The toughest week-and-ahalf stretch for Elkhorn Valley cross country is two-thirds of the way through.
Coach Janet Rood said that tour started with Friday’s trip to Skyview Lake for the Norfolk Catholic Invite, a meet set to put her runners into the next gear.
“It kind of gets us ready for the second half of the season,” she said. “We’re figuring out what we really need to focus on. Is it endurance, being about to sprint last bit, what is lacking. The we can fix it.”
There were some fixes that made themselves evident to Rood, but the Falcons still put forward a highly competitive weekend of running. THe girls took third place at Skyview, just one point behind Norfolk Catholic. Mazzy Kuchar led the team, taking third place followed by Brenna Lawson’s 10th-place finish and Miley Broberg’s 14thplace race.
The boys landed a solid topfi ve finish in team scoring, led by emerging sophomore Charlie Tegeler that began a speedy stretch of races with a personal best on Friday for 14th place. Abe Johnsen finished in 21st place with a season best, followed by Brady Schwartz in 28th and Landon Rutjens in 30th.
Elkhorn Valley turned to Monday and had two strong team efforts with the girl’s team finishing in second place. They were edged out by just three points, Class C’s Battle Creek containing the numbers to put the race away.
Coach Rood switched her thoughts to the girls and said, “I thought the girls were very solid today. Emerson wasn’t completely healthy but we anticipate that she’ll be ready to go on Thursday.”
Though where the Braves beat the Falcons in depth in the girls race, Elkhorn Valley’s boys’ team has that similar strength with loads of depth. The boys were able to finish in third in a very talented race.
Rood felt that her kids ran well but still said they had some things that they needed to work on.
“It was interesting to see who ran well today with the heat and really high humidity. It was really tough during the boy’s race,” she said.
Elkhorn Valley heads to the end of that tough mid-season stretch of meets with Central City on Thursday.
Girls Team Scores: 1. Battle Creek 39, 2. Norfolk Catholic 53, 3. Elkhorn Valley 54, 4. Boone Central 57, 5.
Lincoln Christian 74, 6. Wisner-Pilger 77, 7. O’Neill 90.
Elkhorn Valley: 3. Mazzy Kuchar 21:28.96, 10. Brenna Lawson 22:45.32, 14. Miley Broberg 23:12.65, 46. Pieper McLeod 27:53.94, 52.
Emerson penne 29:37.81.
Junior High Team Scores: 1.
Norfolk 19, 2. Humphrey/Lindsay 47, 3. O’Neill 56, 4. Battle Creek 60, 5.
Elkhart Valley 67, 6. Lincoln Christian 119, 7. Madison 140, 8. Archangels 151.
Boys Team Scores: 1. Lincoln Christian 21, 2. Norfolk Catholic 40, 3. O’Neill 53, 4. Battle Creek 59, 5.
Elkhorn Valley 84, 6. Oakland-Craig 108, 7. Boone Central 120, 8. Plainview 148, 9. Wisner-Pilger 158, 10.
Madison 185 Elkhorn Valley: 14. Charlie Tegeler 18:34.59, 21. Abe Johnsen 19:16.03, 28. Brady Schwartz 19:39.95, 30.
Landon Rutjens 19:49.21, 31. Evan Decker 19:59.86, 32. Hank Johnsen 20:05.75 Junior High Team Scores: 1. Norfolk 43, 2. Norfolk Catholic 51, 3. Battle Creek 66, 4. O’Neill 77, 5. Lincoln Christian 80, 6. Elkhorn Valley 86, 7.
Humphrey/Lindsay 117, 8. Osmond/ Plainview 119, 9. Wisner-Pilger 183, 10. Boone Central 190, 11. Madison 217.
Monday, September 14 Neligh-Oakdale Invite Girls Team Scores: 1. Battle Creek 17, 2. Elkhorn Valley 20, 3. Burwell 30, 4. Niobrara/Verdigre 38, 5. Boyd County 42, 6. Lutheran High Northeast 51.
Elkhorn Valley: 2.Mazzy Kuchar 21:17.55, 8.Brenna Lawson 22.55.05, 13.Miley Broberg 23:33.68, 23.Pieper Mcleod 26:34.12, Emerson Penne 27:22.53.
Boys Team Scores: 1. Battle Creek 10, 2. Creighton 22, 3. Elkhorn Valley 27, 4. Boyd County 50, 5. North Central 74, 6. Neligh-Oakdale 76, 7.
Osmond 76, 8. Summerland 82, 9.
Lutheran High Northeast 87, 10. Niobrara/ Verdigre 91, 11. Twin Loup 99. Elkhorn Valley: 5.Charlie Tegler 18:35.60, 9.Evan Decker 19:12.58, 14.Korbin Rutjens 19:38.80, 15.Abe Johnson 19:40.97, 21.Decaln Planer 20:22.87, 22.Carson King 20:23.67, 29.Hank Johnson 20:46.84, 30.Chase Andrews 20:50.51, 33.Trig Bennett 21:07.61, 36.Elijah Kilonzo 21:12.97, 38.Brady Schwartz 21:18.10, 39.Ryker Gohring 21:19.72, 45.Zander Lyall 21:33.88, 49.Andrew Rutjens 21:40.30, 51.Casey King 21:57.27, 52.Kason King 22:00.97, 53.Dylan Bullard 22:39.18, 54.Kalvon Mollhoff 22:41.30, 74Brandon Malanco 25:30.40.
