), Kaitlyn Thalman (31st), Rowan Roehr (34th) and Kylie Perfetti (46th) will join her at state with their standout efforts, finishing second to Douglas County West as a team.
Grefe to represent Eagles
The Arlington boys team finished just one place shy of qualifying as a team Thursday at Sycamore Farms. It took fourth with Colby Grefe earning the Eagles' lone state qualification with a 10th-place finish in 17:30.2, according to blacksquirreltiming.com.
The Eagles' Nolan May, Connor Flesner and Sebastyen Taylor took 17th — two places shy of an individual qualification — 18th and 20th, respectively.
Brynn Eckhart, meanwhile, led the Arlington girls, capping her freshman season with a 20th-place finish. Senior Elizabeth Morrison was 25th.
For the full story on these meets and additional photos, check out Tuesday's Washington County Pilot-Tribune or go online that same day to enterprisepub.com/sports.
